Big game coach, college football edition.

gimme spurrier. any time.

 

UCLA's Terry Donahue beat USC five times in a row to end his career (1991-95) and had a winning record against the Trojans. He also won seven consecutive bowl games, including four in a row on New Year's Day.

 

Nice weekend for Tuberville. He got his team up for the Gators again.

But sometimes he loses a little game.

Great guy, though, and I'm happy for his success at Auburn.

Bobby Bowden used to be the king of the big-time road upsets. He should get some significant mention here. Nobody wanted to bring in FSU at one point.

 

Was gonna say the same thing about Tuberville. He gets his team up for big games, but god does he let them slide in smaller ones. I mean losing to Miss. State at home is just unacceptable. And losing to a struggling Georgia team but a ton at home last season, just terrible.

 

Obviously, so much about this has to do w/ talent.
let's not forget that as impressive as this is -- I was amazed when I heard it last night at the bar -- it's not like Auburn has been scraping the bottom of the barrel talent-wise.
They are consistently mentioned as a national title contender before most seasons.

 

Mark Richt doesn't have quite the giant-killing record Tuberville has, but he's 23-3 in road games against SEC opponents. (Jacksonville, of course, doesn't count.) The three losses were last year at Kentucky, which looks better by the week, in 2004 at Auburn and in 2003 at LSU.

He's won in every SEC stadium except Florida (where Georgia doesn't play, obviously) and LSU, where he's only been once and played the eventual national champs within a touchdown.

Before Richt, Georgia had never won in Tuscaloosa (0-7); he's 2-0 there. Before Richt, Georgia hadn't won in Knoxville since 1980 (0-8, I think). He's 3-0 there.

 

Nothing against Terry Donahue, but beating USC in the early-mid 90s wasn't quite the feat it is today. I believe Notre Dame beat them 10 times in a row under Holtz (who ought to be in the "turn-of-the-'90s" version of this conversation). Obviously, times have changed.