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Week 9 – 2026 FBS COACHES HOT SEAT rankings
#01
#02
#03
#04
#05
Brent Venables
Oklahoma
#06
#07
#08
#09
Lance Leipold
Kansas
#10
Bubbling Under
#11
Bill Belichick
North Carolina
#12
Brent Key
Georgia Tech
#13
Tim Albin
Charlotte
#14
Jedd Fisch
Washington
#15
Matt Rhule
Nebraska
#16
Luke Fickell
Wisconsin
#17
Pat Narduzzi
Pitt
#18
Shane Beamer
South Carolina
#19
Tosh Lupoi
California
#20
Scotty Walden
Wyoming
Coaches Hot Seat
Florida State Fires Mike Norvell 12 Hours After Losing to Clemson, Eats a $50 Million Buyout
Norvell won the ACC three years ago. Since then, he’s gone 10-22, and Florida State decided it couldn’t wait any longer. Florida State fired Mike Norvell on Sunday. Roughly 12 hours earlier, Clemson walked into Doak Campbell Stadium and won 36-24. That dropped the Seminoles to 3-5. Defensive coordinator Tony White and safeties coach Evan …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 9 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings: Mike Norvell Takes No. 1 Without Playing a Down
Mike Norvell’s Florida State team didn’t play on Saturday, and he’s sitting on the No. 1 hottest seat in the country. In five days, Maryland fired Michael Locksley, NC State fired Dave Doeren, and Baylor fired Dave Aranda. All three were in last week’s Top 12. Norvell sat at home and watched the line in …
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American Athletic Conference
Seven ranked teams lost, two more coaches got fired, and Lincoln Riley’s offense ran the wrong way.
Have the latest from Coaches Hot Seat delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribers enjoy stories and excluseves not avaialble on the website. Aranda out at Baylor. Doeren out at NC State. Week 8 had one rule: if you were ranked, you were in trouble. Seven ranked teams lost. Five of them lost to unranked teams, …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Maryland Fires Mike Locksley After 13 Straight Power 4 Losses, and It’s Paying $9.94 Million to Do It
Eight years, one ceiling, and a 54-3 home loss to UCLA. Here’s why it ended, what it costs, who’s next, and who the Terps can’t afford to lose. Maryland fired Mike Locksley on Wednesday. It took eight seasons and a 54-3 home loss to UCLA to get here. Locksley leaves at 38-49 overall and 16-47 …
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College Football
What We Learned: Week 7
Saturday was the day college football’s royalty found out the rest of us get to play, too. The No. 1, No. 2, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, No. 13, No. 16 and No. 18 teams in the AP poll all lost, five of the top eight on the same day for the first time …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – Week 7
We’re halfway through the 2026 season, and Oct. 17 is going to settle something. Subscribe to have our weekly rankings sent directly to your inbox. What a great week. Five of the Top 10 coaches didn’t play, which is the safest thing some of them have done all season. The other five should have tried …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 5 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Saturday took down 8 ranked teams, and 5 of them lost in front of their own fans. The top of the sport got shorter Florida went first, and it didn’t bother being polite about it. Penn State and USC also lost at home, and both get their own treatment further down. The No. 1 team …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Arkansas Bought Ryan Silverfield’s Memphis Record, and the Ratings Underneath It Say the Razorbacks Downgraded
Ryan Silverfield stood at the microphones this week and said he was glad Arkansas football fans cared enough to be this angry. He has coached two games. The Razorbacks lost 43-10 at Utah on Saturday night, down 29-3 at the half, and by Sunday afternoon Mike Irwin, one of the longest-serving reporters on the beat, …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
WEEK 3 – 2026 COACHES HOT SEAT RANKINGS
Ryan Day led by 20 points in the fourth quarter Saturday night and moved 56 spots up the Coaches Hot Seat Rankings by Sunday morning. That’s the biggest one-week jump anybody has made this season, and it happened to a man who went into the weekend sitting 115th with a playoff bracket on his mind. …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 2 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Luke Fickell takes over at 1 after Wisconsin was outscored 28‑3 in the second half at Lambeau Field, and Dabo Swinney climbed 44 spots after losing by 41. Luke Fickell had Notre Dame beaten at halftime, and 86 seconds later he was the hottest seat in America. He had company. Every other man on this …
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College Football
The Clock In The Stadium Said Michigan Lost. The Big Ten Has A Different Clock, And You Are Not Allowed To See It
The clock you watched isn’t the real clock Everybody in that stadium looked at the same number: zero. Bryce Underwood threw a Hail Mary out the back of the end zone. The scoreboard hit triple zeros. Western Michigan’s sideline emptied onto the field, because that’s what teams do when the clock says the game is …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Mike Norvell Won by 17 and Got Hotter. Dave Doeren Lost by 26 and Jumped to 10 on Our Board. Week 0 Wasn’t About Wins.
Week 1 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings Florida State wrote New Mexico State a $1.4 million check and got booed 20 minutes into the game it bought. The money amounts to roughly $82,000 per point of the final margin, and the margin was 17. Mike Norvell, in his seventh season as Florida State’s head coach, was …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 0 – 2026 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Wisconsin Fans Stopped Chanting and Canceled 7,193 Season Tickets. That Is How You Measure a Hot Seat in 2026 Here is who has the least room to fail in 2026, and why it is not the order our own numbers produce. Every coach in the top 4 was publicly saved by his own school last …
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Coaches Hot Seat
North Carolina Needs $29 Million To Fire Bill Belichick. He Needs $1 Million To Walk Away From Them.
John Preyer, you sent the offer sheet. You were running the North Carolina Board of Trustees in December 2024 when ESPN says you put a contract in front of Bill Belichick’s agent without bothering to ask Bubba Cunningham, the athletic director whose entire job that was. Then you called an emergency meeting, closed the doors, …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Dabo Swinney Is the Safest 7-6 Coach in America
Dabo Swinney is not getting fired, and that is the whole problem. In 2025, he coached the most talented roster of his eighteen years at Clemson to a 7-6 record and the lowest team rating of his tenure. A buyout of over fifty million dollars means nothing on the field can force him to change. …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The Real Reason Luke Fickell Is on the Hot Seat at Wisconsin (It’s Not the Air Raid)
Yes, Luke Fickell is on the hot seat, and it is one of the hottest in college football. The reason is not the one most fans reach for. Wisconsin spent two years blaming the Air Raid, then fired the coordinator who ran it and watched the offense get worse, scoring 12.8 points a game in …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Is Lance Leipold on the Hot Seat? 5 Tells That Separate a Blip From a Slide at Kansas
Is Lance Leipold really on the hot seat at Kansas? Five ways to tell if a coach bounces back or keeps sliding, run start to finish on the Jayhawks. Every offseason, the preseason magazines sort last year’s 5-7 teams into “bounce-back” and “rebuild” based on almost nothing, and every fall, half of those calls fall …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Florida State Graded Its Own Coach as Failing, in Writing, and Kept Him
Mike Norvell would like to apologize again, and he has had the practice. After Florida ran through his team 40-21 in November, the fourth losing season in his six years, he stepped to the podium and said he had not coached well enough and his team had not played well enough. He called it infuriating. …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Mike Locksley’s Hot Seat in 2026: Maryland’s 18-0 and 0-19 Problem
Mike Locksley is 18-0. He is also 0-19. Locksley is the head coach at Maryland, the program he grew up rooting for, and those two numbers are why he enters 2026 coaching for his job. The 18-0 is his record in nonconference games, the bodies nobody schedules to test you. The 0-19 is his mark …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Preseason 2026 Coaches’ Hot Seat Rankings
Let us tell you what this list measures, because everyone else gets it wrong on purpose. We are not predicting who gets fired. Nobody is getting fired in Week 0. Or Week 1. A firing is a press release and a buyout negotiation, and in August, it is months away from anyone’s desk. So a …
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College Football
Is Alex Mortensen A Good Hire For UAB?
The Blazers needed a steady hand after the Trent Dilfer disaster. They might have found one. UAB named Alex Mortensen its eighth head football coach on December 5, 2025, promoting the 40-year-old offensive coordinator after a two-month interim audition that included one of the biggest upsets in program history. The hire comes after a “voluminous” …
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College Football
UConn’s New Head Coach Has Won 81 Games, 2 Conference Titles, and has Gone 0-5 Against Ranked Teams. Is That Good Enough?
Jason Candle has won 81 games, two conference titles, and zero games against ranked opponents. That’s not a typo. In 11 seasons as Toledo’s head coach, Candle went 0–5 against top-25 teams. He’s the winningest coach in Rockets history, a two-time MAC Coach of the Year, and he has never—not once—beaten a ranked opponent. UConn …
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College Football
Tavita Pritchard Helped Jayden Daniels Win Rookie Of The Year. Now He Has To Rebuild A Stanford Program That Went 6–18 Under Troy Taylor. That’s A Very Different Job.
Stanford just made the most Stanford hire in modern college football. Tavita Pritchard is a Cardinal lifer: Everyone in Palo Alto loves this hire. Andrew Luck hand-picked him. The institution exhaled. The press conference was warm and fuzzy. Here’s the problem. Fit doesn’t win football games. And Stanford just went 6–18 under Troy Taylor and …
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College Football
Will Stein Turned Bo Nix Into the Most Accurate QB in College Football. Now He’s At Kentucky, and Has Kenny Minchey, with Zero Margin for Error
A first-time head coach with an elite offensive résumé takes over a Kentucky program desperate for an identity. Here’s what the Coaches Hot Seat Scorecard says about the hire. The Job Before you grade the coach, you have to grade the job. Kentucky’s all-time record against current SEC opponents is 169-393-20. That’s not a typo. …
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College Football
Cal Hired a First-Time Head Coach With Zero HC Experience, an Elite Recruiting Resume, and a Trail of Controversy. Here’s Why It Might Work.
Cal just made the most important football hire in the program’s modern history. On December 4, 2025, the Bears named Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi as their 35th head football coach. Five-year deal. First-time head coach. A former Cal defensive lineman returning to an alma mater that hasn’t finished a season ranked in the AP …
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College Football
Alex Golesh Left South Florida for Auburn and Took 14 Players With Him. Brian Hartline Responded With 31 Portal Transfers and the Richest Contract in Program History
When Alex Golesh left for Auburn the day after South Florida’s regular season finale, he didn’t just leave a vacancy. He left a program that had gone from 4 wins in three years to 9-3 with a top-5 scoring offense, three straight bowl appearances, and the first College Football Playoff ranking in school history. He …
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College Football
Is Blake Anderson a Good Hire for Southern Miss? Yes. Is He a Great Hire? Probably Not.
When Charles Huff bolted for Memphis after just one season, Southern Miss had a choice to make. Swing big on another rising star. Roll the dice on an unproven coordinator. Or promote the 56-year-old offensive coordinator who already had the keys to the building. Athletic Director Jeremy McClain chose door three. Three days after naming …
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College Football
Ole Miss’s New Head Coach Is Already Facing an NCAA Complaint. That’s Not Even the Real Problem.
Eight weeks into the job, Pete Golding is already in an NCAA complaint. Clemson Head Football Coach Dabo Swinney held a press conference last Thursday and named him directly. Said Golding texted a Clemson signee during class, asking about his buyout. Said he sent photos of seven-figure NIL offers. Said the phone records would prove …
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College Football
Pat Fitzgerald Is 17-38 Against Ranked Teams. Michigan State Just Hired Him To Beat Ohio State.
Everybody’s talking about the baggage. The hazing scandal. The two years away. The “100 percent vindicated” quote that will resurface every time the Spartans lose back-to-back games. That’s the easy narrative. But the harder question—the one that actually determines whether this hire works—is hiding in plain sight. It’s in the splits. .309 Against Ranked. .469 …
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College Football
Eric Morris Was Exciting. Neal Brown Will Be Reliable.
Here’s Why That’s Actually What North Texas Needs. Neal Brown isn’t a splash hire. He’s something better for North Texas: a proven program builder who’s already won at this level. While Eric Morris brought schematic creativity and tempo that excited fans, Brown brings a decade of head-coaching experience, 72 wins, and a track record of …
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College Football
Eric Morris Has Never Beaten a Ranked Team
Now He’s the Head Coach at Oklahoma State. Eric Morris is one of the most exciting offensive minds in college football. He developed quarterbacks who became first-round NFL picks. He coordinated top-10 offenses at three different programs. He took North Texas from a 5-7 afterthought to an 11-2 juggernaut averaging 503 yards per game—the best …
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College Football
Charles Huff Took Southern Miss From 1-11 to 7-5 In One Season. Now He’s At Memphis—His Third Job In Three Years.
Charles Huff fixes broken programs. That’s the value proposition Memphis is buying. Not a recruiter who needs five years to build his guys. Not a developmental coach who grows freshmen into seniors. Huff is a fixer — a guy who walks into a disaster, flips the portal, resets the culture, and delivers wins fast. The …
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College Football
Billy Napier Was 40-12 At Louisiana And 22-23 At Florida. Here’s Why JMU Is Betting He’s Still The Louisiana Version.
Billy Napier just landed the best job in Group of Five football. James Madison went 40-10 in its first three FBS seasons. The Dukes won a Sun Belt title. They made the College Football Playoff. And now Bob Chesney – the coach who built that 2025 run – is gone to UCLA. Napier inherits a …
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Eaton Fire
Bubba Lost Everything in the Eaton Fire. He Found Us.
A year ago, in the early morning, our Eaton Fire rescue dog lost everything he knew. So did his family. At approximately 3:00 a.m., neighbors pounded on their door. The fire was approaching. Time to evacuate. Fifteen minutes later, they were driving down the street with nothing but what they could carry. A mom. A …
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College Football
Is Jim Mora an Upgrade Over Jay Norvell at Colorado State?
Colorado State just made a bet. Not a small bet. Not a ‘let’s see what happens’ bet. A real bet – the kind where you fire a coach coming off an 8-5 season because you believe something better exists. The kind where you write a check to a 64-year-old with 100+ career wins and say, …
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College Football
Coastal Carolina Fans Wanted Chadwell 2.0. They Got Tim Beck With A Defensive Coat Of Paint
This is not a home run. It’s a lateral move with a defensive coat of paint. Coastal Carolina just replaced Tim Beck with Missouri State’s Ryan Beard, a 36-year-old defensive-minded coach who led his program to a 7-6 season in his second year at the FBS level. The move signals a clear philosophical shift: out …
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College Football
Reader Sean Mullen says I Owe Ricky Rahne A Public Apology. So I Wrote One. He’s Not Going To Like How It Ends.
Reader Sean Mullen sent me this message last week: “Congratulations Mark on being completely wrong about Ricky Rahne at Old Dominion. Are you gonna do the right thing now and follow up and state publicly you were wrong?” Fair enough. In August, I predicted Rahne would be fired by November. Instead, ODU went 10-3, beat …
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College Football
Iowa State Hired Jimmy Rogers 72 Hours After Losing Matt Campbell. Now He Has to Replace a Legend With One Year of FBS Experience”
Iowa State moved fast. Matt Campbell took the Penn State job, and within days, the Cyclones had their guy. Jimmy Rogers, fresh off a 6-6 debut season at Washington State, now inherits a program that made the Big 12 Championship Game and became a legitimate conference contender under Campbell. The question everyone in Ames is …
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College Football
Penn State Fired A Coach Who Won 104 Games Because He Couldn’t Beat Elite Teams. Matt Campbell’s Record Says He Might Solve That Problem.
Penn State didn’t hire Matt Campbell. They settled for him. After 54 days of chaos (Pat Kraft whiffing on Matt Rhule, Mike Elko, Kalen DeBoer, and watching Kalani Sitake use Happy Valley as leverage for a BYU extension), the Nittany Lions landed on a coach who was never Plan A. The search that began with …
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College Football
Auburn Hired Alex Golesh For $42 Million. Here’s Why His 23-15 Record At USF Either Makes Him A Genius Bet Or Buyout #6
Auburn just bet $42 million on an unproven offensive coordinator turned three-year Group of Five head coach. The Tigers fired Hugh Freeze after five straight losing seasons. They handed the keys to Alex Golesh, a 39-year-old who went 23-15 at South Florida, has never coached a Power Four game as a head coach, and is …
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College Football
Bob Chesney Is a Great Coach. UCLA’s Leadership Might Destroy Him Anyway
UCLA made a strong coaching hire inside a broken institutional structure. Bob Chesney brings an elite program-building résumé to Westwood. He’s 131-51 overall (.720) across four levels of college football. He rebuilt every program he touched. And at James Madison, he went 21-5 in two years, won the Sun Belt, earned the program’s first bowl …
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College Football
Join Our Bowl Challenge
Our friends at the Targeting Winners podcast are in on the Capital One Bowl Mania challenge this year, and they’ve invited Coaches Hot Seat readers to join the group. The setup: three contest modes (Standard, Spread, and Confidence). Go perfect in any of them and you could walk away with up to $1 million. Miss …
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College Football
Jon Sumrall Has 3 Conference Titles And A 79.6% Win Rate. Here’s The Red Flag Buried In His Record That Could Doom Him In The SEC
The Bottom Line Jon Sumrall is a clear upgrade in process and upside over Billy Napier. But whether he’s a true results upgrade in the SEC will hinge almost entirely on staff hires and whether he can translate his Group of Five discipline-and-physicality pitch into a cleaner, more explosive product than Napier ever managed in Gainesville. On résumé …
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College Football
Tulane Just Made The College Football Playoff. Then They Hired A Coach Who Went 14-30 And Was Fired Mid-Season.
Is This a Good Hire? The Short Answer: No. Tulane just went from one of the best Group of Five coaching situations in America to hiring a coach who was fired mid-season after going 14-30 at Southern Miss. Let that sink in. The Numbers Tell the Story Will Hall’s FBS head coaching record is brutal: …
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College Football
Ryan Silverfield Is 3-12 On The Road Against Winning Teams. Arkansas Just Asked Him To Win At Georgia, LSU, Texas, And Texas A&M.
Ryan Silverfield is a high-floor stabilizer hire for Arkansas. He’ll almost certainly get the Razorbacks back to bowl eligibility and competent, week-in/week-out SEC football. His Memphis track record – 50-25, bowl games every year, back-to-back double-digit-win seasons – shows he knows how to build and maintain a program. But nothing in his profile screams “SEC …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – End of Season 2025
The 2025 regular season is complete. The coaching carousel is not. These rankings reflect pressure, not predictions. We don’t forecast firings. We track the gap between expectations and results – the weight of buyouts, the patience of administrators, the brutal math of wins and losses in a sport that changes by the hour. This list …
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College Football
James Franklin Is 4-21 Against Top-10 Teams. Here’s Why Virginia Tech Hired Him Anyway, And Why It Might Actually Be The Right Call
Is James Franklin a Good Hire at Virginia Tech? The Verdict James Franklin is a high-floor, polarizingly safe hire for Virginia Tech. He dramatically raises the talent and competency baseline in Blacksburg. His recruiting prowess will immediately transform VT’s roster trajectory. And his track record of building programs (Vanderbilt, Penn State) removes the developmental gamble …
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College Football
Grading the Carousel: Preliminary Hire Grades for the 2024-25 Cycle
The carousel never stops spinning. We’re tracking 21 coaching changes this cycle — 13 with new coaches already named, 8 still waiting on their guy. What follows are our preliminary grades across three categories: Hire Quality, Process, and Fan/Media Sentiment. These aren’t final verdicts. They’re initial reactions. First impressions. The kind of grades that will …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
COACHES HOT SEAT: WEEK 13 RANKINGS
The clock just hit midnight on college football’s struggling coaches. No more “next year” promises. No more “we’re close” platitudes. Week 12 stripped away the illusions and exposed the reality: some programs are moving forward, and others are circling the drain. Jonathan Smith is 0-7 in Big Ten play. Shane Beamer blew a 27-point halftime …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 12 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Week 11 exposed the pretenders. Week 12 eliminates them. This is the part of the season where athletic directors stop debating and start deciding. Where donor patience either holds or shatters entirely. Where recruits make final judgments about which programs are ascending and which are circling the drain. The “we’re close to turning the corner” …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 11 – Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Week 11 is where the pretenders get exposed. This is the part of the season where the rubber meets the road. Where your team and your staff prove they’ve “got it” – or don’t. The early-season excuses are gone. The “we’re still figuring things out” narrative doesn’t fly anymore. By Week 11, you either have …
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SEC Preview
Two Hot Seat Coaches Meet At Auburn: One Will Buy Time, The Other Runs Out Of Runway
This isn’t just another SEC game. This is a referendum on two coaches fighting for their jobs. Mark Stoops sits at #16 on the Coaches Hot Seat rankings (and trending in the wrong direction). Hugh Freeze checks in at #5, which means every single game is an audition for next season. Auburn hosts Kentucky at …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Brian Kelly Is Out at LSU—And the Coaching Carousel Just Got Absolutely Insane
The coaching carousel just claimed its biggest name yet. Brian Kelly is out at LSU. Fired. Done. Less than 24 hours after a humiliating 49-25 home loss to Texas A&M—after running into the locker room while students chanted “Fire Kelly,” after being forced to come back out and sing the alma mater with his players—LSU …
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Coaches Hot Seat
WEEK 10 COACHES HOT SEAT RANKINGS
The seats are getting hotter. And the carousel is spinning faster than anyone expected. We’re barely past mid-season and the coaching changes are piling up. Brian Kelly is out at LSU. James Franklin got fired at Penn State two weeks ago. Florida, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Stanford—all looking for new head coaches. This …
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SEC Preview
Kentucky Has Faced The SEC’s 9th-Toughest Schedule This Season. Here’s Why Their 2-4 Record And 16.7 Points Per Game Against Quality Defenses Means Tennessee Wins By 20+ On Saturday
Here’s what nobody’s talking about: Kentucky has faced one of the most brutal schedules in college football this season. They’ve gone toe-to-toe with Georgia, Texas, and Ole Miss—all top-25 programs with elite defenses. And despite sitting at 2-4, they took Texas to overtime, losing 16-13, a game that showed real defensive grit. On paper, this …
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Featured Games
Michigan Is 6-4 And Barely Functional. Michigan State Scores 13 Points Per Game And Can’t Stop Anyone. Here’s Why Saturday’s Rivalry Game Will Be A Clinical 30-13 Win For The Wolverines (And Why Neither Fanbase Should Celebrate)
There’s a moment in every rivalry when one team stops playing to win—and starts playing not to lose. This is not a game between two good teams. This is a game between a disappointing Michigan squad that’s learned to stop embarrassing itself, and a Michigan State program that can’t stop the bleeding. The Wolverines aren’t …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 9 — Top 10 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
1. Mike Norvell, Florida State (ACC) Mike Norvell’s seat went from warm to “legit fire hot” after losing to Stanford 20-13 as a 17.5-point favorite. The fourth straight loss. The fourth time Norvell’s had a four-game losing streak in Tallahassee. Florida State is 5-14 since the start of 2024, and sources say players were cracking …
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AAC Preview
California (4-2) Hosts North Carolina (2-3) Friday Night: A Brutally Honest Game Preview Of Two Bad Teams Fighting To Prove Who Sucks Less
This is not a game between two good football teams. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. California (4-2) hosts North Carolina (2-3) on Friday night in Berkeley, and if you’re expecting offensive fireworks or elite defensive play, you’re watching the wrong game. This is a battle between two deeply flawed teams …
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Featured Games
The Bush Push Was 20 Years Ago. USC Is Due For Another Heartbreaker At Notre Dame—Except This Time, The Trojans Are On The Wrong End: 30-27
USC rolls into South Bend with a 5-1 record, flashy offensive numbers, and a quarterback playing out of his mind. Notre Dame sits at 4-2, licking their wounds from two heartbreaking losses to start the season. On paper, this looks like a coin flip. But here’s what everyone is missing: USC’s offensive explosion is a …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 8 — Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Three coaches were fired on Sunday. Trent Dilfer. James Franklin. Trent Bray. Gone. When coaches start falling in October, everyone else feels it. The phone calls start. The quiet meetings happen. The pressure that was already there gets cranked up to a whole new level. Here are the 10 coaches under the most pressure in …
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Featured Games
Hugh Freeze Has 2 Games To Save His Job At Auburn. Here’s Why Saturday Night’s Matchup Against #10 Georgia At Jordan-Hare Stadium Is Game 1 Of His Final Stand
7:30 PM EDT. Jordan-Hare Stadium. Lights. Chaos. Everything on the line. This isn’t just another SEC game. This is Hugh Freeze fighting for his job. This is Auburn desperate for relevance after back-to-back losses. This is Georgia trying to stay in the playoff hunt on the road, at night, in one of the most dangerous …
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Featured Games
USC’s Starting Center Kilian O’Connor Is Out vs Michigan’s Elite Defense. Here’s Why The Trojans’ 338 Passing Yards Per Game Still Wins Them The Game 28-21 (And Why The Injury Will Be The Go-To Excuse If They Lose)
Lincoln Riley needs to win this game. Not because USC’s season depends on it—though a loss would hurt their playoff chances. Riley needs to win because he’s in the middle of a three-game stretch that will define whether he’s a program-builder or just another coach who couldn’t handle the jump to a major conference. No. …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 7 – Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
We’re officially past the halfway point of the 2025 college football season, and the bodies are starting to pile up. This is when the excuses run out. “We’re young” doesn’t work anymore. “We’re installing a new system” isn’t cutting it. “We just need more time” sounds like desperation. October is when college football separates the …
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Featured Games
Clemson Is 1-3 And Desperate. North Carolina Can’t Score. Here’s Why Saturday’s ACC Matchup Will Be Ugly—And Why Clemson Wins Anyway
Saturday’s ACC matchup is the college football equivalent of two drowning men fighting over a life vest. Clemson entered 2025 as a conference championship favorite. North Carolina hired Bill Belichick—the greatest NFL coach of all time—to transform their program. Four games in, both teams are disasters. Clemson is 1-3 and reeling. UNC is 2-2 and …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Spotlight on the Top Five – Week 6 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings
Most people have no idea how quickly things can unravel in college football. One day, you’re the “savior” of a storied program. Next, you’re fielding questions about your buyout clause and watching fans organize billboards calling for your resignation. The difference between job security and unemployment in this business isn’t always talent or even wins—it’s …
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ACC
From Hot Seat to Playoff Hunt: How FSU and Virginia Went From College Football’s Biggest Disasters to Undefeated Juggernauts in One Season
Friday Night Lights in Charlottesville#8 Florida State (3-0) at Virginia (3-1)Scott Stadium, Charlottesville, VAFriday, September 26, 2025 – 7:00 PM ET The Storylines Florida State: From Disaster to Dynasty (Again) The Seminoles have authored one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent college football history. After a catastrophic 2-10 season in 2024 that saw them …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The Mike Gundy Era Is Over (Whether Oklahoma State Admits It Or Not)
Oklahoma State’s legendary coach has become a cautionary tale about staying too long at the party Here’s what nobody wants to say out loud. Mike Gundy is done. Not “struggling.” Not “going through a rough patch.” Not “needing time to adjust to the new landscape.” Done. And the numbers don’t lie—even when the narrative tries …
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Featured Games
Two Coaches, Two Seasons: How Cal vs San Diego State Became A Tale of Opposite Trajectories
Cal coach Justin Wilcox started this season at #15 on our Coaches Hot Seat Rankings. This week, he sits at #41. Cal supporters were calling for his firing. Eight years of mediocrity had worn thin on a fanbase that remembered the Jeff Tedford glory days. The move to the ACC felt like a desperate attempt …
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College Football
Martin Jarmond Set DeShaun Foster Up To Fail. Now UCLA’s Athletic Director Should Be The One Looking For A New Job.
Martin Jarmond fired DeShaun Foster after 15 games, but the real problem sits one floor above the football offices. UCLA’s athletic director created the perfect storm that destroyed Foster’s tenure before it began. The hasty hiring process, inadequate resources, and administrative dysfunction all trace back to one person: the man who pulled the trigger on …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Why College Football Coaching Has Become a Weekly Pressure Cooker
Modern college football coaching means living under microscopic scrutiny where every decision gets analyzed and every loss creates crisis-level pressure. Week 3 showcased how quickly hot-seat temperatures can spike when coaches face the unforgiving mathematics of fan expectations. When Pressure Becomes Unbearable Billy Napier’s situation at Florida illustrates how rapidly coaching pressure can escalate. The …
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Featured Games
Oklahoma’s #6 Hot Seat Coach Has 12 Games To Save His Job. Michigan Is Game #2.
Here’s what everyone in college football knows but won’t say out loud. Brent Venables is coaching for his career on Saturday. Not his season. His career. When you’re ranked #6 out of 136 coaches on the Coaches Hot Seat rankings, every game becomes a referendum on your future. The Math Is Simple: Meanwhile, Sherrone Moore …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
9 College Football Coaches Who Just Felt Their Seats Get 10 Degrees Hotter After Week 1 (And Why the Pressure Is Only Getting Started)
College football’s coaching carousel spins fastest in September, when preseason optimism crashes into Week 1 reality and exposes the coaches who spent the offseason building excuses instead of building programs. While ESPN debates which coaches are “on the bubble,” smart money watches the programs where fan forums have already turned toxic, ticket sales have quietly …
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Big Ten
Why USC’s October Schedule Is Sabotaging Their Championship Dreams (And What Every High Performer Can Learn From It)
Most people think October rivalry games are magical. They’re missing the point entirely. USC’s October Problem While other programs optimize their schedules for conference championships, USC flies cross-country in the middle of its toughest stretch. Notre Dame in October. Then right back into Big Ten play. It’s like running a marathon, then immediately sprinting 400 …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 0 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings: We Analyzed Every College Football Coach’s Job Security. Here Are The 10 Most Endangered
These are our preseason rankings. The starting point for tracking coaching pressure all season long. Every coach occupies their spot heading into Week 1. But here’s the thing—these rankings are dynamic. They move every single week based on wins, losses, and the political reality inside each program. Someone in our Top 5 can win their …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Sonny Cumbie’s 11-26 Record At Louisiana Tech Puts Him At #1 On Coaches Hot Seat Preseason Rankings—Here’s Why
Everyone pretends to be shocked when a coach gets fired after 3 straight losing seasons. As if the writing wasn’t on the wall the entire time. Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie enters his fourth season in 2025 with our hot seat rating of 0.574 (where 1.0 represents meeting expectations and anything below signals mounting …
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American Athletic Conference
Trent Dilfer Has A 7-17 Record At UAB. Here’s Why His $3.6 Million Buyout Won’t Save His Job In 2025
Here’s what nobody wants to say out loud. Trent Dilfer is coaching for his job at UAB. And based on two years of evidence, he’s going to lose it. The numbers don’t lie. A 7-17 record. A .292 winning percentage. Zero road wins in 24 months. And a hot seat rating of 0.715 that has …
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Mid-American
Joe Moorhead Was Supposed To Fix Akron Football. Instead, He’s Turned Statistical Improvement Into An Art Form Of Losing
The math doesn’t lie at Akron. Three seasons into his tenure at Akron, the veteran coach sits on college football’s third-hottest seat with a 0.659 Hot Seat Rating™ in the Coaches Hot Seat® rankings. This number reflects significant underperformance against expectations, where 1.0 represents meeting expectations and anything below signals mounting pressure. His 8-28 record …
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Mountain West
The UNLV Story No One Is Talking About (And Why Dan Mullen’s Gamble Will Either Make History Or Destroy Everything)
Most college football stories are predictable. Bad team hires a new coach. Coach rebuilds slowly over three years. Maybe they win some games, maybe they don’t. But what’s happening at UNLV right now isn’t that story at all. This is something completely different. The Foundation That Was Already Perfect This wasn’t a broken program that …
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Sun Belt
Southern Miss Football 2025: Charles Huff Just Copy-Pasted a Championship Program
Here’s what everyone is missing about the Southern Miss hire. Charles Huff didn’t just take a new job. He literally copy-pasted an entire championship program from Marshall to Hattiesburg. Most coaching hires involve one person switching schools. This is different. This is importing a proven system, proven players, and proven results wholesale. And if you …
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Sun Belt
The Tony Gibson Experiment: How Marshall Football Became College Football’s Most Dangerous Wild Card
Marshall football has no idea what they’re doing in 2025. And that might be exactly what makes them terrifying. While everyone else obsesses over Alabama’s quarterback battle or debates whether Georgia can repeat, the most fascinating story in college football is unfolding in Huntington, West Virginia. Tony Gibson just walked into the most impossible coaching …
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Sun Belt
Here’s Why G.J. Kinne’s Texas State Transformation Goes Deeper Than Anyone Realizes
While most analysts recognized Texas State as preseason favorites, what they missed is the deeper transformation Kinne is building—one that goes far beyond predictions and win totals. They see G.J. Kinne’s 1.637 hot seat rating and think: “Solid coach, nice story, probably sustainable.” What they’re looking at is the beginning of something much bigger. The …
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Sun Belt
Why Major Applewhite’s Massive Roster Turnover and Houston Failure Make 2025 His Most Critical Season at South Alabama
Most college football fans have no idea what happened at South Alabama in 2024. They went 7-6. They won their bowl game. They kept the program moving forward after their previous coach left for Alabama. But here’s what the numbers don’t tell you: Major Applewhite is sitting on the most precarious coaching throne in college …
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Sun Belt
Louisiana Coach Michael Desormeaux Faces Make-Or-Break 2025 Season After Losing All-Star Players From 10-Win Team
Here’s what nobody wants to admit about Louisiana football: The 2024 season was a mirage. Michael Desormeaux’s 10-4 record and Sun Belt Coach of the Year award look impressive in the trophy case. His hot seat rating of 1.171 suggests a coach exceeding expectations. The five-year contract extension through 2029 screams institutional confidence. But strip …
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Sun Belt
The $1 Million Coach Nobody’s Watching Collapses in Real Time
While everyone debates whether Brent Venables can turn around Oklahoma, the most expensive failure in the Sun Belt is happening right under our noses. His name is Tim Beck. He makes $1.05 million annually. And he’s about to prove that following a legend is college football’s cruelest assignment. Here’s the story nobody’s telling about Coastal …
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Sun Belt
The Hottest Coaching Seat in College Football Is Hiding in Plain Sight
While everyone obsesses over Lincoln Riley and other big-name coaches, the most dangerous hot seat in America belongs to a guy most fans have never heard of. His name is Ricky Rahne. He coaches at Old Dominion. And he’s about to become the first major firing of the 2025 season. Here’s why nobody sees it …
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Sun Belt
Bob Chesney’s James Madison Experiment Is About To Get Very Real
Most first-year coaching hires crash and burn within 24 months. Bob Chesney’s .912 hot seat rating after Year One suggests he might be different. The former Holy Cross coach took James Madison from transition chaos to 9 wins and a bowl victory in 12 months. But here’s what nobody wants to admit: Year Two is …
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Sun Belt
How I Watched ‘Clueless Clay’ Fool Georgia Southern Into Overpaying for Mediocrity
Clay Helton just got paid like a winner after three straight losing seasons at Georgia Southern. The Contract That Defies Logic Georgia Southern rewarded their 20-19 coach with a five-year extension worth $1 million annually through 2029. The math doesn’t add up: Yet somehow, this earned Helton a raise from $805,000 to seven figures annually. …
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Sun Belt
Dell McGee’s Georgia State Football Nightmare Is Just Beginning
Dell McGee’s first season at Georgia State ended exactly how everyone feared it would. The former Georgia running backs coach—who helped develop Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and D’Andre Swift into NFL stars—managed just 3 wins in 12 games. His hot seat rating of .702 against weak competition tells the brutal truth: even lowered expectations proved …
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Sun Belt
The Parker Paradox: Why Troy Football’s $900K Gamble Is Already Backfiring
Gerad Parker’s hot seat rating of .613 tells you everything you need to know about Troy football’s desperate situation. The Million-Dollar Question Nobody’s Asking Why did Troy pay $900,000 annually for a coordinator who had never proven he could build a program? Parker’s resume looks impressive on paper: That last bullet point should have been …
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MWC Preview
New Mexico Football 2025 Season Preview: Jason Eck’s Zero-Point Rebuild
Jason Eck inherits a New Mexico Football program that generated 33.5 points per game but surrendered 41.0, creating the classic high-floor, low-ceiling scenario that defines coaching transitions. With a hot seat rating of 0 as a brand-new coach, Eck has maximum runway but faces the psychological reality that New Mexico fans have been conditioned to …
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MWC Preview
The Clean Slate: Matt Entz and Fresno State’s Championship Caliber Reset
Fresno State’s Matt Entz isn’t just another coaching hire. The numbers tell a brutal truth about Fresno State’s 2024 campaign that few want to acknowledge: this was a program treading water, not swimming toward anything meaningful. A 6-7 record, including a gut-wrenching 28-20 double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, represented …
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MWC Preview
Wyoming Football 2025 Season Preview: Jay Sawvel’s Critical Second Year
Jay Sawvel inherited something both precious and dangerous when he took over Wyoming football. The 33rd head coach in program history faces a paradox that would terrify most coaches: he must honor a decade of unprecedented stability while proving he can exceed the modest ceiling that same stability created. His hot seat rating of 0.531 …
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MWC Preview
Nevada Football 2025 Season Preview: Jeff Choate’s Critical Second Year
Jeff Choate’s honeymoon period as Nevada’s football coach is over. After a brutal 3-10 debut season that included an embarrassing 0-7 conference record, Nevada’s second-year head coach enters 2025 with a hot seat rating of .451. This number screams one thing: urgency. With conventional wisdom granting coaches three years to show progress, 2025 becomes make-or-break …
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MWC Preview
Spencer Danielson’s Coaching Performance: The 2025 Test That Will Define His Boise State Football Legacy
Boise State Football’s Spencer Danielson walks into 2025 with a hot seat rating of 1.073 and zero pressure to save his job. But here’s what nobody is talking about: this season represents the most brutal coaching evaluation of his career. Danielson must replace generational talent, navigate the program’s toughest schedule in years, and prove his …
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MWC Preview
AirForce Falcons 2025 Season Preview: Troy Calhoun’s Excellence Amid Transformation
Troy Calhoun isn’t just surviving at AirForce—he’s thriving. With a hot seat rating of 1.124, the highest in the Mountain West Conference, Calhoun is exceeding expectations in an environment where most coaches would crumble under pressure. His 18th season at the helm represents something college football rarely sees: sustained excellence at a place where football …
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MWC Preview
The Ken Niumatalolo Red Flags Everyone at San Jose State Is Ignoring
Ken Niumatalolo’s first season at San Jose State fooled everyone. The surface stats scream success: 7-6 record, bowl game, signature wins over Stanford and Oregon State, college football’s first unanimous All-American receiver in program history. Sports media ate it up. Fans bought the hype. Even his hot seat rating of 1.221 suggests he’s exceeding expectations. …
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MWC Preview
Colorado State 2025 Football Season Preview: Jay Norvell’s Critical Fourth Year
Jay Norvell’s fourth season at Colorado State might be his most important yet. With an 8-5 record and bowl appearance providing foundation credibility, the head coach faces meaningful pressure to demonstrate that three years of steady building can translate into Mountain West championship contention. His hot seat rating of .987 indicates he’s meeting expectations and …
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MWC Preview
San Diego State Football 2025: Will the AztecFAST Attack Finally Deliver?
San Diego State Football’s Sean Lewis enters year two with everything on the line. The 2025 season represents a make-or-break moment for San Diego State football. After a disappointing 3-9 debut campaign, Lewis faces mounting pressure to prove his AztecFAST attack can translate innovative concepts into actual wins. With significant roster turnover at quarterback and …
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MWC Preview
Hawaii Football 2025: Can Culture Finally Create Wins?
Hawaii football’s Timmy Chang has mastered everything about coaching except the one thing that matters most. The Hawaii head coach has: But he still can’t consistently win games. The Cultural Champion’s Impossible Test Chang’s hot seat rating sits at .441, technically placing him in danger territory among college football coaches. Yet this number tells only …
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SEC Preview
Georgia Football 2025: The Year Everything Must Come Together
Georgia football stands at the most critical crossroads in the Kirby Smart era. After an 11-3 season that included an SEC Championship but ended with crushing disappointment against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, the Bulldogs face a familiar question: Can they reload fast enough to compete for another national title? The answer isn’t as …
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SEC Preview
Missouri Football 2025: The Year Everything Must Come Together
Missouri Football is about to find out if their recent success was real or just a beautiful accident. After back-to-back 10-win seasons that shocked college football, the Tigers face the ultimate test of sustainability. Star quarterback Brady Cook is gone. Top receivers Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. departed for the NFL. Nearly half …
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SEC Preview
LSU Football 2025: Brian Kelly’s Championship Window Is Closing Fast
LSU Football Coach Brian Kelly is coaching for his legacy. After three seasons in Baton Rouge that have produced solid records but no championship hardware, the LSU head coach enters 2025 with the best roster he has ever assembled and absolutely no margin for error. The Tigers finished 9-4 in 2024, including a Texas Bowl …
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SEC Preview
Texas A&M 2025 Football Season Preview: Can the Aggies Break Through Under Mike Elko?
Everything Texas A&M accomplishes in 2025 hinges on one player. As the Aggies enter Mike Elko’s second season, the college football world is asking a simple question: Can this program finally escape its eight-win prison? After a frustrating 8-5 campaign that showcased flashes of brilliance followed by crushing disappointment, Texas A&M sits at the most …
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SEC Preview
Ole Miss 2025 Football Season Preview: Rebels Positioned for Playoff Breakthrough
Ole Miss Football Coach Lane Kiffin has never been closer to his College Football Playoff dream. After three 10-win seasons in four years and a dominant 52-20 Gator Bowl victory over Duke, the Ole Miss Rebels enter 2025 with the most talented roster in school history. The question is no longer whether they can compete …
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SEC Preview
South Carolina Football 2025: The Championship Window Is Wide Open
Shane Beamer is about to find out if last year’s South Carolina football season was real or just a beautiful accident. After a breakthrough 9-4 season that nobody saw coming, South Carolina enters 2025 with championship expectations for the first time in over a decade. The Gamecocks finished ranked 19th in both major polls, posted …
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SEC Preview
Kentucky Football 2025: Mark Stoops’ Last Stand
What happens when a coach with a $37.5 million buyout lands on one of college football’s hottest seats? After a disastrous 4-8 season that snapped Kentucky’s eight-year bowl streak, the longest-tenured coach in the SEC finds himself on the hot seat. The Wildcats managed just one SEC victory in 2024. They averaged a league-worst 308.5 …
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SEC Preview
Tennessee Football 2025: The Year Everything Changes
Tennessee football is about to find out if its playoff run was real or just a beautiful accident. After reaching their first College Football Playoff in program history, the Volunteers face the ultimate test of sustainability. The stars who carried them to new heights are gone. The quarterback who led their breakthrough season transferred to …
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SEC Preview
Texas Longhorns Arch Manning Era Is About To Change Everything
College football has a new king waiting to be crowned courtesy of the Texas Longhorns. The Texas Longhorns enter 2025 as the consensus national championship favorite, and it’s not even close. After a 13-3 season that ended one game short of glory, Steve Sarkisian’s program has reloaded with the nation’s top recruiting class and the …
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SEC Preview
Alabama Football 2025 Season Preview: The Year Everything Must Come Together
Alabama football’s 2025 season will define Kalen DeBoer’s tenure. After a 9-4 debut that fell short of Alabama’s championship standards, the second-year head coach faces immense pressure to return the program to playoff contention. The message from the college football world is crystal clear: another disappointing campaign won’t be tolerated in Tuscaloosa. As one anonymous …
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SEC Preview
Arkansas Football 2025 Season Preview: Sam Pittman’s Survival Test Begins Now
Sam Pittman is coaching for his job. After five seasons in Fayetteville, the Arkansas head coach finds himself in an impossible position. He’s 30-31 overall and 14-28 in SEC play. ESPN senior writer Adam Rittenberg placed Pittman in the “Can’t backslide” tier on his coaching hot seat rankings, writing that “Pittman is just 30-31 and …
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SEC Preview
Here’s Why Oklahoma’s Brent Venables Is About To Get Fired (And It’s Not What You Think)
Everyone thinks they know what’s happening in Norman. They don’t. This Is What Happens When You Try To Live Someone Else’s Legacy Oklahoma didn’t hire Brent Venables to be the next Bob Stoops or Lincoln Riley. But that’s exactly what everyone expects him to be. Bob Stoops restored glory in two years. Lincoln Riley inherited …
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SEC Preview
Vanderbilt Football 2025: The Year Everything Changes
Vanderbilt football is about to prove that 2024 wasn’t a fluke. The Commodores shocked college football last season with their first winning record since 2013, capped by a bowl victory that had Nashville celebrating like they’d won the national championship. Now comes the real test: can they do it again? The answer lies in understanding …
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SEC Preview
Florida Gators 2025 Football Season Preview: The DJ Lagway Era Begins Now
The Florida Gators are about to find out if their future is as bright as they think it is. After finishing 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the SEC in 2024, the Gators pulled off something that felt impossible just months earlier. They won their first bowl game since the 2019 Orange Bowl. They beat ranked …
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SEC Preview
Auburn Football 2025 Season Preview: Hugh Freeze’s Make-or-Break Season Arrives
The Pressure is On Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze enters his third season on the Plains under intense pressure. After back-to-back losing campaigns in 2023 and 2024, the Tigers have overhauled their roster through both recruiting and the transfer portal. Auburn now boasts a former five-star quarterback transfer, back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes, and experienced impact …
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SEC Preview
Mississippi State Football 2025 Season Preview: Bulldogs Poised for Significant Improvement Under Jeff Lebby
Jeff Lebby’s second season at Mississippi State represents the most critical juncture in recent program history. After enduring a brutal 2-10 campaign that saw the Bulldogs finish winless in SEC play, everything about this team has been rebuilt from the ground up. The transfer portal became Mississippi State’s best friend. The recruiting class jumped into …
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College Football
Oregon State Football 2025 Season Preview: From Chaos to Contention
The 2024 season was a nightmare for the Oregon State football team. After enduring conference realignment chaos, coaching departures, and quarterback carousel disasters that led to a disappointing 5-7 record, the Beavers enter 2025 with something they haven’t had in years: hope. The program has made aggressive moves during the offseason to address its most …
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College Football
Washington State Football 2025: The Ultimate Rebuild
New Washington State Football Coach Jimmy Rogers has inherited one hell of a mess. The new Washington State head coach took over a program that lost 46 players to the transfer portal, watched its former coach flee to Wake Forest, and now sits as one of just two teams in what used to be the …
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B1G Ten Preview
Illinois Football 2025 Season Preview: Championship Aspirations Meet Reality
Illinois football is no longer a punchline. The Fighting Illini enter the 2025 season with something they haven’t experienced in decades: legitimate championship expectations. Following a breakthrough 10-3 campaign that culminated in a Citrus Bowl victory over South Carolina, Bret Bielema’s program has captured national attention and positioned itself among college football’s emerging powers. The …
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B1G Ten Preview
Oregon Football 2025: The Championship Window Is Wide Open
The Oregon Ducks are about to find out if lightning can strike twice. After their historic undefeated regular season and Big Ten Championship in 2024, the Ducks face a moment of truth. Can they maintain championship-level performance while replacing Heisman finalist Dillon Gabriel and 10 NFL Draft picks? Or will 2024 prove to be a …
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B1G Ten Preview
Indiana Football 2025 Season Preview: Building on History
Indiana football is about to find out if lightning can strike twice. The Hoosiers enter 2025 carrying unprecedented momentum following the most successful campaign in program history. Under second-year head coach Curt Cignetti, they must prove that their remarkable 2024 breakthrough was not a fluke but the foundation of a sustainable championship culture. The Historic …
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B1G Ten Preview
Iowa Football 2025 Season Preview: A New Era Begins
Iowa football has never seen anything like Mark Gronowski. Here’s a quarterback who doesn’t just win games – he wins championships. Two FCS national titles. A 49-6 record as a starter. The 2023 Walter Payton Award. This isn’t some developmental project or “potential” quarterback Iowa hopes might work out. This is a proven winner stepping …
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B1G Ten Preview
The Most Dangerous Thing About Winning A Championship? Everyone Expects You To Do It Again.
Ohio State is about to learn this lesson the hard way. The Buckeyes just pulled off one of the most improbable championship runs in college football history. They lost twice in the regular season. They didn’t win their conference. They entered the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. And then they beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, …
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B1G Ten Preview
Penn State Football 2025: Why This Is Championship or Bust Season
There has never been more pressure on a Penn State football season than what awaits in 2025. After a historic 13-win campaign that ended one game short of the national championship, the Nittany Lions return with their best roster in decades, championship expectations, and zero excuses left. Head coach James Franklin faces the ultimate test …
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B1G Ten Preview
Minnesota’s 2025 Season Could Be P.J. Fleck’s Most Important Yet
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are sitting at a crossroads that will define the next chapter of their program. Coming off an 8-5 campaign that ended with a Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory, Minnesota has built something special under P.J. Fleck. However, here’s the thing: building momentum and sustaining it are two entirely different endeavors. And in …
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B1G Ten Preview
Purdue Football 2025: The Ultimate Rebuild Story
Rock bottom has a way of clarifying things. After Purdue’s historically catastrophic 2024 season, a 1-11 nightmare that included the worst home loss in program history, the Boilermakers face 2025 with a simple reality: nowhere to go but up. The Barry Odom era begins with one of the most dramatic rebuilding projects in recent college …
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B1G Ten Preview
Northwestern Football 2025 Season Preview: A Critical Year for David Braun’s Vision
David Braun’s honeymoon at Northwestern is officially over. Following the euphoria of an 8-5 debut campaign in 2023, which culminated in a victory in the Las Vegas Bowl, the Wildcats stumbled to a disappointing 4-8 record in 2024. Now, with a brutal Big Ten schedule ahead and significant roster changes, this season will determine whether …
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B1G Ten Preview
USC’s $500 Million Gamble: Will 2025 Finally Deliver Championship Returns?
USC’s Lincoln Riley is running out of time. After three seasons at USC, the once-celebrated coach who shocked college football by leaving Oklahoma now faces the most pressure of his career. His Trojans have regressed each year since an impressive 11-3 debut in 2022, stumbling to 8-5 in 2023 and a disappointing 7-6 in 2024. …
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B1G Ten Preview
Rutgers Football 2025: The Year Everything Changes
Rutgers football is about to face its biggest test since Greg Schiano returned to Piscataway. After back-to-back 7-6 seasons and consecutive bowl appearances for the first time since 2011-12, the Scarlet Knights have built something real. But 2025 isn’t about maintaining momentum anymore. It’s about proving they belong among the Big Ten elite when the …
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B1G Ten Preview
MARYLAND FOOTBALL 2025 PREVIEW: LOCKSLEY’S PIVOTAL SEASON
Mike Locksley is officially on the hot seat. After a disastrous 4-8 season in 2024, Maryland’s head coach enters the most pivotal year of his career with everything on the line. The program stands at a crossroads that could determine the next half-decade of Terps football. But here’s the crazy part: despite last year’s collapse, …
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B1G Ten Preview
Wisconsin Badgers Football 2025: The Margin Is Gone
No more excuses. No more grace period. For the Wisconsin Badgers, the 2025 season is now or never. What Happened in 2024 Was Not Just a Blip It was a gut punch. They have a 5–7 record, a loss to Minnesota that cost them Paul Bunyan’s Axe, a home finale in which the offense put …
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B1G Ten Preview
Michigan football stands at a critical turning point that will define the program’s trajectory for years.
As spring practice concludes in Ann Arbor, the Michigan Wolverines find themselves at a fascinating crossroads. Following a rollercoaster 2024 campaign that ended with an 8-5 record, second-year head coach Sherrone Moore faces the challenge of recapturing the program’s championship form while integrating a wealth of new talent and implementing significant schematic changes. The 2024 …
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B1G Ten Preview
Washington Huskies 2025 Football Season Preview: Building on a Foundation
Washington Huskies second-year head coach Jedd Fisch is quietly assembling the pieces for what could be the Big Ten’s most intriguing turnaround story in 2025. Washington enters their sophomore Big Ten campaign with a dramatically different outlook than the tumultuous transition year that produced a 6-7 record in 2024. With a dynamic young quarterback firmly …
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B1G Ten Preview
Michigan State Football: The Road Ahead in 2025
If there’s one word to describe Michigan State football heading into the 2025 season, it’s “potential.” Jonathan Smith’s second season at the helm brings Spartan faithful to a crossroads of hope and skepticism. After a 5-7 campaign in 2024 that showed flashes of promise but ultimately extended the program’s bowl drought to three consecutive seasons, …
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B1G Ten Preview
UCLA’s 2025 Transformation: How Nico Iamaleava Changes Everything in Westwood
UCLA just went all-in on the transfer portal — and it might propel them from Big Ten afterthought to conference dark horse overnight. After a bumpy 5-7 inaugural season in the Big Ten, head coach DeShaun Foster isn’t settling for gradual improvement. Instead, he’s orchestrating a total program rebuild through the most aggressive quarterback upgrade …
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B1G Ten Preview
Nebraska Football 2025: The Season That Could Change Everything
Nebraska football is back. After ending its seven-year bowl drought and claiming its first bowl victory since 2015, the Nebraska Cornhuskers enter the 2025 season with sky-high expectations. Matt Rhule’s program made legitimate progress in year two, finishing 7-6 with a 20-15 triumph over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. Armed with a transformed roster …
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Big 12 Preview
Kansas State Football 2025 Season Preview: Wildcats Poised for Big 12 Championship Run
The Kansas State Wildcats aren’t just building a football program but constructing a dynasty. Coming off their third consecutive 9-win season, the Wildcats have positioned themselves among the nation’s elite. Only Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, and Ole Miss can match K-State’s remarkable consistency over the last four years. Let’s explain why …
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Big 12 Preview
COLORADO FOOTBALL 2025: THE PRIME EFFECT ENTERS PHASE II
Are you ready for Colorado football without Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter? As we approach the 2025 college football season, the question on everyone’s mind is simple: Can Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders keep the Colorado football renaissance alive without his superstars? The Meteoric Rise Nobody Saw Coming Coach Prime inherited a disaster when he walked …
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Big 12 Preview
Rich Rod’s Revenge Tour: Why 2025 Is West Virginia’s Watershed Moment
Country roads, take me homeTo the place I belongWest Virginia, mountain mamaTake me home, country roads In college football, prodigal sons rarely return home. But when they do, the entire sport stops to watch, and that’s exactly what’s happening in Morgantown, where Rich Rodriguez is back on the West Virginia sideline after a 17-year hiatus …
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Big 12 Preview
Iowa State’s 2025 Football Season: How the Cyclones Plan to Build on Their Historic Success
Iowa State just delivered the best football season in school history, and now they face their greatest challenge: doing it again. After an unprecedented 11-win campaign in 2024 that included the program’s first-ever Big 12 Championship Game appearance and a thrilling Pop-Tarts Bowl victory, the Cyclones enter 2025 with a mix of returning talent, high …
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Big 12 Preview
College Football Warning: Utah Is About To Break Your Heart.
Let me tell you what 5-7 means for Utah’s Kyle Whittingham. It means 134 consecutive weeks of sleepless nights, obsessing over film, analyzing every missed assignment, every blown coverage, every quarterback injury that shattered his 22-year masterpiece. When a 65-year-old legend sits in his office at midnight questioning whether he should retire – that’s when …
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Big 12 Preview
KNIGHT REVIVAL: UCF’S 2025 SEASON OUTLOOK UNDER SCOTT FROST’S RETURN
UCF’s prodigal son has returned home. After guiding the Knights to a historic undefeated season in 2017 and then departing for his alma mater, Nebraska, Scott Frost is back in Orlando with unfinished business and Big 12 dreams. The reunion couldn’t come at a more critical time for a program desperate to reestablish itself following …
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Big 12 Preview
ALL-IN: Why Texas Tech Football Is THE Most Fascinating Team of 2025
The championship window just swung wide open at Texas Tech in Lubbock. After dropping $10+ million on the nation’s #1 transfer portal class, Texas Tech has officially pushed all its chips to the center of the table—transforming from a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team into a legitimate College Football Playoff contender overnight. This is the story …
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Big 12 Preview
Kansas Football 2025: A Program at the Crossroads
Kansas football is about to enter its most pivotal season yet. After a rollercoaster 2024 campaign that teased fans with unprecedented highs (beating three straight ranked opponents) but ultimately crashed into a 5-7 finish, the Jayhawks find themselves at a critical juncture. With quarterback Jalon Daniels returning for his final chapter, 22 new transfers reshaping …
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Big 12 Preview
Arizona State’s 2025 Football Season: From Underdogs to Championship Defenders
Arizona State just pulled off the biggest turnaround in college football. In a single season, ASU went from a dismal 3-9 record to Big 12 Champions and College Football Playoff contenders. The Sun Devils finished 11-3 overall, dominated Iowa State 45-19 in the conference championship, and came within a double-overtime of beating Texas in the …
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Big 12 Preview
Oklahoma State Football Is At A Crossroads In 2025
Oklahoma State‘s 2024 season was one of the most disappointing in program history. The Cowboys finished 3-9 overall and went winless (0-9) in Big 12 conference play. This collapse was especially shocking considering: Now, head coach Mike Gundy – after nearly two decades of remarkable stability and success – finds himself in unfamiliar territory: firmly …
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Big 12 Preview
The Fritz Factor: How Houston Football Plans to Rise in 2025
The Big 12 will witness the real Willie Fritz effect with Houston Football. After a challenging 4-8 debut season in 2024, the University of Houston Cougars aren’t just making tweaks for 2025—they’re executing a full-scale program transformation. With 15 strategic transfer additions, a promising recruiting class, and a more navigable schedule, the second-year head coach …
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Big 12 Preview
BYU Football 2025 Preview: The Underdogs Are Back
Everyone in college football loves to talk about how BYU Football “overachieved” in 2024. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about the college football landscape, it’s that no team accidentally wins 11 games and an Alamo Bowl. This Wasn’t Luck, It Was a Statement BYU’s 2024 campaign was one of the most impressive in …
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Big 12 Preview
TCU Football 2025 Preview: Big 12’s Top Recruiting Class Ready to Make Noise
TCU football is locked and loaded for a potential conference championship run after addressing every weakness from 2024. Sonny Dykes Has Built a Recruiting Machine If you want to predict which Big 12 team is poised to make the most significant leap in 2025, look no further than the TCU Horned Frogs. TCU’s recruiting dominance …
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Big 12 Preview
Baylor Football 2025: Redemption Tour or Reality Check?
Dave Aranda’s coaching career with Baylor football was hanging by a thread after a disastrous 3-9 season in 2023 and a rough 2-4 start to 2024. Then something clicked. The Bears rattled off six straight wins, finished 8-5, secured a Texas Bowl appearance, and completely rewrote Aranda’s future in Waco. Now entering 2025 with a …
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Big 12 Preview
Is Brennan’s Ship Already Sinking? The Arizona Wildcats 2025 Football Preview Reveals Hard Truths
Brent Brennan’s Arizona Wildcats sit at a brutal crossroads heading into 2025. After inheriting a 10-win team that had just claimed an Alamo Bowl victory, Brennan steered the program straight into an iceberg during his debut season. The wreckage was spectacular: Let’s address the elephant in the room: Brennan’s coaching record portrays mediocrity. His career …
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Big 12 Preview
THIS IS SCOTT SATTERFIELD’S FINAL CHANCE TO RESURRECT CINCINNATI
Scott Satterfield has 12 Saturdays to save his job. After back-to-back losing seasons and a dismal 8-16 record, the Cincinnati head coach enters 2025 with the temperature rising and patience wearing thin. The contrast couldn’t be more stark between Satterfield’s tenure and the Luke Fickell era that preceded it—a golden age that saw the Bearcats …
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AAC Preview
UTSA Football in 2025: The Definitive Blueprint for Roadrunner Domination
The UTSA Football Roadrunners are about to embark on their most pivotal season yet. After finishing 7-6 in 2024 with a dominant Myrtle Beach Bowl victory, UTSA enters 2025 at a critical crossroads. Head coach Jeff Traylor’s sixth season presents a fascinating case study in program building: an established offensive identity powered by returning stars …
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Transfer Portal
When No One Is Bigger Than The Program: The Tennessee QB Saga
Tennessee QB Saga: College football witnessed one of the most dramatic quarterback exits in recent memory. The Shocking Departure Nobody saw it coming, but everyone should have. In the era of NIL deals and transfer portal drama, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel stood at a podium Saturday afternoon, addressing the elephant not in the room: …
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ACC Preview
BULLS ON THE RISE: South Florida Bulls Football Is Ready To Make The AAC Tremble In 2025
The South Florida Bulls aren’t rebuilding anymore—they’re reloading. After posting a 7-6 record in 2024 and winning a marathon five-overtime Hawaii Bowl thriller against San Jose State, Coach Alex Golesh’s squad has transformed from a perennial doormat to a legitimate conference threat. The bowl victory wasn’t just a feel-good ending to a solid season—it was …
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AAC Preview
Tulsa Golden Hurricane 2025 Season Preview: A New Era Under Tre Lamb
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane is about to rise from the ashes of a disastrous 2024 campaign. After limping to a 3-9 record (1-7 in AAC play) and fielding one of the worst defensive units in college football last season, Tulsa decided to dismiss Kevin Wilson after just two seasons at the helm. In his place …
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Coaches Hot Seat
How the Florida Gators AD Showed Us What Real Leadership Looks Like
In today’s reactive world, genuine leadership has become increasingly rare. When Florida Gators men’s basketball coach Todd Golden faced serious misconduct allegations before the season, Athletic Director Scott Stricklin had a critical choice to make: Your ability to lead isn’t measured during times of prosperity, but in moments of intense pressure and scrutiny.Most leaders crumble …
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AAC Preview
The Defensive Revolution That Could Finally Transform North Texas Football
College football programs that can’t stop opponents from scoring, like North Texas, are doomed to mediocrity. North Texas has been the perfect case study of this football truth for years—an offensive juggernaut repeatedly undermined by a defense that couldn’t stop a nosebleed. The Mean Green’s 2024 campaign told the familiar tale: a 6-7 overall record …
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AAC Preview
Temple Football 2025: The K.C. Keeler Rebuild Begins Now
Temple football is about to experience the most dramatic transformation in program history. After a disastrous 3-9 campaign that saw a season-ending coaching change and statistical rankings that would make any Owls fan cringe, Temple University is betting big on championship-winning coach K.C. Keeler to resurrect a program that finished 114th out of 134 teams …
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AAC Preview
Tulane Football in 2025: Fighting a $15 Million Gunfight with a $2 Million Knife
Tulane football, the AAC Championship runner-up, just lost its star quarterback to an $8 million NIL deal. This is the new reality for Tulane and head coach Jon Sumrall as they enter the 2025 season: competing against programs with financial resources far exceeding their own. Despite reaching the AAC Championship in Sumrall’s first season, the …
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AAC Preview
The Rice Owls Are Entering A New Era In 2025
The Rice Owls are about to undergo their most significant transformation in recent memory. After a disappointing 4-8 campaign in 2024 that saw a mid-season coaching change, Rice University has appointed Scott Abell as the program’s 20th head coach—a move that signals a dramatic shift in offensive philosophy and team identity. Abell, who turned Davidson …
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AAC Preview
UAB Football in 2025: Resurrection or Final Nail in the Coffin?
The UAB Blazers football program is walking a dangerous tightrope between redemption and total collapse. After stumbling to a 3-9 record in 2024 (following an equally disappointing 4-8 campaign in 2023), what was once a respectable mid-major program has devolved into what local fans have bluntly labeled a “clown show.” Head Coach Trent Dilfer, entering …
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American Athletic Conference
NAVY FOOTBALL IS ABOUT TO DOMINATE THE 2025 SEASON (AND HERE’S WHY)
Navy football just delivered its first 10-win season since 2019, and it’s only getting started. After half a decade of mediocrity, the Midshipmen roared back to life in 2024 with a statement season: 10-3 record, Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, and a bowl victory that stunned Oklahoma. Navy’s triple-option offense became appointment viewing again, and heading into 2025, …
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AAC Preview
FAU IS BETTING ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S YOUNGEST HEAD COACH TO REVITALIZE THEIR PROGRAM
Zach Kittley is 33 years old, making him the youngest head coach in FBS football — and he’s about to unleash an offensive revolution at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). After going 3-9 last season, the Owls decided to blow everything up The FAU football program needed a fundamental reset after a disappointing 2024 campaign that …
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AAC Preview
Memphis Tigers 2025 Season Preview: Reloaded Roster Aims to Build on Bowl Success
After capping an impressive 11-2 campaign with a Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl victory over West Virginia, the Memphis Tigers enter the 2025 season with renewed optimism despite significant roster turnover. Head Coach Ryan Silverfield, entering his sixth year at the helm with a 42-21 overall record, faces the challenge of maintaining momentum while integrating numerous …
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ACC Preview
ACC Conference Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – Preseason 2025
Every head coach in college football lives on borrowed time. Some seats are scorching, others are comfortably cool—but all of them can change temperature in a single season. After our month-long deep dive into each ACC program, we’ve analyzed the numbers, parsed the press conferences, and applied our proprietary algorithms to rank every ACC coach’s …
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AAC Preview
PIRATES LOOK TO BUILD ON LATE-SEASON MOMENTUM: 2025 EAST CAROLINA FOOTBALL PREVIEW
East Carolina football’s remarkable transformation under Blake Harrell has Pirate Nation believing 2025 could be special. The numbers tell a stunning story of what happened when Harrell took over seven games into last season: What should excite every ECU fan isn’t just what happened—it’s how quickly it happened. Harrell’s defensive genius unlocked ECU’s potential almost …
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AAC Preview
Army Football 2025: Rising From Historic Heights
Army football stands at a crucial crossroads entering the 2025 season. Coming off the most successful campaign in program history—a record-shattering 12-2 mark that included an American Athletic Conference championship in their debut season—the Black Knights face the ultimate question that haunts all great teams: Can they do it again? The challenge is immense, with …
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AAC Preview
The 49ers’ Gold Rush: Inside Charlotte Football’s Complete Makeover for 2025
Tim Albin is about to transform Charlotte 49ers football. After narrowly missing bowl eligibility with a 5-7 record in 2024, the Charlotte 49ers are undergoing a complete overhaul—new coaching staff, new schemes, and a roster infused with fresh talent. The question on everyone’s mind isn’t whether change is coming but whether Albin’s championship pedigree can …
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ACC Preview
Bill Belichick Is About To Transform UNC Football Forever
The college football world collectively gasped when legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick announced he was taking his talents to Chapel Hill. After 24 seasons, 6 Super Bowl rings, and more than 300 victories with the New England Patriots, the most accomplished coach in NFL history is attempting something entirely new at age 72—rebuilding a college …
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ACC Preview
Wake Forest Football Is About To Enter A New Era Under Jake Dickert
Wake Forest football needed a complete coaching overhaul after limping to a disappointing 4-8 record in 2024. The Demon Deacons are hitting the reset button with new head coach Jake Dickert, who arrives in Winston-Salem after compiling a 23-20 record at Washington State. The former Cougars coach brings a proven track record of bowl appearances …
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ACC Preview
Virginia Football 2025: Tony Elliott’s Final Stand
Tony Elliott’s career at Virginia hangs by a thread. After three disappointing seasons, UVA’s embattled head coach enters 2025 with the hottest seat in the ACC and a fanbase running dangerously low on patience. His 11-23 record (.324 winning percentage) has made Virginia the conference’s most consistent underachiever, but a combination of promising transfers and …
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ACC Preview
Syracuse Football 2025 Season Preview: Orange Face Challenging Road After Breakthrough Year
Syracuse football stands at a pivotal crossroads. After experiencing one of their most successful seasons in recent memory, the Orange program now faces the daunting task of building on their 2024 breakthrough while navigating substantial roster turnover and what many analysts consider the toughest schedule in the ACC. Let’s break down what lies ahead for …
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ACC Preview
SMU Football Will Shock The ACC In 2025
The Mustangs aren’t just joining the conversation—they’re about to dominate it. After surprising the college football world with an 11-3 record and perfect 8-0 conference run in their ACC debut, Southern Methodist University is loaded and ready to prove 2024 was no fluke. The question isn’t whether SMU belongs—it’s whether the rest of the ACC …
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ACC Preview
Virginia Tech Football: The Make-or-Break Season Ahead
Virginia Tech football stands at a crossroads. After a mediocre 6-6 campaign in 2024 culminating in a Duke’s Mayo Bowl appearance against Minnesota, the Hokies enter 2025 with their entire program trajectory hanging in the balance. Head coach Brent Pry finds himself squarely on the hot seat with a 16-21 record over three seasons, while …
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ACC Preview
Stanford Football 2025: Can The Cardinal Finally Break The Curse?
****BREAKING NEWS – CARDINAL FIRE TAYLOR**** Four consecutive 3-9 seasons have left Stanford football fans wondering if they’re stuck in a cruel time loop. But 2025 brings dramatic changes that could finally alter the program’s trajectory: Let’s examine why this season could bring Cardinal football either a new dawn or cement its fall from relevance. …
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ACC Preview
Pitt Panthers 2025 Preview: From Perfect Start to Painful Collapse (And What Happens Next)
The Pittsburgh Panthers are staring down a season that could define the next half-decade of their program. Pitt’s 2024 Jekyll & Hyde Season Still Has Everyone Confused The 2024 Pitt Panthers gave fans the football equivalent of whiplash. First, they stunned the college football world by racing to a 7-0 start—their best since 1982. Then, …
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ACC Preview
Temperature is Rising – NC State Wolfpack 2025 Football Preview
Dave Doeren’s seat might not be scorching yet, but the temperature is rising. After 12 seasons, 87 wins, and precisely zero ACC Championship game appearances, the longest-tenured coach in NC State history finds himself at a crossroads. The 2024 campaign, which had a #24 preseason ranking, ended with a whimper—a 6-7 record and a bowl …
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ACC Preview
Miami Hurricanes Football: Can 2025 Be The Year They Finally Return To Glory?
The Hurricanes are on the verge of something special. Miami’s 2024 Season Was A Statement To College Football In 2024, the Miami Hurricanes didn’t just play football—they reminded the nation what “The U” is supposed to look like. After years of mediocrity, the Hurricanes exploded onto the national scene with a 10-3 record that included: …
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ACC Preview
Louisville Cardinals 2025 Preview: The Ultimate Guide to Their Championship Pursuit
Jeff Brohm’s Louisville Cardinals aren’t just building a team—they’re constructing a powerhouse. The 2024 Season Was Just The Beginning After watching Louisville cap off a 9-4 season with a heart-stopping 35-34 Sun Bowl victory over Washington, one thing became crystal clear: this program is ascending. If you weren’t paying attention to Louisville football before, now …
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ACC Preview
Georgia Tech Is About To Have Their Breakout Season
Georgia Tech is on the verge of something special. After back-to-back 7-6 seasons, the Yellow Jackets are positioned for what could be their most successful campaign in years—and I’m going to tell you exactly why. Head coach Brent Key has methodically rebuilt this program piece by piece, and 2025 is when all these pieces finally …
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ACC Preview
Florida State Football: Redemption or Rebuilding in 2025?
Florida State Football stands at its most critical crossroads in recent memory. What happened to the Seminoles might be the most dramatic year-to-year collapse in college football history—going from ACC Champions with a 13-1 record to a disastrous 2-10 campaign that left head coach Mike Norvell squarely on the hot seat despite his massive contract. …
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ACC Preview
Duke Football 2025: The Blue Devils’ Quest to Build a Powerhouse
Duke football just shocked the college football world—and they’re not done yet. The Foundation Is Already Built (And It’s Rock Solid) What happens when you combine a defensive mastermind head coach with elite talent in the ACC? In 2024, we found out: But 2024 was just the warm-up act. Coach Manny Diaz is building something …
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ACC Preview
The Reinvention: How Clemson Built College Football’s Most Dangerous Program For 2025
Want to know the exact moment Clemson football became college football’s most fascinating program heading into 2025? It wasn’t winning the ACC Championship in 2024 or making another College Football Playoff appearance. It was when Dabo Swinney finally decided to evolve Clemson football. The Transformation Nobody Saw Coming For years, Clemson football built championship teams …
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ACC Preview
Cal Football 2025: A Program at the Crossroads
Every college football program has a breaking point. That point for the California Golden Bears, aka Cal Football, is a .490 winning percentage—what industry insiders call the “Minimum Acceptable” (MA) winning percentage. This proprietary metric, developed by Coaches Hot Seat (the authority on coaching job security), is a data-driven warning system. The countdown typically begins …
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ACC Preview
Want to know what 2025 means for Boston College football?
The numbers tell a story that changes everything about Boston College’s 2025 football outlook—and it’s not the story most people are telling. The Hidden Truth Behind BC’s 2024 Success When people talk about Boston College’s 2024 season, they focus on the flashy headlines: But here’s what they’re missing: BC built their success on a foundation …
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College Football Playoffs
Ohio State’s Championship Quest – Inside the Buckeye’s 2024 Campaign
The Buckeyes’ 13-2 season demonstrates how, when properly deployed, elite talent can overcome almost any obstacle. An Aerial Assault That Commands Respect Will Howard transformed Ohio State’s passing game into one of college football’s most lethal weapons. The numbers tell the story of aerial dominance: This passing attack kept defensive coordinators awake at night. Ground …
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College Football Playoffs
Notre Dame’s Path to the National Championship Game
Notre Dame’s Path to the National Championship Game: A 2024 Season Analysis Notre Dame’s remarkable 14-1 season proves that championship-caliber teams are built on resilience, not perfection. The Numbers That Define Greatness One shocking early-season loss to Northern Illinois sparked a historic 13-game winning streak that would carry the Fighting Irish to the national championship …
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College Football Playoffs
Why Texas will beat Ohio State Tonight
Will tonight’s championship matchup between Texas and Ohio State live up to the hype? All signs point to an instant classic in the making. The Numbers Tell a Story of Perfect Balance These two football powerhouses couldn’t be more evenly matched on paper. Texas brings its explosive offense (34.3 points per game) against Ohio State’s …
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College Football Playoffs
Notre Dame vs Penn State: A Clash of Titans in the Orange Bowl Semi Final
Thursday, January 9, 2025 | 7:30 p.m. ET No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 6 Penn State Hard Rock Stadium | Miami Gardens, Florida In a season where both teams have proven their mettle with identical 13-1 records, Thursday’s College Football Playoff semifinal between Notre Dame and Penn State promises to be a defensive masterclass …
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College Football Playoffs
The Chess Match: Two Coaches, Two Programs, One Bowl Game Collision – SMU at Penn State
Nobody expected SMU’s Rhett Lashlee to pull off what might be college football’s most remarkable transformation story of 2023. In just three years, Lashlee has engineered what old-guard football minds considered impossible: The Established Empire Watches Meanwhile, in Happy Valley, James Franklin continues orchestrating Penn State’s methodical march toward college football supremacy. His Nittany Lions …
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American Athletic Conference
The Unlikely Revolution: When Indiana Crashed Notre Dame’s Party
Marcus Freeman never saw them coming. Nobody did. In the strange mathematics of college football, where tradition equals power and history writes the future, Notre Dame’s head coach should be preparing his Fighting Irish for another predictable playoff matchup against Alabama, Georgia, or Michigan. Instead, he finds himself staring across the field at college football’s …
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Transfer Portal
The New Economics of College Football: Understanding the Transfer Portal Panic
In two years, college football’s talent market transformed from an orderly command economy into a chaotic free market that would make cryptocurrency traders blush. The New Economics of College Football: Understanding the Transfer Portal Panic examines how over 750 players entering the transfer portal this month isn’t evidence of a broken system – it’s proof …
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Featured Games
Offense vs. Defense: Georgia and Texas Face Off in the SEC Conference Championship Game
Tomorrow night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, two college football titans collide in the SEC Conference Championship game. It’s a showdown that transcends the scoreboard; Georgia, the reigning powerhouse with its electrifying offense led by Carson Beck, takes on a Texas team rewriting the rules of modern football with a defense that has defied all expectations. In …
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Featured Games
Big Ten Conference Championship Preview: Oregon vs Penn State
We’ve broken down both teams – Oregon vs Penn State for the Big Ten Conference Championship Game. We’re calling this game: The Perfect Season Meets the Perfect Defense: A Tale of Two Programs In the high-stakes world of college football, where billions of dollars flow through palatial training facilities and coaches’ contracts read like small-nation …
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Featured Games
The Numbers That Don’t Add Up – Mountain West Championship Preview
Boise State and UNLV meet Friday night for the Mountain West Championship. In the pristine December air of Las Vegas, two college football programs are about to collide in a way that defies conventional wisdom. One is Boise State, the upstart powerhouse that has been terrorizing the Mountain West Conference for years by systematically destroying …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 15 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – Breaking Down the Top 5
Welcome to our breakdown of the Top 5 ranked coaches on the Week 15 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings. In the era of social media and team message boards, College football communities typically fall into three categories: Picture the modern college football landscape as a digital Roman Colosseum, where three distinct tribes gather daily to pass …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
FBS Coaching Changes 2024
There are many FBS Coaching Changes this weekend as the 2024 season winds down. Check out our Week 15 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings released Tuesday morning.
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Featured Games
Targeting Winners: College Football’s Day of Reckoning
When History Comes Due: College Football’s Day of Reckoning On the final Saturday of November 2024, college football will remind us why it remains America’s most compelling social experiment. In four different stadiums, eight teams will engage in a ritual that’s equal parts sporting event and psychological warfare. These aren’t just games—they’re settling accounts, tests …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Coaches Hot Seat Rankings – Week 14
Coaches Hot Seat Rankings—Week 14. Our full rankings are delayed due to technical difficulties. Our team is working on a solution, and we will release them as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Top 20 appears on our site. The coaching carousel has started spinning earlier than expected this year, with two notable moves …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Congratulations to Blake Harrell, the new head coach at ECU. 12 other FBS jobs are now open
Congratulations to Blake Harrell, who was named the new head coach at East Carolina today. There are 12 other FBS openings shown below:
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Featured Games
Targeting Winners Gridiron Trifecta: UNLV Battles San Jose State, Ohio State Faces Indiana Upset Bid, USC-UCLA Clash in Crosstown Showdown
In a college football weekend that promises to reshape conference landscapes and ignite rivalries, three pivotal matchups take center stage in this Targeting Winners gridiron trifecta. The 23rd-ranked UNLV Rebels, orchestrating a Cinderella season under Barry Odom, square off against the aerial assault of San Jose State in a Mountain West thriller that could redefine …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Gridiron Gambles: The 10 College Football Coaches Walking a Tightrope
In the high-stakes college football arena, where careers are made and broken on the whims of boosters and the bounce of an oblong ball, ten men are perched precariously on the edge of oblivion. “Gridiron Gambles: The 10 College Football Coaches Walking a Tightrope” isn’t just a headline—it’s a window into the soul-crushing, sweat-soaked world …
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Coaches Hot Seat
UPDATED: We’re up to 11 FBS coaching changes so far in 2024
Here are the 10 FBS coaching changes so far in 2024.
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Featured Games
This Week’s Targeting Winners Preview: Conference Championship Implications Abound
As we gear up for another edition of the Targeting Winners Podcast, which will be released this Friday (available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts), let’s dive into three games that have caught our attention—each with its own compelling narrative around coaching futures and championship aspirations. Boise State at San Jose State: …
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American Athletic Conference
Smart, Swinney, Riley: As NFL Evolves, College Football’s Elite Coaches Draw Pro Interest
With the NFL’s demand for innovative coaching and the league’s increasing interest in college coaches, there’s real buzz about top college football names like Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Lincoln Riley, Brian Kelly, and even Lane Kiffin making the jump to the pros. But how realistic is it that we could see these coaches in the NFL …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 12 Hot Seat Rankings Reveal The New Math of Firing Coaches: When Balance Sheets Trump Box Scores
Graphic by Tony Altimore @TJAltimore on X When Money Changes Everything: College Football’s New Math If you want to understand what’s happening in college football right now, forget about the polls, the playoff rankings, and even the win-loss records. Instead, study Tony Altimore’s (@TJAltimore on X) financial visualization of athletic department debt. This document looks …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Voting is now open for Week 11 Hot Seat Rankings
In the high-stakes theater of college football, where careers rise and fall on autumn Saturdays, it’s time for the weekly ritual that makes athletic directors squirm and message boards light up: The Coaches Hot Seat Rankings. Like a real-time chronicle of coaching mortality, these rankings capture the brutal Darwinism of the profession, where yesterday’s genius …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The Great Coaching Correction of 2024
In the high-stakes college football casino, the usual season-end trading frenzy has given way to something more unusual: fiscal restraint. We’re calling it “The Great Coaching Correction of 2024.” You see, athletic departments across the country are staring down a triple-witching hour of financial obligations that would make even a seasoned hedge fund manager break …
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Featured Games
Week 11’s Hidden Gems: Why the Computers Love Indiana (-14.5) and Doubt Georgia (-2.5)
College Football’s Week 11 Hidden Gems Every Thursday afternoon, I lay out the games that have caught my analytical eye – the matchups where the numbers whisper something different than the conventional wisdom shouts. This week, I’m focused on three contests that feel like finding mispriced assets in an efficient market: Indiana, that offensive juggernaut …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
The Not-So-Sweet Survival Guide: College Football’s Week 11 Hot Seat Rankings
It’s college football’s week 11 – that special time of year when athletic directors start pricing golden parachutes. At Arkansas, Sam Pittman (#1) watches Jaxson Dart throw for 515 yards against his defense and wonders if those moving trucks outside his office are just passing through . In Birmingham, Trent Dilfer (#2) has mastered the …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
College Football’s Hot Seat Rankings: Your Voice Matters
The 2024 college football season has been a rollercoaster of expectations and disappointments, and no one knows this better than the fans. As we enter the final stretch, it’s time for you to weigh in on which coaches are feeling the heat and which ones might need to update their résumés. Your voice matters – …
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Featured Games
Coaches Hot Seat is Targeting Winners for Week 10
Okay, folks, get ready. It’s that time of the week again when we dive headfirst into the chaotic, beautiful mess that is college football. Friday’s episode of the Targeting Winners podcast (available on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts) is coming at you hot, and trust me, you don’t want to miss this. …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The Coaching Carousel is Picking Up
The college football coaching carousel is spinning. Four coaches have been shown the door this year, even before Mike Bloomgren got the boot at Rice over the weekend. Let’s recap: With Bloomgren out at Rice, there will be five coaching changes in October. We expect fewer coaching changes than we saw during the 2023 season, but …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Hot Seat Heat Wave: Stoops, Dilfer, and Drayton Feeling the Burn
A Hot Seat Heatwave is heading our way, featuring seats under some of the biggest names in the game. Every week, we’re tracking the coaches feeling the pressure, those whose jobs are on the line with every win and loss. This week, we’ve got a new entry into our Top 10, plus updates on two …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Bloomgren Era Ends at Rice – Fifth Coaching Change This Season
Well, folks, the Mike Bloomgren experiment in Houston has finally ended. Rice has decided to move on from their head coach after seven seasons, a 24-52 record, and a disappointing 2-6 start to this year. Bloomgren did manage to get the Owls to back-to-back bowl games, which is something, I guess. But let’s be honest, …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 9 is in the books. Cast your vote for the Coaches Hot Seat!
Week 9 is in the books, and you know what that means… the heat is turning up! We’ve been tracking the whispers, the rumblings, the outright explosions on the sidelines all season long. Now, it’s YOUR turn to weigh in. For the first time EVER, we’re opening up the Coaches Hot Seat rankings to a …
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Featured Games
Week 9 Featured Games:The Underdogs, the Upsets, and the Unraveling
Step back from the spreadsheets, the power rankings and the expert predictions – Week 9 featured games are about to remind us why we watch this sport in the first place: for the moments that defy logic and rewrite the script. Early Game No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 24 Navy Noon Eastern/9:00 AM Pacific …
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College Football
Coaches on Fire? Readers Respond to the Hot Seat Rankings
Welcome back to the Coaches Hot Seat, where we dissect the volatile world of college football coaching and track those whose seats are getting too toasty for comfort. Today, we’re tackling our readers’ fiery feedback and passionate perspectives. Because let’s face it, college football fandom is a crucible of emotions, and sometimes those emotions boil …
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College Football
Coaches Hot Seat is Targeting Winners for Week 9
Think you know college football? Think again. Coaches Hot Seat spends a little time listening to the Targeting Winners Podcast every Friday afternoon during the season. We take our picks and look for the storylines, the upsets, the wins, and the losses to bring you the inside scoop on where the seats are getting hot. We’re not …
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Coaches Hot Seat
Why ‘Fire the Coach!’ Feels Like a Solution, But Multi-Million Dollar Buyouts Say Otherwise
We’ve all been there. Your team is on a losing streak, the season’s slipping away, and that “Fire the coach!” chant starts echoing in your head. It’s cathartic. It feels like someone is taking action, like something is being done to right the ship. Lately, however, athletic directors seem to be hitting the “snooze” button …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Dilfer Moves to the Top of the Hot Seat Rankings. Neal Brown moves to #9.
The college football season is in full swing, and with it comes the inevitable scrutiny of coaches on the hot seat. This week, we’re closely monitoring two coaches: Trent Dilfer at UAB and Neal Brown at West Virginia. Dilfer’s Blazers are off to a dismal 1-6 start, and there’s growing discontent among fans and boosters …
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Another One Bites the Dust: Will Hall and the Southern Miss Saga
Man, the coaching hot seat is scorching right now. First Mike Houston at ECU, and now Will Hall at Southern Miss? It’s a brutal reminder that winning is the only thing that matters in college football. Hall came to Hattiesburg with a ton of promise. Deep ties to Mississippi and a successful stint at Tulane …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The Ship Has Sailed: Mike Houston and the Harsh Realities of College Football
Let’s be honest: college football is a ruthless business. It’s a world where expectations are sky-high, patience wears thin, and yesterday’s hero can quickly become today’s casualty. Mike Houston just learned that lesson the hard way. He arrived at East Carolina with a vision, ready to rebuild a program yearning for success. And for a …
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Featured Games
Hot Seat Saturday: Where Every Snap Could Be a Coach’s Last
This is Hot Seat Saturday, and the gridiron isn’t just a battleground for players; it’s a high-stakes arena where coaches fight for their careers. Across the nation, embattled coaches face must-win situations, their every decision scrutinized under the intense pressure of the hot seat. From the SEC to the Big 12, programs are teetering on …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The $110 Million Question: Is Lincoln Riley’s USC Experiment Unraveling?
Picture this: It’s 2021, and USC just dropped a cool $110 million on Lincoln Riley, college football’s offensive wunderkind. The champagne’s flowing, the Spirit of Troy – the greatest marching band in the history of the universe – is playing “Conquest,” and Trojan fans are waving the “victory” sign while simultaneously dreaming of national titles. …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Trent Dilfer’s UAB Tenure: A Program-Killer in the Making?
Is this a program-killer in the making? Picture this: It’s a crisp autumn Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama. The stands at Protective Stadium are sparse, and the energy is subdued. On the sideline, a man with a Super Bowl ring on his finger and a deer-in-headlights look in his eyes watches as his team gets steamrolled. This …
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Featured Games
GRIDIRON ARMAGEDDON: SEC Titans Clash, Big Ten Behemoths Collide, and Big 12 Underdogs Rise in a Weekend That’ll Shatter College Football’s Status Quo
Here we go, football fanatics. We’re about to witness GRIDIRON ARMAGEDDON: SEC Titans Clash, Big Ten Behemoths Collide, and Big 12 Underdogs Rise in a Weekend That’ll Shatter College Football’s Status Quo. This isn’t just another Saturday of college football. It’s a seismic event that’s about to rock the very foundations of the sport. From …
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Friday Night Preview & Schedule
Finally-A-Friday, Week 7, Tonight’s Showdown in the Desert, Utah at Arizona State
Game: 16 Utah at Arizona State Game Time: 10:30 PM Eastern, 7:30 PM Pacific TV: ESPN The stage is set for a classic Big 12 showdown under the Friday night lights. Still licking its wounds from a humbling loss to Arizona, Utah heads to Tempe to face an unexpectedly potent Arizona State squad. It’s a clash …
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Big Ten
What’s up with Purdue?
In the crisp autumn air of West Lafayette, Indiana, a story of ambition, miscalculation, and the unforgiving nature of college football is unfolding. At its center stands Ryan Walters, a 37-year-old wunderkind of defensive coaching. Now facing the greatest challenge of his young career, fans are asking, “Is Ryan Walters heading to the top of …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The $87 Million Question: Hugh Freeze and Auburn’s Football Gamble
Auburn University finds itself at a crossroads in the gladiatorial college football arena, where millionaire coaches pace sidelines and billion-dollar TV deals fuel an insatiable machine. The whispers have already started. The faithful readers of CoachesHotSeat.com, those amateur Nostradamuses of the gridiron, are asking the question that sends shivers down the spine of every Auburn …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 7 – Hot Seat Rankings Overview
In college football’s high-stakes arena, where multimillion-dollar decisions hinge on the outcome of a single play, a silent countdown ticks away. We’re approaching the season’s midpoint, that critical juncture where athletic directors start crunching numbers that have nothing to do with touchdowns or field goals. Welcome to this week’s Coaches Hot Seat Rankings, where we …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Vote for Your Hot Seat Takes
Every win matters. Every loss stings. But some coaches are feeling the heat more than others. Who deserves to be on the hot seat? Your vote counts. Win/Loss results for last week’s rankings appear below. Cast your vote here.
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Featured Games
Week 6 – Saturday Showdown – Game Preview and Schedule
Coaches Hot Seat Targets The Winners! Coaches Hot Seat took a thrilling ride yesterday on the Targeting Winners podcast, and let me tell you, these guys know their stuff. We’re talking about the intersection of coaching pressure, game matchups, and cold, hard cash—the kind of analysis that makes you see the game in a new, …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
The Coaching Carousel: A Wild Ride of Buyouts, Bargains, and Burnt Biscuits
Hefty Buyouts Await 4 of Our Top 5 Let’s go on a whirlwind tour of the college football coaching carousel, where the stakes are high, the contracts are crazy, and the pressure is hotter than a two-dollar pistol. We’re talkin’ buyouts that could make your head spin, fan bases ready to revolt, and coaches clinging …
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Coaches Hot Seat
The Hot Seat Burns: Purdue Parts Ways with Graham Harrell Amidst Offensive Struggles
In the high-stakes college football world, where every play counts and every game matters, the pressure cooker environment can sometimes boil over. And in West Lafayette, Indiana, the temperature had been rising steadily. The Fall From Grace Just four games into the 2024 season, Purdue’s offensive coordinator, Graham Harrell, found himself out of a job. …
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Featured Games
What We’re Watchin’ Saturday – Week 5 Edition
Early Games Kentucky at 6 Ole Miss Game Time: Noon Eastern/9:00 AM Pacific TV: ABC, ESPN+ Ole Miss is on fire; the Rebels are hotter than a two-dollar pistol. They’re lighting it up, leading the FBS in passing yards, total offense, scoring offense, and scoring defense. Dart’s slinging it like a gunslinger, and the Rebels …
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Friday Night Preview & Schedule
Finally a Friday! – Week 5 Friday Game Preview
Virginia Tech at Miami: A Hurricane Brewing in the ACC
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College Football
LSU’s Tiger Stadium: A Century of Gridiron Glory
Few venues can match the storied legacy of Louisiana State University’s Tiger Stadium in the annals of college football history. For nearly a century, this hallowed ground has been the stage for some of the sport’s most electrifying moments, a colosseum of the South that has witnessed the rise and fall of football dynasties. A …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
The Huddle’s Getting Tense: Week 5’s Hottest Seats Revealed
1. Billy Napier – Florida Gators First Win, Same Old Problems Napier finally got a W, but let’s not kid ourselves. Mississippi State was fresh off a loss to Toledo. Florida’s offense looked better, but it was more about Mississippi State’s defensive scheme than Napier’s brilliance. And the defense? Yikes. Soft zones, missed tackles, and …
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College Football
Week 5 Flashpoints: Auburn’s Struggles, Mack Brown’s Moment, and Nebraska’s Setback
Week 5 Coaches Hot Seat rankings will be posted on Tuesday morning – stay tuned! The Auburn Abyss: Hugh Freeze’s Nightmare Continues Auburn, a once-proud program, now resembles a sinking ship, rudderless and taking on water fast. Hugh Freeze, the captain brought in to right the vessel, seems to be steering it straight into an …
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College Football
What We’re Watchin Saturday – Week 4 Edition
Preview of Six Marquee Matchups & Full Viewer Guide Week 4 in college football isn’t just another Saturday on the calendar. It’s a crucible, a proving ground where pretenders are unmasked, and contenders emerge bloodied but unbowed. Picture this: Twenty-two young men, their futures hanging in the balance, lined up on a field about to …
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Friday Night Preview & Schedule
Finally-A-Friday – Week 4 Featured Friday Game Preview and Schedule
No. 24 Illinois (3-0) at No. 22 Nebraska (3-0): The Big Ten’s Unlikely Prizefight Television: Fox Time: 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Announcers: Tim Brando, Devin Gardner Picture this: Once relegated to the footnotes of Big Ten history, two teams are now squaring off in a Top 25 slugfest that has the college football …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
The Heat Is On: Decoding the Coaches Hot Seat
In the high-stakes college football world, where millions of dollars and countless dreams hang in the balance, a phrase sends shivers down the spine of even the most seasoned coaches: “the hot seat.” But what does it mean to be on the hot seat? Let’s dive in and dissect this phenomenon that keeps coaches up …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Coaches Hot Seat Week #4: Sizzling Sidelines and Cooling Cushions!
1. Billy Napier – Florida The Gator Pit: Billy Napier’s Sinking Ship and Florida’s Rotting Hull In the swamps of Gainesville, a tragicomedy is unfolding. Billy Napier, once hailed as Florida’s football savior, is watching his career circle the drain faster than a punted football. But this isn’t just a story of a coach out …
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Featured Games
What We’re Watching Saturday
Pre Game / Kickoff Shows ESPN College Football Gameday from Columbia, South Carolina (LSU at South Carolina) Fox Big Noon Kickoff from Madison Wisconsin (Alabama at Wisconsin Early Games LSU at South Carolina Time: Noon Eastern, 9:00 am Pacific Network – ABC Announcers: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe Our Pick: South Carolina Boston College …
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Friday Night Preview & Schedule
“Finally-A-Friday!” Game Schedule and Featured Game Preview
Tonight’s Game Schedule (All Times Pacific) Tonight’s Featured Game: #20 Arizona at #14 Kansas State Television: Fox Time: 8:00 pm Easter / 5:00 pm Pacific Announcers: Tim Brando, Kevin Gardner. Sideline: Josh Sims The scoreboard might say “Game Preview,” but this ain’t no mere scrimmage. This is Arizona, swaggering into the lion’s den at Kansas …
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Jason Lucero - Field Notes
Our Guide to NCAA Spin: It’s Not Confusion, It’s “Engagement”
To: All NCAA football Athletic Directors, Coaches, and Staff. From: Missy Helgenberger, NCAA Press Secretary (temp.) Re: Talking Points! Dear NCAA College Football coaches, AD’s and staff.
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Week 3 Coaches Hot Seat Rankings: Who’s Feeling the Burn and Who’s About to Get Torched?
1. Billy Napier – Florida A High-Stakes Balancing Act Billy Napier’s time in Gainesville is fast becoming a cautionary tale of what happens when a promising coaching hire collides head-on with the unforgiving realities of SEC football. After two-plus seasons at the helm of the Florida Gators, Napier has not only failed to ignite the …
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College Football
Navigating the Chaos: Week 2 of College Football’s Wild Ride
There’s a reason we all tune in, why we obsess over every play, every decision made from the sidelines. College football isn’t just a game; it’s a microcosm of American culture. It’s where the values of grit, glory, and, occasionally, utter chaos are laid bare on the gridiron. And Week 2 of this season? It …
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Featured Games
What We’re Watching On Saturday
Featured Game: Texas at Michigan Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan Game Time: Noon Eastern; 9:00 a.m. Pacific Television: Fox Game Preview In a highly anticipated early-season matchup, the No. 10 Michigan Wolverines (1-0) host the No. 3 Texas Longhorns (1-0) at Michigan Stadium on Saturday. This clash between two of college football’s winningest programs marks only …
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Friday Night Preview & Schedule
Friday Night Lights, College Football Preview: Upsets Brewing, Showdowns Looming, and Swagger Overflowing
BYU and SMU Collide in a Big 12-ACC Showdown That’ll Leave You Buzzing A Short Week, High Stakes, and a Whole Lotta Texas Swagger Dallas, baby. Where else would you want to kick off a Friday night college football fiesta? This ain’t your grandpa’s BYU-SMU matchup, folks. We’ve got Big 12 ambition clashing with ACC …
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Jason Lucero - Field Notes
2024 ACC Pre-Season Meeting of the Mascots
Meeting Minutes: Duke Blue Devil: As this year’s chair, I call the meeting to order. The first order of business is to welcome the latest members to the conference, Cal, Stanford, and Southern Methodist University. Then we’ll get onto pending litigation. Put the shillelagh down, Leprechaun. You know our policy on weapons in the committee …
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Hot Seat Test
Big 12 Non-Conference Showdown: Aranda’s Baylor Faces A True Test Against Whittingham’s Utes
Baylor Bears vs. Utah Utes: Big 12 Non-Conference Clash – Deep Dive Game Details The Unique Circumstance In a scheduling quirk that exemplifies the rapidly changing landscape of college football, the Baylor Bears and Utah Utes find themselves in an unusual situation. Despite being a member of the Big 12 conference in 2024, this game …
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Coaches Hot Seat Ranking
Swamp of Despair Puts Napier in the Top Hot Seat
1. Billy Napier, Florida Let’s dive into the swampy mess that is the Florida Gators football program under Billy Napier. I’m not one to sugarcoat things, so let’s call it like it is: Napier is knee-deep in the muck, and the hot seat is scorching his backside. The 41-17 beatdown by Miami? Embarrassing. Napier himself …
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HEREWeek 1
Week 1 – Saturday Game Schedule
All Times Eastern Saturday, August 31No. 14 Clemson vs. No. 1 Georgia (in Atlanta, Georgia) | 12 p.m. | ABCVirginia Tech vs. Vanderbilt (in Nashville, Tennessee) | 12 p.m. | ESPNIllinois State at No. 25 Iowa | 12 p.m. | Big Ten NetworkAustin Peay at Louisville | 12 p.m. | ACC NetworkIndiana State at Purdue …
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Week 1 – Friday Game Schedule
All Times Eastern Friday, Aug. 30Lehigh at Army | 6 p.m. | CBSSNTemple at No. 16 Oklahoma | 7 p.m. | ESPNFlorida Atlantic at Michigan State | 7 p.m. | Big Ten NetworkColgate at Maine | 7 p.m. | FloSportsElon at Duke | 7:30 p.m. | ACC NetworkWestern Michigan at Wisconsin | 9 p.m. | …
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HEREWeek 1 Preview
Hot Seat Inferno: The Miami-Florida Showdown is a Must-Win for Both Coaches
Miami vs. Florida: The Hot Seat Bowl Week 1 of college football is already shaping up to be a scorcher, and nowhere is the heat more intense than in the Sunshine State. The Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators are set to collide in what can only be described as the “Hot Seat Bowl.” Both Mario …
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Why Riley & Day Are Poised to Shatter Expectations (Or Crash and Burn)
The Coaches on the (Supposed) Hot Seat: Lincoln Riley and Ryan DayThe college football season hasn’t started, and the “hot seat” talk is already in full swing. Pundits and fans are sharpening their pitchforks, ready to skew any coach who doesn’t deliver immediate, flawless results. Lincoln Riley at USC and Ryan Day at Ohio State …
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HEREBig Ten
Comcast’s Big Ten Blackout: A Major Fumble on the Goal Line
We’ve got a real head-scratcher on our hands, courtesy of Comcast Xfinity and their handling of the Big Ten Network’s new additions. John Canzano over at the Bald Faced Truth Newsletter has been digging into this, and it’s not pretty.The Bottom Line: Comcast is blacking out Big Ten Network games featuring Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and …
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Game review
Fight On, Forever: Why Cowherd’s Anti-Notre Dame Rant is Pure Nonsense
Colin Cowherd’s recent ramblings about USC ditching Notre Dame are so off base they are comical. The man claims to bleed Cardinal and Gold – that he’s a member of the “Trojan Family,” yet he’s completely out of touch with what matters to the Trojan faithful.
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College Football
Unlimited Coaches in College Football: Is This the Winning Play…?
Buckle up, folks. College football is teetering on the edge of a seismic shift, one that could change the game as much as NIL deals and the transfer portal. We’re talking about unlimited coaches. That’s right. The days of strictly capped…
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COACHES HOT SEAT RANKING
October 26, 2026 - Week 9
At Coaches Hot Seat, we rank all 138 FBS football coaches from 1 (hottest seat in America) to 138 (ice cold). Here's what makes us different. Our rankings move every single week. While most sites publish once and disappear, we update weekly because college football is beautiful chaos. A coach ranked #5 can win three straight and drop to #50. Someone chilling at #100 can lose to an FCS school and rocket into the top 10 by Tuesday. But that's just the start. In 2026, we rebuilt the entire system. Every coach gets scored across eight signals. Wins versus expectations. Performance against AP Top-25 opponents. Performance against primary rivals. Three-year trend. Fan sentiment. Fan heat. Salary pressure. Tenure. Then we apply the same rigor to coach #138 that we apply to coach #1. That's never been done before. For 17 years, we've tracked coaching pressure the way insiders actually talk about it. The whispered hallway conversations. The boosters who stop returning calls. The fan bases that turn before athletic directors do. Now we've turned all of it into a measurable system. The hot seat doesn't send warning emails. But we see them coming.
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Rank | Coach | School | Conference | Years | Hot Seat | Band | Record % | Career % | Vs AP25 % | Rival % | Pressure direction | Salary | Fan Sent | Fan Heat | Prior slot | Board move (excl. FY) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1463 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 1 | Mike Norvell | Florida State | ACC | 7 | 89.90 | Scorching | 0.42 | 0.60 | .481 | .400 | Rising | $ 5,650,000 | -92.00 | 97 | 4 | 3.00 |
| 1464 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 2 | Greg Schiano | Rutgers | Big Ten | 18 | 86.80 | Scorching | 0.37 | 0.47 | .240 | n/a | Falling | $ 6,500,000 | -84.00 | 92 | 2 | 0.00 |
| 1465 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 3 | Phil Longo | Sam Houston | Conference USA | 2 | 80.30 | Scorching | 0.16 | 0.25 | n/a | n/a | Rising | $ 725,000 | -86.00 | 93 | 14 | 11.00 |
| 1466 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 4 | Lincoln Riley | USC | Big Ten | 5 | 74.60 | Hot | 0.71 | 0.76 | .400 | .250 | Rising | $ 11,537,560 | -82.00 | 90 | 11 | 7.00 |
| 1467 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 5 | Deion Sanders | Colorado | Big 12 | 4 | 73.30 | Hot | 0.26 | 0.58 | .222 | .500 | Rising | $ 8,975,000 | -72.00 | 84 | 9 | 4.00 |
| 1468 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 6 | Dabo Swinney | Clemson | ACC | 19 | 72.80 | Hot | 0.55 | 0.77 | .690 | .778 | Rising | $ 11,447,025 | -86.00 | 93 | 35 | 29.00 |
| 1469 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 7 | Jedd Fisch | Washington | Big Ten | 3 | 61.50 | Warm | 0.65 | 0.50 | .222 | .000 | Rising | $ 7,575,024 | -72.00 | 84 | 3 | -4.00 |
| 1470 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 8 | Sonny Dykes | TCU | Big 12 | 5 | 68.50 | Hot | 0.60 | 0.57 | .571 | .800 | Rising | $ 5,008,414 | -68.00 | 84 | 6 | -2.00 |
| 1471 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 9 | Joe Moorhead | Akron | MAC | 5 | 64.70 | Warm | 0.30 | 0.50 | .000 | .400 | Rising | $ 620,000 | -45.00 | 68 | 15 | 6.00 |
| 1472 | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | Mark Haines | 10/26/2026 04:16 PM | 10 | Tony Elliott | Virginia | ACC | 5 | 64.20 | Warm | 0.68 | 0.46 | .286 | .333 | Rising | $ 4,251,000 | -55.00 | 74 | 27 | 17.00 |
| Rank | Coach | School | Conference | Years | Hot Seat | Band | Record % | Career % | Vs AP25 % | Rival % | Pressure direction | Salary | Fan Sent | Fan Heat | Prior slot | Board move (excl. FY) |
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