Which coaches are on the hottest seats and under the most pressure – and who leads the Coach of the Year race – after Week 7 of the college football season?
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Which ten coaches are going to be feeling it if they don’t win … NOW.
To be positive, which five coaches lead the way in the Coach of the Year race?
The hot seat rankings are done in two ways. First, the five coaches who need a win for job security, and then the five coaches who aren’t in any real danger of being fired but could use a massive win.
Coaches On The Hot Seat: Win, Or Else
5. David Cutcliffe, Duke
2-10. That’s what Duke is in its last ten games, and it’s 9-17 since starting out 4-0 in 2018. The offense has given it up a whopping 22 times so far with three picks in the 31-20 loss to NC State. On the plus side, the Blue Devils get three straight home games against Charlotte, North Carolina and Wake Forest. Win two of those three games, and everything starts to change.
4. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
Just when it seemed like things might start to bounce back for the Blue Raiders after a win over FIU, pffffffffffft – the air came out of the balloon. North Texas is bad at college football this year, but it just went into Murfreesboro and left with a 52-35 win. The program is now 3-10 in its last 11 games, and two of those wins are against FIU.
3. Dino Babers, Syracuse
Yeah, the Orange don’t have starting quarterback Tommy DeVito around anymore, but that’s partly because the offensive line hasn’t been fixed after years of issues. Losing to a bad Duke team at home by 14 was bad enough, but getting dropkicked by 17 against Liberty is a whole other level of yuck. Oh great … next up is a trip to Clemson.
2. Gus Malzahn, Auburn
You can’t have a column about hot seat coaches without Gus Malzahn after an Auburn loss, but this is different. The offense isn’t clicking like it should, the 2-2 record should be 1-3 after catching a colossal break against Arkansas, and getting whacked around by South Carolina is never going to make the base happy. Lose at Ole Miss next week and this gets really interesting.
1. Matt Viator, ULM
After starting the season 0-5 and going 2-9 in the last 11 games, Viator and the Warhawks have to get hot. Lose at South Alabama this week, and there’s a big, bit problem with no obvious winnable games the rest of the way. Be shocked if ULM isn’t a double-digit underdog in the last seven outings.
NEXT: 5 Coaches Who Won’t Get Fired, But Need A Win
Coaches On The Hot Seat: No, They Won’t Get Fired, But … WIN NOW
5. Josh Heupel, UCF
WHAT?! Yup, after losing to Tulsa and Memphis, a smattering of fans took to social media to express their disgust as the program that’s used to thinking it’s playing for national championships has now lost to Tulsa and Memphis in back-to-back weeks. The depth isn’t there and there were several opt-outs, but the offense is still amazing. Heupel will be the next-coach-up at a lot of places, but now it’s time to go on a roll, starting with this week against Tulane.
4. Tyson Helton, WKU
Wasn’t WKU supposed to be good? It was a fun team last year that ended the season red hot, but in 2020 it can’t score, the defense has been a massive disappointment, and the 1-4 start has been ugly. The Hilltoppers have yet to score more than 24 points, and haven’t pushed past the mark in 13 of the last 18 games under Helton. That should change this week against Chattanooga – at least, it had better.
3. Les Miles, Kansas
It’s not fair to kick a guy when he’s down – getting through the week after testing positive for the coronavirus – but his Kansas team has to be far more competitive. With the 38-17 loss to West Virginia, that makes it eight straight games the program has lost by double digits. So far this year the Jayhawks have been outscored 38-17, but they get a chance at something positive with the rivalry date at Kansas State coming up.
2. Jeremy Pruitt, Tennessee
As the Tennessee head coach you have to 1) beat Alabama, 2) beat Florida, 3) beat Georgia, 4) win SEC championships and 5) win national titles – not necessarily in that order. Oh, and you never, ever lose to Kentucky, especially at home.
Tennessee lost to Kentucky 34-7.
With Alabama up next there’s a shot to turn everything around right now, but where’s the sure thing victory the rest of the way outside of Vanderbilt, and that’s a road game?
1. Mike Leach, Mississippi State
It’s WAY early, and eventually everything will click. Give Leach a bit of a break considering he’s a new coach for a program with the timing of his offense meaning everything. For now, though, this has been brutal with a 1-3 start and the mirage of the win over LSU long faded away. With two weeks to prepare for Alabama, though, this could all turn around in a hurry.
NEXT: 2020 College Football Coach of the Year Race
2020 College Football Coach of the Year Race
5. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
How about giving the guy whose team is making it all look so easy a little bit of credit? Alabama has struggled a bit on defense – to be nice – and Notre Dame certainly doesn’t look like the No. 3 team in college football.
LSU tapped out, Georgia got trucked by the Tide, and Oklahoma never showed up for the 2020 campaign. Don’t dismiss how sharp the Tigers have been so far.
4. Hugh Freeze, Liberty
5-0 is 5-0. With all the weird things going on at the school, and all of the other issues overall in the 2020 season, Freeze has put together an unbeaten team that went to Syracuse and won by 18, rolled by WKU and FIU programs that went bowling last year, and has his team unbeaten and almost a lock to find a bowl game somewhere as an independent.
3. Kalani Sitake, BYU
The line after the 55-3 pounding over Navy to start the season was that the Midshipmen didn’t tackle much during the offseason, wasn’t quite ready, and … BYU was certainly prepared. It hasn’t all been easy, and the schedule hasn’t been loaded with killers, but the Cougars are 5-0, well ranked, and they’re a national big thing to start the season.
2. Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina
In his third year at the helm, the guy has your 2020 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers ranked in the top 25 in both polls. They’re ahead of LSU, they’re ahead of Oklahoma, they’re ahead of South Carolina, they’re ahead of Appalachian State, Louisiana and Arkansas State, too. His team is the star of of the Sun Belt so far.
1. Sam Pittman, Arkansas
The Coach of the Year race is sort of over now, right?
Arkansas should be 3-1 after getting hosed by a bad call against Auburn, but whatever. The program that was predicted – ahem, hand raised on this – to go winless and be double-digit underdogs against everyone already has two wins over SEC teams.
Arkansas won two games in each of the last two years and hasn’t won two SEC games since 2016. Helped by a great year so far from new defensive coordinator Barry Odom, Pittman has the team playing hard, it’s competitive, and now there’s hope for a program that’s been so, so miserable over the last few seasons.
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