SEC Extra Points with Barrett Sallee: How Real Are Jimbo Fisher to LSU Rumors?

The coaching silly season has cranked up to high gear over the last few weeks, despite the fact that there's still a rather important rivalry weekend looming in college football.

The most surprising development of the coaching carousel so far has been the news, according to Scott Rabalais of the Advocate, that LSU appears to be on the verge of letting go of head coach Les Miles—who's about to wrap up his 11th season in Baton Rouge.

Who's going to replace him?

Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher has been a hot name around the water cooler. Scott Roussel of FootballScoop.com joined me and Brad Hopkins on the B/R Afternoon Drive on SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio channel 83 on Tuesday, and he commented on the validity of those rumors.

"I think 100 percent, " said Roussel. "There's no way that LSU would be moving forward with this discussion unless they were exceptionally confident that they had their next guy. There's been no discussion of anybody other than Jimbo Fisher as I understand it. It's my full belief, if they pull the trigger and move Les out, that Jimbo will be the next coach at LSU."

Color me shocked. 

Jimbo has an easier path to the College Football Playoff at Florida State, is in a better recruiting state than LSU (although Louisiana is still loaded with talent) and has an incredibly young team that's still likely to hit double-digit wins in what's clearly a "rebuilding year."

Why go to LSU, where he would be charged with a similar rebuilding effort in a tougher neighborhood?

Apparently it's in the works or, at the very least, being discussed.

Fisher at LSU would be a home run hire as a replacement for the "Mad Hatter."

A Balancing Act

Alabama is looking to polish off the SEC West this Saturday against Auburn, keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive and claim its first national title since the 2012 season.

At the same time, several assistants could be looking elsewhere for future employment.

Defensive coordinator Kirby Smart has emerged as a front-runner for the South Carolina job, according to Bruce Feldman of FOXSports.com, offensive line coach Mario Cristobal has been linked to Miami and Roussel told B/R Radio that offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has been getting some buzz at Maryland.

That creates a delicate balancing act for Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.

"One of the reasons [Kiffin and Smart] are being considered is because they do a job where they are right now," he said. "They're bright enough to certainly realize that, and they want to focus on where they are right now because that's a reflection on what they do, and that's why people would be interested in them."

It's not unusual for Saban to deal with assistants moving on. He will likely go up against two former assistants—Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and Florida head coach Jim McElwain—over the next two weeks. 

"I'm always trying to help guys if they are looking for a better opportunity, but I also certainly appreciate the fact that they stay very focused on what we're trying to do because they certainly care about our team, and both put that first," Saban said.

Temporary Solution to a Permanent Problem

The Texas A&M quarterback position has been a permanent problem ever since Johnny Manziel moved on to the NFL, and head coach Kevin Sumlin was charged with finding a guy to live up to the hype.

Kenny Hill couldn't do it. Neither could Kyle Allen nor Kyler Murray. Now, it's Allen's turn again to try to lock the door that's been revolving for going on two seasons.

The sophomore from Scottsdale is healthy again after suffering a midseason shoulder injury. He threw for 336 yards and a touchdown in last week's 25-0 shutout at Vanderbilt, and he certainly appears to be in line to start for the Aggies in the regular-season finale at LSU this weekend.

It's a critical game for Allen.

For two teams that are out of contention for the SEC West, this is about as big of a spot as you can create for an opposing quarterback—on the road, in a hostile environment against a team that's gone through a lot over the last month in what might be head coach Les Miles' last game in Baton Rouge.

A big performance from Allen will go a long way toward defining the identity of the 2016 Texas A&M offense, give him an advantage over Murray heading into bowl practices and finally bring a semblance of stability to the consistently unstable quarterback position in College Station.

Lost in the Noise

Remember when the game between Texas A&M and LSU was supposed to be the "Chavis Bowl," rather than "Les Miles' Swansong"?

You know, when a wholesome issue like the lawsuits that have tied up the two schools and Chavis surrounding his exit from Baton Rouge to College Station last offseason dominated headlines?

Ah, the good ol' days.

While the Miles saga has dominated headlines over the last few weeks, LSU's players are excited to see Chavis, who bailed on the Tigers shortly after the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl.

"It's going to be exciting to get to see my boy Chief again," LSU senior linebacker Deion Jones said, according to Jim Kleinpeter of NOLA.com. "I'll see him before and after the game most likely. It's going to be fun."

While LSU's players are excited to see their former coach, the way things ended will certainly provide extra motivation, as linebacker Kendell Beckwith noted (via: Ross Dellenger of the Advocate):

While it's not the primary storyline leading into the LSU-Texas A&M game, it's an interesting subplot to keep an eye on when the Tigers host the Aggies on Saturday night.

"We're going to look forward to this competition," Miles said on the SEC teleconference of his team's mindset going up against Chavis. "I promise you."

A Little Trash Talk?

The Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama doesn't have the same buzz at it has over the last couple of seasons—at least on the national level.

So how do we fix that? With a little trash talk, of course.

Alabama cornerback Cyrus Jones did his best to create some buzz with this nugget, courtesy of Ben Jones of TideSports.com:

Not exactly the highest compliment in the world, but not exactly a shot, either. 

Auburn wide receiver Ricardo Louis, however, clearly took it as the latter.

Not to be outdone, Alabama center Ryan Kelly isn't very familiar with Tiger "Buck" Carl Lawson, who has helped Auburn's defense become a force over the last month since returning from a hip injury.

Naturally, Auburn's official account took the chance to capitalize on some lukewarm, albeit accurate trash talk.

Fun in the media aside, Lawson is the key to Auburn keeping the Iron Bowl interesting. 

He returned against Ole Miss on Halloween, and Auburn's defense has given up just 395.75 yards per game over that time. He had success against Rebels offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, and if he can replicate that against Alabama's Cam Robinson, help the Tigers force turnovers and help Auburn's offense go 40 yards for touchdowns instead of 80 against Alabama's defense, the Tigers should be able to make it interesting.

Stick to the Basics

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate between Georgia and Georgia Tech carries revenge for the boys in Athens, after the Yellow Jackets stunned the Bulldogs between the hedges after racking up 399 rushing yards in the process.

Georgia's defense has been pretty solid this year, giving up just 3.9 yards per carry. 

Stopping the Jacket triple-option, even in a down year, is going to be a challenge for the Bulldogs.

Georgia Southern, which took Georgia to overtime, has a history of running the same triple-option scheme run by former Eagle and current Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson. Now that it's in FBS, Georgia Southern has evolved more into more of a spread-option team which will help Georgia against Tech, but not as much as in years past.

"They both run option, but they are very different in how they go about it," Richt said, according to the school's official site. "But again, like I've said, the fundamentals of defeat blocks the fundamentals of being responsible for gaps, the fundamentals of assignment football when it comes to option, those things do carry over. But they do it just different enough where it's not like, let's do it exactly like we did last week. It's not like that."

Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt had better be on his game, because while Georgia Tech has sputtered to a 3-8 record and is a far cry from the dark-horse contender for the ACC title that many suspected in August, it's still a tricky offense that, if not handled properly, can put Georgia into a pretty big hole.

If Georgia's triple-option struggles continue, it's going to be a lot to ask for this Bulldogs offense to dig out of a hole.

No pressure, coach Pruitt.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.