It’s not often that the biggest game of the week involves Vanderbilt. It’s not often that a former Vanderbilt coach is at the center of the coaching carousel of rumored job openings. But both of those things are true this week.

Vandy is ranked 10th in the nation — the first time in 78 years it has enjoyed such a lofty perch — and plays host to No. 15 Missouri on Saturday in the only game involving two top-15 schools. Meanwhile, Vandy’s former coach, James Franklin has created whiplash by being so soon connected to other job possibilities after being fired by Penn State less than two weeks ago.

Franklin is one of the few African American college football candidates and his name is being bandied about at Florida, where Billy Napier was fired this week after a 3-4 start, and at Florida State, where Mike Norvell still has a job along with perhaps the most tepid of endorsements by his athletics director. Auburn is another place where the head coach is still employed but is rumored to be on the hot seat. Franklin could be Hugh Freeze’s replacement there.

Ditto for North Carolina, where Bill Belichick never figured to be a long-term pick (at age 73) and where the Tar Heels aren’t exactly setting the world on fire, sitting at 2-4 overall, and 0-2 in the ACC after three straight losses. A three-game losing streak was all it took for Penn State to make him available. And, to be sure, Penn State is cheering for Franklin to get a job anywhere, to help offset some of the $50 million he’s owed on his contract.

I’m not sure Franklin’s the leading candidate at any of these places with names like Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin, Oregon’s Dan Lanning and even Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz also gliding around the atmosphere. But itr’s hard to imagine Franklin, 53 with a lot left in the tank, not ending up somewhere prominent.

Vandy partly caused rankings shakeup

As for Vandy’s game with Mizzou, the Commodores are coming off a 31-24 victory over LSU during one of the more tumultuous weeks in college football. Vandy’s vault into the top 10 — where they haven’t been since Harry S. Truman was finishing the rest of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s fourth term as president — came about with a perfect storm of top-10 crumblings: Miami lost to Louisville, with Carson Beck throwing four interceptions and likely becoming a former Heisman Trophy candidate in the process; Texas Tech stumbled at Arizona State; and Ole Miss lost to Georgia (no shame there, but you still lose spots for that).

Vandy knocked LSU down 10 spots, which represented the biggest fall of anybody in the poll. The Tigers landed with a thud at No 20, while the Commodores have recorded consecutive victories over top-15 schools for the first time in their history. A win over Mizzou would make that three straight.

Another unlikely team thriving

Georgia Tech is in the top 10 for the first time since 2014. The Yellow Jackets are 7-0 after Omar Daniels set a school record by returning a fumble 95 yards for a touchdown. That marks their best start since 1966.

Still trying to figure out where Indiana got six first-place votes from in the latest poll? Me, too. Ohio State is a clear notch above anybody in the country with the other 60 votes. The Buckeyes should’ve received all 66 votes, but I guess there are voters in the Hoosier State too. Looking forward to the Big Ten championship game since they aren’t on each other’s regular-season schedules. But they seem to be on a collision course and the Buckeyes are poised to repeat the kind of performance that saw them doninate the Hoosiers 38-15 in 2024.

Give the brother some credit

UCLA was 0 for the season when former coach DeShaun Foster got the boot, and the offensive and defensive coordinators with him. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

But suddenly the Bruins have won three straight and there’s a brother, Tim Skipper, at the helm doing the dang thing. The Bruins shocked Penn State (that’s why Franklin was let go), soundly beat Michigan State and slipped past Maryland on a last-second field goal. Skipper is 3-1 since taking over, his only loss coming in his debut against Northwestern, and the Bruins are surging with energy. Which, I should hasten to add, is not accidental.

“I’m an energy guy,” he told ESPN. “I like juice. I like people that are having fun. I’m not a doom-and-gloom, it’s-raining-every-day guy. … I am a person that thinks you dictate how your day was.”

Skipper, 47, isn’t new to being an interim coach. He filled the same role at Fresno State last year, going 7-7 and guiding the program to a win in the New Mexico Bowl.