The USC football team suffered an embarrassing home loss to Washington on Thursday night. The Philadelphia Eagles are off to a 1-3 start this year and don’t look like a playoff team. What does one thing have to do with the other?
Both USC coach Steve Sarkisian and Eagles coach Chip Kelly are on the hot seat. If Sarkisian is fired at or before the end of the season, Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated believes Kelly will be someone USC will reach out to.
And while this loss doesn’t mark the end of Sarkisian’s time at USC, it marks a definitive point where people can start speculating about the end. And that will certainly include Eagles coach Chip Kelly. USC had strong interest in Kelly when it hired Sarkisian. Not even halfway through his second season, there’s worry if “Seven-Win Sark” will even get there. Things can get a lot worse for USC (3–2) with upcoming games at Notre Dame, home against Utah and then at California. The barbarians haven’t circled the gate, but they’re huddling and game-planning.
The Trojans are 3-2, and it is going to be difficult to be patient with Sarkisian after many predicted USC could make the College Football Playoff this season.
As for the Eagles, Kelly finished 10-6 in each of his first two seasons with the team. The results have not been terrible, but it is particularly alarming that he is an offensive-minded coach whose offense looks horrible this season after he has had two-plus years to instill his system. If the Eagles continue to struggle, it will be fair to wonder if the system Kelly used at Oregon is ineffective at the NFL level.
However, there would still be plenty of interest in Kelly as a college coach. Florida reached out to Kelly last year after firing Will Muschamp, and Chip ended the speculation with a fantastic quote. But if the Eagles end up firing him, he could change his mind.
