Week 2 Coaches Hot Seat Head Coaches and Teams MUST Win Games
Week 2 Coaches Hot Seat Head Coaches and Teams MUST Win Games
There are Head Coaches and Teams facing MUST Win Games in only the SECOND Week of the college football season?
YES!
Tom O’Brien, NC State vs. Connecticut – After the Wolfpack came out against Tennessee asleep at the switch NC State head coach Tom O’Brien CANNOT afford to have his team not ready to play the opening two weeks of the season because an 0 – 2 start with the entire ACC conference schedule left would not only heat-up O’Brien’s rear-end it would piss-off the Wolfpack-faithful who we have talked to came into the season under the impression that NC State would have a real shot of winning the ACC Conference…..BUT…..if you can’t beat Tennessee (5 – 7 in 2011) and Connecticut (5 – 7 in 2011) just how in the Hell are you going to beat Miami, FSU, North Carolina and Clemson? Answer: Your NOT.
Randy Edsall, Maryland vs. Temple – We are not quite sure what has led to Randy Edsall putting up a 3 – 10 record in his first 13 games at Maryland after he took over a team that won 9 games in 2010….BUT….something has gone terribly wrong in College Park for Edsall because at Connecticut Edsall was a solid .500 plus coach at a school that wasn’t the easiest place in the world to win football games at and yet…..Randy Edsall is 3 – 10 in his first 13 games at Maryland AND Randy Edsall faces a MUST Win game at Temple on Saturday mainly because what comes after the Temple game for the Terrapins:
Connecticut
At West Virginia
Wake Forest
At Virginia
NC State
At Boston College
Georgia Tech
At Clemson
Florida State
At North Carolina
OUCH!
If Maryland loses at Temple on Saturday there is the very REAL chance that Maryland might not win another football game in the 2012 season especially considering the depleted roster that Edsall is working with that has seen players leave for all kinds of reasons….some Edsall’s doing and some not…..BUT none of that changes the FACT that if Randy Edsall hopes to keep the 2012 Maryland football season from unraveling the Terrapins MUST show up in Philadelphia on Saturday and beat a team in Temple that a school like Maryland should ALWAYS BEAT. PERIOD.
Gene Chizik, Auburn vs. Mississippi State – On the chalkboard at Coaches Hot Seat Central this week someone wrote the following:
Gene Chizik’s Win/Loss Record WITH Cam Newton
14 – 0
Gene Chizik’s Win/Loss Record WITHOUT Cam Newton
Overall: 21 – 30
Conference Play (Big 12 and SEC): 9 – 23
Damn….is about all you can say to that and it not only points to the TRUTH of the Great Don Shula’s quote…
“Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.”
…BUT also that 2012 will be the season that Gene Chizik proves or not if he can be a BETTER than average coach WITHOUT Cam Newton under center.
The above reality brings us to Auburn’s game Saturday at Mississippi State which is not only a MUST Win Game for Gene Chizik it is a MUST Win Game for the Auburn Tigers football program which is now falling deeper into the shadow of the AGAIN dominate Alabama Crimson Tide which looks to be setting up for a multi-year run at the top of the game of college football and if Gene Chizik allows Auburn to fall too far behind Saban and Bama Gene Chizik will find his rear-end on the Hot Seat and eventually out of a job……even with national championship on the board (with Cam Newton under center of course!).
Here’s the scary thing for Gene Chizik and Auburn: After the Mississippi State game there is the Cupcake Game against La. Monroe…BUT….Auburn then hosts LSU and Arkansas back-to-back on The Plains and thus if the Tigers lose to the Bulldogs on Saturday there is the very REAL chance that Gene Chizik and Auburn could be 1 – 4 heading into their Week 6 game at Ole Miss.
YES, Mississippi State is a MUST Win Game for Gene Chizik…and the Auburn Nation as well!
Frank Spaziani, Boston College vs. Maine – This is Very Damn Simple: Frank Spaziani and Boston College CANNOT LOSE to I-AA Maine on Saturday and Oh by the way….
Maine football was 9 – 4 in 2011 and lost in the second round of the I-AA (FCS) Playoffs to Georgia Southern 35 – 23
….which means they know how to coach and play the game of football at Maine and if the Black Bears come in and beat Spaziani and BC on Saturday we would recommend Frank Spaziani start looking for a TV gig for 2013 which Oh by the way Frank would probably be pretty good at!
YES, Frank Spaziani and Boston College are facing a MUST Win Game against Maine on Saturday or rather a “You Sure the Hell Better Not Lose” Game!
Mike Leach, Washington State vs. Eastern Washington – In 2011 Eastern Washington opened the season almost beating the Washington Huskies in Husky Stadium before losing 30 – 27 and in 2012 Eastern Washington went to Idaho and beat the Vandals 20 – 3 which means Mike Leach and his Washington State Cougars will have their hands full with EWU on the Palouse on Saturday. Mike Leach’s team looked about how we thought they would look in Game #1 in the Leach-era at BYU….CONFUSED….and if Leach wants to get WSU to a bowl game in 2012 then beating Eastern Washington is a MUST.
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame vs. Purdue – We recently asked a very good friend of ours that played football at Notre Dame in the 1970s to tell us the Best and Worst thing about Brian Kelly and he said….
“The Worst thing about Brian Kelly is that he is a Pompous Arrogant Ass and the Best thing about Brian Kelly is that he is a Pompous Arrogant Ass.”
Before we comment on what exactly our friend meant by saying the above we cannot help but wonder where Notre Dame finds these back-to-back coaches that are Pompous Arrogant Asses?
What our Notre Dame friend meant when saying that Brian Kelly is a Pompous Arrogant Ass is that Kelly IS a Pompous Arrogant Ass that believes he is God’s gift to Planet Earth….BUT….in Notre Dame’s current predicament of having a Win/Loss record over the past 10 years of…
73 – 52
….which as everyone can see is an average of OVER 5 LOSSES A YEAR what Notre Dame needs is a coach that knows what the Hell he is doing and Pompous Arrogant Ass or not Brian Kelly knows what the Hell he is doing.
Which brings us to Notre Dame’s game on Saturday at home against Purdue which is a MUST Win Game for Kelly and the Irish (something just sounds right when you say Kelly and the Irish….right?) because of what comes next for the Fighting French from South Bend:
At Michigan State
Michigan
Miami
Stanford
BYU
At Oklahoma
Pittsburgh
Boston College
Wake Forest
At USC
After looking at the above schedule what exactly is the reason Notre Dame doesn’t want to join a conference in football because NO conference in the country that Notre Dame would join would produce a schedule that tough!
Yes, the Purdue game at home is a MUST Win Game for Brian Kelly and the Irish and if Notre Dame really wants to send a message to college football they will do what Notre Dame football teams of LONG AGO used to do and put away Purdue early and often and make it a nice enjoyable day for the Irish fans in South Bend…..but we rather doubt that will happen!
Kevin Wilson, Indiana vs. Massachusetts – Kevin Wilson took over an Indiana football team from Bill Lynch that had won 19 games over the past four seasons with one winning season (7 – 6) in 2007 and his second year on the job Kevin Wilson is…
Overall: 2 – 11
Big Ten: 0 – 8
Oh by the way those two wins were against…
2012 – I-AA Indiana State
2011 – I-AA South Carolina State
….which means that Kevin Wilson and the Hoosiers REALLY DO NOT want to lose to first-year I-A (FBS) team Massachusetts on Saturday or the Indiana will rightfully start to get worried that the Hoosiers might just not win another game in 2012!
With MAC Conference team Ball State up next after UMass which will be a tough game for the Hoosiers beating UMass is just flat-out a MUST and besides the time is now for Kevin Wilson to prove he can be a head coach on the I-A level by winning some football games which Bill Lynch proved can be done at Indiana.
Will Muschamp, Florida vs. Texas A&M – 15. What is the number 15 have to do with Will Muschamp at Florida you ask?
15 is the number of losses that Urban Meyer had in 6 seasons as the head coach at Florida.
Will Muschamp’s record at Florida:
Overall: 8 – 6
SEC: 3 – 5
A loss to Texas A&M on Saturday by Muschamp and the Gators and that will be 7 loses in Muschamp’s second season and still with Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, La. Lafayette and Florida State still on the schedule!
YES, the Texas A&M is a MUST Win Game for the Florida Gators because a loss to the Aggies and the Gators will be in an uphill climb just to get to 6 wins forget about beating Georgia or winning the SEC East which are the MINIMUM goals for Florida football each year which means the pressure is REALLY ON the Gators this Saturday in College Station especially with a trip to Knoxville up next in Week 3.
This game…Florida’s game against Texas A&M is a game where a direction for the future can be set for both the Gators and the Aggies which means the pressure is on Big-Time for both coaches which are our favorite type of games to watch and watch we will with relish….and mustard, ketchup, sauerkraut, jalapeno peppers, onions and chili on our hot dogs!
Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech vs. Texas State – Tommy Tuberville is now….
Overall: 14 – 12
Big 12: 5 – 12
….in his third season at Texas Tech and if Tuberville wasn’t already having a hard time sitting down all he has to do is to lose to Dennis Franchione’s Texas State team on Saturday and “Tubbs” will need a pair of Firefighting Pants…..
….just to keep functioning in daily life ($239.00 and can be in Lubbock by Monday if you choose overnight delivery Tommy)!
YES, Tommy Tuberville and the Red Raiders face a MUST Win Game against Texas State on Saturday mainly because they have to play NINE Big 12 Conference games this season and Tech could if they played bad lose every single one of those games.
Bo Pelini, Nebraska vs. UCLA – Bo Pelini has a great record in his four seasons plus one game at Nebraska…
Overall: 40 – 16 (.714)
Big 12/Big Ten: 22 – 10 (.688)
…..that is compared to most other head coaches in the game today BUT Bo Pelini is the Head Football Coach at Nebraska and compared to Coach Tom Osborne’s record at Nebraska….
Overall: 255 – 49 – 3 (.831)
Big 8/Big 12: 160 – 23 – 2 (.865)
….Bo Pelini is only average at best and since we are talking about Nebraska football here where the standards and expectations are Very High the standard that Pelini will be judged against will be Coach Osborne just as Tom Osborne was judged against the coach he followed in Lincoln….
Bob Devaney
Overall: 101 – 20 – 2 (.821)
Big 8: 62 – 14 – 1 (.805)
What does all of the above mean?
Bo Pelini and the Nebraska Cornhuskers CANNOT LOSE to UCLA in the Rose Bowl on Saturday especially to a UCLA football team that over the last 9 seasons put up a record of….
Overall: 56 – 56
…which is an average of 6.22 wins a year.
That UCLA has a new head coach in Jim Mora Jr. or not means NOTHING because this is a game against the Bruins that very simply Nebraska….
MUST Win
And
Better the Hell NOT LOSE.
PERIOD.
The word on the street on the westside of Los Angeles is that this year’s version of UCLA football is a little tougher than UCLA teams of the past and there is no better team around to find out if UCLA is really tougher after their fall camp in San Bernardino (Not exactly Bear Bryant taking the Aggies to Junction now is it!) or if this is just another Bruins team that when you pop them in the mouth they crumble like a wet paper bag that has been dipped into the Pacific Ocean!
Joker Phillips, Kentucky vs. Kent State – Joker Phillips record in his third season at Kentucky is….
Overall: 11 – 15
SEC: 4 – 12
….and after the opening season loss to Louisville this Week 2 game against MAC Conference team Kent State is HUGE mainly because a loss in this spot will leave 9 of 10 games for UK that will be either, competitive games, tough games or next to impossible to win games for the Wildcats which makes the Kent State game a MUST Win Game for Phillips and Kentucky.
Mark Richt, Georgia vs. Missouri – The word out of Athens is that Mark Richt is rather enjoying not having his rear-end on fire for the first time in about three seasons and with a lot of talent on this Georgia football team the Dawgs should go far in 2012…..BUT….they need to beat Missouri on Saturday night in Columbia, MO to get things rolling and if Richt and the Bulldogs happen to lose this game to the Tigers don’t you just know that Mark Richt is going to start checking his ass out in mirrors to see if he can detect any smoke?
YES, for Mark Richt and the Bulldogs Missouri is a MUST Win Game!
Tony Levine, Houston vs. La. Tech – We and lots of other people are still not sure what the Hell happened last Saturday in Houston when Texas State came in and put a 30 – 13 whipping on the Cougars or why the Houston offensive coordinator was sent packing after one game BUT what we do know is that Sonny Dykes is bringing his chompin’ at the bit La. Tech team to Houston on Saturday and if Houston plays like they did against Franchione’s team the Cougars are going to start the 2012 season at 0 – 2 and Houston head coach Tony Levine is going to find out what the Hot Seat is all the Hell about!
YES, with a Week 3 game at UCLA the La. Tech is a MUST Win for the Houston Cougars and Tony Levine.
Mack Brown, Texas vs. New Mexico – It just doesn’t seem possible under any scenario that Texas would lose to New Mexico and first year Lobos head coach Bob Davie on Saturday BUT if Mack Brown and the Longhorns do fool around and do find a way to lose to New Mexico we can say that Mack Brown will have begun his last year as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns which makes the New Mexico game a MUST Win Game for Brown and the ‘Horns.
David Shaw, Stanford vs. Duke – Over the last three seasons Stanford football under Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw have put up records of..
Overall: 31 – 8
Pac-10/12: 22 – 5
….and after a lackluster showing in Week 1 against San Jose State which looks worse each time we watch it The Cardinal hosts David Cutcliffe’s Duke football team on Saturday evening on The Farm which Coaches Hot Seat will be at attendance with bells on and with our itchy Hot Seat fingers at the ready!
The Rivals.com Team Recruiting Rankings over the past four seasons for Stanford and Duke lay out for everyone to see the big talent gap between what The Cardinal and Blue Devils will put on the field Saturday night….
Rivals.com Team Recruiting Rankings
Stanford
2012 – #5
2011 – #22
2010 – #26
2009 – #20
Duke
2012 – #52
2011 – #76
2010 – #72
2009 – #51
….but as most people know it is not what other people say you can do that counts but rather what is inside you and the effort you give once the bell rings for real and the bell will ring on Saturday night for the Stanford Cardinal and we and everyone else will get to see if The Cardinal is like Auburn and Cam Newton (in that the Tigers haven’t done a whole Helluva lot before and after Newton) as the post-Andrew Luck era begins on The Farm OR if Stanford football is for REAL and will be a force to be reckoned with from this point forward.
Recruiting rankings aside the Duke game is a MUST Win Game for David Shaw and Stanford because The Cardinal just flat-out have more talent than Duke, they are playing Duke at home on The Farm and probably most importantly the USC Trojans are due on The Farm next Saturday and Stanford needs a solid win before Kiffin and the Bastards from southern California come calling!
Play hard Stanford football……as if there is any other way to play….which there isn’t!
