Blog Article
Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – Week 10
Two offices opened up last week, and Greg Schiano got the corner one.
Sam Houston fired Phil Longo on Wednesday, and Florida State fired Mike Norvell on Sunday, the day after Clemson won 36-24 in Tallahassee. Last week, they were No. 3 and No. 1. Schiano lost to Michigan on Saturday, and around here, that’s how you get promoted.
Here are the Week 10 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings. Subscribe and we’ll send these straight to your inbox.
1. Greg Schiano, Rutgers (2-6)
Last week: No. 2 | Scorching
Rutgers had Michigan beat at halftime, and that’s the last time anybody in Piscataway smiled.
The Scarlet Knights led 13-7 at the break with a backup quarterback, AJ Surace, who finished 3 of 12. Michigan converted 12 of 16 third downs, which isn’t a defense so much as a suggestion. Tommy Carr ran it in from 9 yards with 4:19 left, Michigan won 28-21, and Rutgers is 2-6 and 1-4 in the Big Ten.
Schiano said he’s “very disappointed in the result, but not disappointed in the people,” which is lovely, and the people are 2-6.
2. Sonny Dykes, TCU (4-4)
Last week: No. 8 | Hot
Sonny Dykes beat Kansas and moved up six spots, so imagine what a loss would have done.
TCU trailed 13-0 at halftime in Fort Worth and punted seven times on its first eight possessions. Jaden Craig ran 17 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:09 left, and the Horned Frogs escaped 22-16. Dykes revealed the secret: “We did it because we didn’t turn the ball over.”
Holding onto the football is now the entire philosophy at TCU, and it’s good for 4-4.
3. Tony Elliott, Virginia (4-5)
Last week: No. 10 | Hot
Virginia ran the ball 19 times at Wake Forest and gained 16 yards, and that was the good news.
Wake Forest led 20-0 at halftime and won 51-7 in Winston-Salem. That’s three straight losses, and the Cavaliers are 4-5 and 2-4 in the ACC. Elliott said his team “didn’t make as many of the competitive plays as we needed to.”
By my count, they made two: the touchdown and the extra point.
4. Deion Sanders, Colorado (3-5)
Last week: No. 5 | Hot
Deion Sanders snapped a five-game losing streak, and he should send Kansas State’s kicker a fruit basket.
Luis Rodriguez missed from 49 and 43 yards in regulation, and Colorado won 27-24 in overtime at Folsom Field on Isaac Wilson’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Williams on third-and-9. The Buffaloes ran for 222 yards. Sanders said Wilson “didn’t have to play hero ball,” which is easy when the other team’s kicker is playing for you.
Colorado is 3-5, and in Boulder that now passes for a turnaround.
5. Brent Venables, Oklahoma (4-4)
Last week: No. 15 | Hot
South Carolina scored 42 points in Norman, so Brent Venables fired his offensive coordinator.
Two days after the 42-25 home loss, Ben Arbuckle became the second offensive coordinator Venables has fired in the middle of a season, after Seth Littrell in 2024. Tight ends coach Jason Witten takes over the play calling. The Sooners rank next to last in the SEC in yards per game and touchdowns.
“We need a change,” Venables said, and he got one: a 10-spot jump, the biggest in the Top 10. Oklahoma is 4-4, and it plays at No. 25 Florida on Saturday.
6. Dabo Swinney, Clemson (5-3)
Last week: No. 6 | Hot
Dabo Swinney went into Tallahassee, won by 12, and then lectured Florida State’s fans on manners.
Clemson won 36-24, with Tait Reynolds running 79 yards for a touchdown and Nolan Hauser making all five field goals. Take away Reynolds’ run, and the Tigers averaged 1.9 yards per carry, so let’s not get carried away. Afterward, he scolded the fans behind the banner calling for Norvell’s firing: “Whoever did that, man, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
Florida State fired Norvell the next day, so somebody in the building agreed with the banner. Clemson is 5-3, and Swinney stays at No. 6.
7. Lincoln Riley, USC (7-2)
Last week: No. 4 | Hot
Lincoln Riley beat the No. 2 team in the country, and then he read the fans out of the celebration.
USC beat Ohio State 30-18 on Halloween night, and the fans stormed the field. Riley read a prepared statement afterward, and the win, he said, was “for all the staff members, the players, the leaders, admin, all the people within the walls.”
Then he walked away with one word: “Adios.”
The people who stormed his field live outside those walls, and he said goodbye to them in Spanish. He drops three spots to No. 7.
8. Joe Moorhead, Akron (1-7)
Last week: No. 9 | Warm
Joe Moorhead spent Saturday on a bye, and two firings did his climbing for him.
Akron is 1-7 and 0-4 in the MAC, and its last game ended with the Wagon Wheel staying in Kent after a 35-20 loss. Ohio is 6-2, and it comes to InfoCision Stadium on Tuesday night. That’s not what anybody would call a get-well game.
One win in eight tries, in year five, is a number that doesn’t need my help.
9. Lance Leipold, Kansas (3-5)
Last week: No. 18 | Warm
Lance Leipold had TCU down 13-0 at halftime and spent the second half giving it back.
Kansas took a 16-14 lead on a Martin Connington field goal, then let Jaden Craig run 17 yards for the winning touchdown with 1:09 left, and TCU won 22-16. Dylan Edwards carried 20 times for 42 yards, which works out to 2.1 a pop. The Jayhawks are 3-5 and 1-4 in the Big 12.
Leipold said Kansas can “play with a lot of people,” and playing with them was never the problem; beating TCU in the last 69 seconds was.
10. Bill O’Brien, Boston College (4-4)
Last week: No. 11 | Warm
Boston College’s offense went to Durham and never showed up, so the special teams scored the only two points.
Duke won 47-2, and Carter Davis got the Eagles on the scoreboard by returning an errant Duke extra point 100 yards. Nate Sheppard ran for five touchdowns, a Duke record, one week after beating Virginia with a halfback pass, so apparently he does everything. BC committed 15 penalties for 132 yards and is 4-4 and 2-3 in the ACC.
O’Brien summed it up in three words, “We got trounced,” and for once, a coach undersold it.
Bubbling Under
Bill Belichick finally found something he’d never done: score 35 and lose.
His teams were 103-0 when they put up 35 or more since he became a head coach in 1991, and No. 1 Miami beat North Carolina 38-35 in Chapel Hill on a late Malachi Toney touchdown. The Tar Heels are 4-4, and Belichick moves up one spot to No. 11. Brent Key climbs five spots to No. 12 after Pitt ran for 281 yards and won 34-11, and Georgia Tech is 2-6.
Washington at Nebraska was one game with two very different endings. Jedd Fisch won 17-10 in Lincoln and fell seven spots to No. 14. Matt Rhule lost it, said “I’m responsible for it,” and jumped 24 spots to No. 15.
Luke Fickell climbed 13 spots to No. 16 after the trip to Iowa City. He said Wisconsin was “completely manhandled for 60 minutes,” and Iowa has now outscored the Badgers 148-26 during five straight wins in the series.
Full Week 10 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings: coacheshotseat.com/#rank
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