1. Something to consider as USC hires Clay Helton, Georgia hires Kirby Smart and Maryland hires D.J. Durkin: Take the top 10 head coaches in winning percentage among Power 5 schools. Four of them -- Jimbo Fisher of Florida State, Mark Helfrich of Oregon, David Shaw of Stanford and Gary Patterson of TCU -- were coordinators promoted from within. Only one, Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, was a coordinator hired from another school (The other five coaches in the top 10 had been head coaches at other schools, now that Mark Richt is active at Miami). Coincidence? Good sign for Helton? You tell me.
2. If you watched Utah punter Tom Hackett this season, you saw the best punter in the history of the Pac-12. That's what the panel of 119 former players and coaches, as well as media members (including me) decided, according to the conference's All-Century Team announced Wednesday, the league's 100th birthday. Of the 50 players on the team, 23 played at USC, an astounding tribute to the Trojans' legacy of dominance. The only thing that USC will enjoy more is that UCLA and Stanford had but four players each. Hackett, the Utes' punter, is the only active player on the team.
3. Tennessee Tech head coach Watson Brown, whom I profiled during the 2014 season as he was about to pass Amo Alonzo Stagg and become the all-time leader in Division I with 200 losses, announced his retirement Thursday. Brown, 65, coached for 31 seasons and has a career record of 136-211-1. The wins and losses don't reflect how good a coach Brown is; the 31 seasons do. He willingly took on a bunch of have-not, underdog jobs. He wouldn't have kept them if he couldn't coach. Now that he's done, the leader in losses among FBS and FCS coaches is William & Mary legend Jimmye Laycock (239-172-2).