I agree with you. I think he's mainly listed as a candidate for the SEC jobs because of his similarities to Brian Kelly. It'll be interesting to see what he does. He could let it ride and pray UC gets into the ACC (almost definitely won't happen). Also, there's a pretty good chance he wins 10+ next year at Cincinnati, and that might open up some better jobs. I think he will go to Purdue if they're actually offering though.
Ironically Purdue and Cincinnati open next season against each other in Cincinnati.