1. A Charlie Strong may be able to get a job at Texas because kids want to play for Texas. But the head coach at Houston needs to have connections to the high school coaches in a notoriously provincial state. Tom Herman, whom Houston all but hired Monday, spent the first 11 seasons of his coaching career at Texas universities playing at three different NCAA levels. Herman also proved as Ohio State offensive coordinator that he has the offensive bona fides to coach the Cougars, where there’s a long tradition of lighting up the scoreboard. The hire makes a lot of sense. Now let’s see if Herman’s a head coach.

2. It was only three years ago that Clemson won the ACC in spite of its defense, which allowed 31 points or more in six of its last eight games, including the 70-33 horror show of a loss to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl. Fast forward to 2014 and the transformation is complete. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables has put together the FBS leader in total defense. The Tigers allowed 259.6 yards per game this season, a full 135 yards better than the average in 2011 and nearly a football field better than last season’s mark (356.7).

3. In the aftermath of Vanderbilt’s miserable 3-9 season, first-year head coach Derek Mason fired both of his coordinators and his strength coach, the three most important positions on his staff. They had made sense on paper. Mason hired former UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell, his position coach at Northern Arizona, to run the offense and serve as mentor. Mason brought defensive coordinator David Kutulski and strength coach Bill Hughan with him from Stanford. And now they’re gone. That won’t inspire confidence in Mason for the next round of hirings.