Quick Hitters

Miami's Al Golden needs a win at FSU to cool the hot seat he occupies in Coral Gables.

Miami’s Al Golden needs a win at FSU to cool the hot seat he occupies in Coral Gables.

Published on Tuesday, 10/6/15, at 7:11 p.m. Eastern.

–Auburn dismissed WR Duke Williams from the program yesterday. Williams, who coming into the season was considered a potential first-round NFL Draft pick, faces a monster challenge in rehabbing his image before the Draft.

–With his 233-yard effort in an otherwise lackluster 44-22 non-covering home win over Eastern Michigan this past Saturday, LSU running back Leonard Fournette became the first player in SEC history to rush for 200-plus yards in three consecutive games.

–Navy owns an 18-7 spread record in 25 games as a road underdog during Ken Niumatalolo’s eight-year tenure. Going back even further, the Midshipmen are 24-9 ATS in its last 33 games as a road puppy. They are 14 or 14.5-point ‘dogs at Notre Dame this weekend.

–What do we make of Ohio St.’s narrow 34-27 win over Indiana in Week 5? Well, maybe the Hoosiers are a quality team in the fifth season of Kevin Wilson’s tenure? Remember, IU won outright at Missouri and was 3-2 when QB Nate Sudfeld sustained a season-ending injury in 2014. Then again, didn’t Sudfeld get hurt Saturday in Bloomington? Yes. If you didn’t read the box score or watch the game, Sudfeld and RB Jordan Howard both had to leave the game with ankle sprains. Howard, the transfer from UAB who was a first-team All-USA selection last year, went into the game leading the nation in rushing yards. So despite losing its two most important players and despite giving up 195 rushing yards to Ezekiel Elliott on three huge plays from the All-American RB, IU had the ball in the red zone with a chance on its final drive. A bad snap on fourth down forced back-up QB Zander Diamont into a desperate situation, yet he still got a pass away to give his WR a chance in the end zone. Alas, the pass fell incomplete and the Buckeyes survived. IU is 4-1 both SU and ATS, cashing tickets in four straight outings. The Hoosiers are in great position to garner their first bowl bid since 2007 and get Wilson off of the hot seat, one I’m not sure he should occupy anyway.

–Florida St. RB Dalvin Cook is ‘questionable’ (hamstring) for Saturday’s home game vs. Miami. Without Cook, Jimbo Fisher’s offense looked extremely mediocre in a 24-16 non-covering win at Wake Forest.

–Howard and Sudfeld are both ‘questionable’ this Saturday at Penn St. If both are healthy and can go, I like IU to win outright in Happy Valley.

Winless ATS teams to date: Auburn (0-5), Old Dominion (0-5), Central Florida (0-5), Michigan St. (0-5) and North Texas (0-4).

Undefeated ATS teams: Southern Miss (5-0), Central Michigan (5-0), Navy (4-0) and Toledo (3-0-1).

–The ‘under’ is 5-0 for Northwestern, which plays one of the biggest Week 6 games at Michigan. As of Tuesday night, most books had the Wolverines favored by 7.5 or eight points. As road underdogs during Pat Fitzgerald’s tenure, the Wildcats are 20-14 ATS.

–Don’t blame Wisconsin’s 10-6 loss to Iowa on its defense. Since the 35-17 loss to Alabama in their opener, the Badgers have given up just 13 total points in 16 quarters of play. All 10 of Iowa’s points came off of UW turnovers that left the Hawkeyes with short fields.

–Kirk Ferentz is finally earning his hefty paycheck. The Hawks have won eight games or fewer for five straight seasons and have just one double-digit win campaign over the last decade. Now I’m not implying Iowa is the easiest place to win at, but Ferentz draws one of the nation’s top salaries. With a 5-0 record going into Saturday’s home game vs. Illinois, all is well in Iowa City again.

–With TCU’s WR group decimated by injuries, QB Trevone Boykin has had to find chemistry with younger players. That’s clearly going well so far. Boykin found true freshman KaVontae Turpin for four of his five TD passes in Saturday’s 50-7 blowout win over Texas. Turpin was one of the least-hyped players in Gary Patterson’s most recent recruiting haul.

–Hawaii has taken cream-cheese treatment in all three of its road assignments this year. In fairness to the Warriors, their travel schedule is like no other and their road foes have been Wisconsin, Ohio St. and Boise St. Still, Norm Chow’s area of expertise is offense and you can’t eat bagels for 12 consecutive quarters.

–Current Iron Bowl line: Alabama -10.5 at Auburn. This number was 7.5 last week before the Crimson Tide went into Athens and hammered UGA by a 38-10 count.

–Florida is now a 1.5-point home favorite vs. FSU at Sportsbook.ag. The offshore website had the Seminoles favored by 1.5 for this game last week. The Gators are now 5.5-point underdogs vs. Georgia. They are five or 5.5-point ‘chalk’ for Saturday’s game at Missouri.

–UF’s current odds to win the CFP: 50/1 at the Westgate SuperBook.

Coaches on the Hot Seat:
1-Al Golden (Miami)
2-Mike London (Virginia)
3-Willie Taggart (South Florida)
4-Charlie Strong (Texas)
5-George O’Leary (UCF)

Coach of the Year Candidates:
1-Jim McElwain (Florida)
2-Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern)
3-Kyle Whittingham (Utah)
4-Jim Harbaugh (Michigan)
5-Justin Fuente (Memphis)
6-Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)

Heisman Trophy Candidates:
1-Leonard Fournette (LSU RB)
2-Ezekiel Elliott (Ohio St. RB)
3-Trevone Boykin (TCU QB)
4-Myles Garrett (Texas A&M DE)
5-Seth Russell (Baylor QB)

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