Week 4 Coaches Inc. Highlights

This week’s conference realignment news centered around teams deciding to stay put rather than jump to a new conference as the Pac-12 seeks to add more football programs. Although rebuffed by some AAC schools, it looks like the new Pac-12 will add Utah State as its seventh member and UNLV may be close behind.

Over the summer, reporters pegged the Razorbacks as a team with a Head Coach firmly on the hot seat. Now, sitting at 3-1 (1-0 SEC), all three phases have contributed, Arkansas is finding ways to win games, and the Hogs are an OT loss to Oklahoma State away from being 4-0. With a clearly improved team over 2023, Arkansas opened up SEC play this past weekend in a tough environment against the Tigers and came up with a 24-14 win.

Luckily for the Razorbacks, Auburn never offered SEC Defensive Player of the Week, TJ Metcalf, who returned home to Alabama to lead the Arkansas defense that forced 5 turnovers in the game and came up with 2 sacks on Auburn’s final drive to thwart a comeback. DL Coach Deke Adams maintained his focus last week but had a “Proud Dad” distraction as his son, Jordyn Adams, hit a walk-off single VIDEO in the 13th inning for the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night after being called up in early September from Triple A.

Special Teams Analyst Chris Norris also saw some key plays from his group, most importantly stopping a fake punt attempt to give the offense the ball back in good field position. They averaged 49.7 yards per punt while giving up only 2 return yards and PK Kyle Ramsey added a 43-yd FG and connected on all 3 PAT attempts.

Of course, their run game traveled too, led by Ja’Quinden Jackson who added another 2 TDs on the ground increasing his season total to 8 TDs and 472 yards rushing in just 4 games. RB Coach Kolby Smith has not only had a positive impact on Jackson but the run game overall. Arkansas is averaging 240 yards per game and 5.5 yards per carry with 17 TDs, establishing them as one of the nation’s best.

Boise State Assistant QBs Coach Steve Cooper faced off against his alma mater and former employer on Saturday night as the Broncos handled business against Portland State, winning 56-14. Boise State was coming off a close loss on the road at Oregon and the win propelled them into the Top 25.

The Broncos started fast scoring 28 points in the first half including 3 scoring drives of less than 2 minutes and 15 seconds. QB Max Madsen was extremely efficient, throwing for a season-high 3 TDs with a completion percentage of over 70. Madsen has been excellent for the Broncos in his first season as the full-time starter and by working directly with Steve has shown a real command of the offense. Steve was once the OC at Portland State helping them achieve great success during his tenure there. After time as an Analyst at Nebraska and most recently serving as the OC at Maine, Steve has been integral to the early offensive success of Boise State as they are averaging nearly 49 points and 543 yards per game.

On a rainy day on the road at Merrimack, the Maine Black Bears tallied 20 unanswered points in the second half to secure its second win of the season under Head Coach Jordan Stevens. Jordan is in his 3rd season as Head Coach of his alma mater and has already matched his win totals from his previous 2 seasons, showing clear signs of improvement.

Merrimack returned a fumble for a TD to go up 10-0 on the visiting Black Bears but Maine showed grit to come through and win. After trailing 15-6 at the half, Maine outgained Merrimack 251-73 and forced 3 turnovers in the second half to win 26-15. Maine’s success over the years has relied on a tough, hard-nosed, “Maine Way” mentality and so far this 2024 team is living up to that standard.  

TN Tech opened after the 2023 season and was looking for a Head Coach who could energize the Cookeville community to help with raising money for a new stadium, office upgrades, and NIL support. Thanks to his success in building Old Dominion’s program from scratch into an FBS bowl-winning program, TN Tech administrators knew Bobby Wilder was the man for the job.

Bobby spent the last few years training youth and high school players while honing his golf game in the Norfolk area, and jumped at the chance to run a football program again. He reunited with many of his former ODU staff members, including Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator, Brian Scott, who had served as New Hampshire’s OC and helped lead them to the 2nd round of the FCS playoffs in 2022.

On Saturday, the Golden Eagles played their first home game, which was also their first conference game, under the new staff. After starting the season with two FBS games, including one against Georgia, it was a relief to face an FCS opponent, but it would still take a team effort to pull off the victory over Tennessee State. The defense sacked TSU’s QB 7 times, held TSU to 0 yards rushing, and sealed the victory with a Pick 6. The offense scored TDs on each if its first 2 drives to give the Golden Eagles a 14-0 lead and finished with 220 yards rushing, proving it can run when it needs to. With only FCS games remaining, Bobby and Brian are hoping to build on Saturday’s win and compete for a conference championship.

Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator Mike Morita and Defensive Coordinator Rich Nagy joined the Lehigh staff after the 2022 season hoping to bring about change in Bethlehem, PA under a new head coach. It looks like the staff is getting the job done in Year 2 as they are 3-1 this season and beat Princeton 35-20 on Saturday for Lehigh’s first win over an Ivy since 2016. Lehigh dominated on both sides of the ball, amassing 346 yards of offense and holding Princeton to just 212 total yards, including -7 rushing yards, on defense. Since 2018, Lehigh has only finished a season with more than 3 total wins one time, (4 in 2019), so this year’s squad is looking to raise the bar for the Mountain Hawks.

Quick Hits

- OLBs Coach Joe Coniglio and the Rams trailed the 49ers by 14 points with 7:01 left in the 3rd quarter but came back to win 27-24, securing the team’s 3rd win in its last 12 games against San Francisco.

- University of Buffalo OL Coach Matt Stansfield and TE Coach Ron Whitcomb got a statement win as their Bulls beat #23 Northern Illinois in OT on the road for the program’s first ever road win over a ranked opponent.