College football hot seat watch, Week 5: Winners and losers

Week 5 of the college football season proved to be a disastrous week for multiple coaches on the hot seat. Here’s who won and who lost this week.

With yet another week of college football in the books, coaches are soon going to be fired. It’s hard to predict when that first coach is going to get the axe on the year, but with September having come and gone it’s going to be soon.

It’s not a secret who the coaches on the hot seat are right now and who needs to come up with wins each week. This week, Larry Fedora, Chris Ash, Randy Edsall and Clay Helton were all tabbed as coaches that needed to come through with wins.

Needless to say, it was a pretty disastrous week that started on Thursday night, when Fedora’s North Carolina Tar Heels got blown out. Here are the winners and losers from the hot seat watch for Week 5.

Larry Fedora: North Carolina – Loser

It’s been a couple of days since the Tar Heels hit the road and got blown out by the Miami Hurricanes on Thursday night. It’s hard there’s much optimism surrounding the program right now at all.

North Carolina has lost every road game thus far this year and it’s the second road game they’ve been blown out. It felt like they rolled over against the Hurricanes and the offense struggled mightily.

The quarterback situation is terrible and it’s going to be painful to try and watch them put up points each week. The ACC hasn’t been all that great this season and that’s going to be an even bigger indictment on Fedora if things don’t pan out. The clock is ticking on him right now, regardless of the extension he signed in 2017.

Chris Ash: Rutgers – Loser

The losses continue to pile up for Rutgers. This might have been their most competitive loss to their credit. The Scarlet Knights made a fourth-quarter rally to give the Indiana Hoosiers a run on the road but it wasn’t enough, as they lost 24-17.

Still, falling behind 24-7 put a bad football team in too big of a hole to dig out of. It’s clear this is going to be a season of losses once again for Rutgers and with it being his third season, he’s now in direct line of being fired.

There has been little to no progress shown in his tenure and expectations were incredibly low to begin with. Ash needs to see his program start fast when they take on Illinois next week, in what might be their best bet and last chance at getting a win this season.

Randy Edsall: UConn – Loser

The Huskies have allowed 664 yards per game this year as they attempt to field the worst defense in history. The great news for Randy Edsall is his defense allowed less than 664 on Saturday.

Unfortunately, they still gave up 659 in a 49-7 blowout loss to Cincinnati. After refusing to answer questions about his defensive coordinator, the longtime coach of the Huskies is seemingly watch his tenure come to a fast end unless something changes.

Things went from bad to worse on Saturday, and there’s no end in sight for the struggles that continue to plague the Huskies. Their defense is abhorrent and it’s going to end up being the downfall for Edsall.

Clay Helton: USC – Winner

The lone winner of the hot seat this week saw little trouble on the road against Arizona. The USC Trojans won a second Pac-12 game in a row and are now building a little momentum as the season moves forward.

Defeating Washington State last week with the blocked kick has provided the spark that the Trojans needed and it’s safe to say that the hot seat talk can cool down for a bit regarding the Trojans’ head coach.

A big test awaits USC with Colorado coming to town, but a win over the Buffaloes would give them command of the Pac-12 South and on the right track. Helton has seen his program respond after being trounced in Austin.

What’s Next?

Week 6 of the college football season brings us closer to the midpoint and will serve as one for some programs that have yet to have a bye week. Edsall isn’t going to face any easy questions again this week and will likely have to answer questions about the defensive side of the ball. UConn hits the road to take on Memphis next Saturday, where Mike Norvell has to be has excited about the numbers the Tigers might put up.

As mentioned, this is probably the best last chance that Rutgers has at a win this season. They’ll be on the road to take on Illinois, and a game where all eyes will be on Lovie Smith. That’s a big game for both coaches.

The Tar Heels will return home, the site of their lone win this season. It might be an opportunity to take down Virginia Tech, who showed they can be had after losing to Old Dominion. A win over the Hokies would be a big bounce back for Larry Fedora.

The Trojans have a huge game in the Pac-12 South at home. Colorado has yet to lose this season and have to be considered the favorites right now in the division with the way they have handled their business through five weeks. If the Trojans want to gain the upper hand in the Pac-12 South race, defeating Colorado is a must.