Even a pandemic won’t spare three SEC football coaches from feeling the heat

Key trends to watch in SEC football in 2020:

Coaches who need wins in 2020

1. Will Muschamp, South Carolina. In four years leading the Gamecocks, Muschamp has had one good season (9-4 in 2017), two mediocre ones (7-6 in 2018; 6-7 in 2016) and a bad year (4-8 in 2019).

Muschamp’s hefty contract buyout (reportedly $13.5 million if he is removed after the 2020 season) has made the ex-Eastern Kentucky assistant tough to fire.

Nevertheless, an all-SEC schedule in 2020 that includes LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn from the West Division is less than ideal for a coach whose fan base is restless.

2. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt. The Vandy head man is entering his seventh season in Nashville without ever producing a winning record.

Three blowout wins over Tennessee (2016, ‘17 and ‘18) and two bowl trips with 6-6 regular-season records (2016 and 2018) have bought Mason time.

But even at Vanderbilt, you have to produce a winning season sometime, don’t you?

3. Gus Malzahn, Auburn. Yes, Malzahn is 62-31 in seven prior seasons at Auburn. Last season, he did lead the Tigers to nine wins, including beating archrival Alabama.

However, in 2020, Malzahn has the second-fewest returning starters (10) in the SEC and works at a school with a long history of coaching impatience and intrigue.

The new guys

What to watch for as four SEC teams break in new head coaches in 2020:

1. Lane Kiffin, Mississippi. The former Oakland Raiders, Tennessee, USC and Florida Atlantic head coach and ex-Alabama offensive coordinator returns to the Southeastern Conference with a shot at making some early noise.

A creative play-caller, Kiffin inherits eight returning offensive starters. Included in that is dynamic dual-threat quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, a rising sophomore.

2. Mike Leach, Mississippi State. The former Kentucky assistant (1997 and ‘98) brings his variation of the pass-happy Air Raid back to the SEC.

With coaching iconoclasts Leach and Kiffin going head-to-head, the already fierce State-Ole Miss rivalry is about to go thermonuclear.

3. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri. The former North Carolina State, Boise State and Arkansas State offensive coordinator inherited the very strong team Scott Satterfield built at Appalachian State and went 12-1 last season, his first year as a head coach.

Drinkwitz, 37, inherits only 11 returning starters at Mizzou and will have to develop a quarterback after the departure of last year’s starter, ex-Clemson QB Kelly Bryant.

4. Sam Pittman, Arkansas. The longtime offensive line coach, most recently at Georgia, was a surprise choice to become the new boss Hog.

In a season in which only league contests will be played, Pittman inherits a Razorbacks program that has lost 19 SEC games in a row and drew a brutal 2020 schedule from the SEC office (see below).

Quarterback ‘waiver wire’

For the second straight season, college football “free agency” in the form of transferring quarterbacks could have a big impact on Southeastern Conference football. Three names to watch:

1. JT Daniels, Georgia. Ex-Wake Forest QB Jamie Newman was supposed to the story in Athens this fall. However, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound dual-threat surprised most by opting out of playing early in September over coronavirus concerns.

That could open the door for Daniels, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound pocket passer who was granted an immediate eligibility waiver by the NCAA after transferring from Southern California this summer. Two seasons ago, as a true freshman, Daniels started for USC and threw for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns vs. 10 interceptions while completing 59.5 percent.

However, a season-ending knee injury in the 2019 season opener sidelined Daniels, allowing freshman Kedon Slovis to claim the Trojans starting QB job by throwing for 3,502 yards with 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

With Newman out of the picture at Georgia, Daniels will have to beat out redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis to be the Bulldogs QB.

2. K.J. Costello, Mississippi State. After health problems (a concussion, then a thumb injury) limited Costello to only five games at Stanford last season, the 6-5, 225-pound product of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., decided to sign on with new MSU head man Mike Leach.

That pairing figures to put up ridiculous numbers through the air. In 2018 at Stanford, Costello threw for 3,540 yards with 29 touchdowns.

3. Feleipe Franks, Arkansas. The former Florida quarterback saw his 2019 season end after suffering a leg injury vs. Kentucky at Kroger Field. With Kyle Trask now firmly entrenched as the UF starter, Franks headed west.

The 6-6, 235-pound Franks has arm talent: He threw for 2,457 yards with 24 touchdowns and only six interceptions for Florida in 2018.

Two brutal schedules

In a season in which every SEC school will play 10 times vs. other league members, there are no easy schedules.

However, two schools drew the most arduous slates:

▪ Arkansas. The poor Razorbacks added games with projected East Division titans Florida and Georgia when the SEC office supplemented league schedules to get to 10 conference games.

The Hogs are the only team in the West that must play both the Gators and the Bulldogs in 2020 — and that is tacked on to games with the usual SEC West bullies, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M etc.

“We already owned the nation’s strongest 2020 football schedule and with these additions to our SEC-only schedule, we now own the most challenging schedule in the history of college football,” Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek lamented when the revamped schedule was first announced.

▪ Missouri. The mirror image of Arkansas, Mizzou added both of the West Division’s top dogs, drawing a home game with Alabama and a road trip to defending national champion LSU.

Also breaking in a new head coach (see above), Missouri will be the only East Division team that will see both Nick Saban and Ed Orgeron on the opposing sideline during the 2020 regular season.

Fans in the stands?

Due to the efforts to contain the coronavirus, this will be anything but a normal SEC football season in the stands.

All 14 Southeastern Conference schools have announced that they will severely limit the number of fans allowed to attend games in 2020:

▪ Alabama: 20 percent capacity in Bryant-Denny Stadium (normal seating capacity: 101,821).

▪ Arkansas: 21-23 percent in the Reynolds Razorback Stadium (76,000).

▪ Auburn: Approximately 20 percent in Jordan-Hare Stadium (87,451).

▪ Florida. 20 percent capacity in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (88,548).

▪ Georgia: 20-25 percent in Sanford Stadium (92,746).

▪ Kentucky: 20 percent in Kroger Field (61,000)

▪ LSU. 25 percent in Tiger Stadium (102,321).

▪ Mississippi: 25 percent at Vaught Hemingway Stadium (64,038).

▪ Mississippi State: 25 percent at Davis Wade Stadium (61,337).

▪ Missouri: 25 percent at Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium (62,621).

▪ South Carolina. Approximately 25 percent in Williams-Brice Stadium (80,250).

▪ Tennessee: Approximately 25 percent in Neyland Stadium (102,455).

▪ Texas A&M: 25 percent at Kyle Field (102,733).

▪ Vanderbilt. Allowing no fans in Vanderbilt Stadium (40,350) through the end of October. The school has reached no decision for November home games vs. Florida (Nov. 21) and Tennessee (Nov. 28).

Predictions

SEC East champion: Florida.

SEC West champion: Alabama.

SEC championship game: Alabama beats Florida.

National championship game: Clemson beats Alabama.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 7:01 AM.

Mark Story

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-444-4731

Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription