Steve Spurrier
Coaching changes and an ineligible player were the happenings this week as the college football season nears its mid-point.
Steve Spurrier and Steve Sarkisian are now former head coaches.
Spurrier abruptly resigned at South Carolina, while Sarkisian was let go at Southern Cal.
“I’m resigning not retiring,” the 70-year old Spurrier said during a press conference. “I doubt I’ll ever be a head coach again, but I may be coaching a high school team or something. Don’t say I’m retiring from coaching completely because who knows what’s going to come in the future.”
“I was told I’m a recruiting liability,” Spurrier continued. “It’s hard to recruit when you’re a coach that’s done it a long time, and is at a certain age, the recruits want to know you’re going to be around for 5-10 years.”
For now, Shawn Elliott will take over at South Carolina and Clay Helton assumes command at USC.
South Carolina (2-4, 0-4) entertains Vanderbilt (2-3, 0-3) on Saturday as USC (3-2) visits No. 14 Notre Dame (5-1).
Treon Harris
A Change at Quarterback
At Florida, there will be a new quarterback as the No. 8 Gators (6-0, 4-0) travel to No. 6 LSU (5-0, 3-0) for a battle for supremacy in the Southeastern Conference.
Will Grier was suspended by the NCAA and will be replaced Treon Harris, who started Florida’s season opener.
“Will Grier won’t play this week and obviously in the near future due to taking a supplement, an over-the-counter supplement that had something in that was on the NCAA list of things that you can’t have,” Florida Head Coach Jim McElwain said. “Again, it’s something that he feels horrible about.”
In the only other contest featuring Top 10 teams on Saturday, No. 9 Texas A&M welcomes No. 10 Alabama to College Station for a SEC showndown.
Thursday Night
No. 18 UCLA (4-1, 1-1) makes the trip to No. 15 Stanford (4-1, 3-0) for this week’s opening affair between ranked squads on Thursday.
Here are the rest of the Top 25 games: Penn State (5-1, 2-0) at No. 1 Ohio State (6-0, 2-0), West Virginia (3-2, 0-2) at No. 2 Baylor (5-0, 2-0), No. 3 TCU (6-0, 3-0) at Iowa State (2-3, 1-1), Arizona State (4-2, 2-1) at No. 4 Utah (5-0, 2-0), Boston College (3-3, 0-3) at No. 5 Clemson (5-0, 2-0), No. 7 Michigan State (6-0, 2-0) at No. 12 Michigan (5-1, 2-0), Louisville (2-3, 1-1) at No. 11 Florida State (5-0, 3-0), No. 13 Mississippi (5-1) at Memphis (5-0), No. 17 Iowa (6-0, 2-0) at No. 20 Northwestern (5-1, 1-1), No. 19 Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1) at Kansas State (3-2, 0-2), No. 21 Boise State (5-1, 2-0) at Utah State (3-2, 2-0), Eastern Michigan (1-5, 0-2) at No. 22 Toledo (5-0, 2-0) and No. 24 Houston (5-0, 2-0) at Tulane (2-3, 1-1).
Editor’s note: Quotes, photos and logos courtesy of CollegePressBox.com.