One college football coach on the hot seat came up with a huge victory on the road on Saturday. Others weren’t as lucky and didn’t end up winners.
Week 10 was a week for coaches on the hot seat in college football to step up and make a case for keeping their jobs. There are some that probably that can’t make much of a case for sticking around anymore, but others still have a shot.
Some surprise performances should give pause to a program on the fence about keeping their head coach. Others weren’t as fortunate and should be soon sent packing as the season winds down.
We know at this point who is likely going to be shown the door, as Chris Ash, Larry Fedora and Randy Edsall are continuing to pile up losses. However, Lovie Smith was this week’s big winner along with Gus Malzahn. Here are the winners and losers of the hot seat.
5. Chris Ash, Larry Fedora – Losers
Both Chris Ash and Larry Fedora remain in that “it’s almost over” boat and they continue to take on water by the week. Both Rutgers and North Carolina lost again this week and still have one victory to their total.
Only having one victory after Week 10 is always a great way to get sent out the door and neither coach is going to be around much longer. Coincidentally, they didn’t see their programs get blown out by that much either on Saturday.
Rutgers only lost by 14 to Wisconsin and The Tar Heels only lost by 10 to Georgia Tech. Nonetheless, it’s well past the point of taking close losses as moral victories. These are putrid programs in need of removing the stench.
4. Randy Edsall: UConn – Loser
After showing progress in their previous game by only allowing 444 yards in a loss, the UConn Huskies were back to being completely terrible on defense again this week. Against Tulsa on the road, the Huskies gave up 638 yards in a blowout loss.
This has to be the worst defense in the history of college football and it’s likely not close either. In their sixth straight defeat, Randy Edsall’s group remained a fish out of water showing absolutely no life on the field. Perhaps they’re letting him finish the season out of respect to the length of his tenure.
3. Lovie Smith: Illinois – Winner
The big surprise winner on Saturday was Lovie Smith. The Fighting Illini probably need to make a bowl game for Smith to keep his job and they beat down Minnesota on the road. Smith’s crew picked up their fourth win of the season and put up 55 points.
With four wins on the season, the Fighting Illini are showing some progress and if they can scratch across two more, they’ll become bowl eligible. If anyone was thinking this was case closed, it’s been reopened.
2. Gus Malzahn: Auburn – Winner
Every time the hot seat talk gets taken up a notch for Gus Malzahn, his program suddenly starts showing up on the field. This is the second-straight victory for Auburn after it seemed Malzahn was in trouble.
Defeating Ole Miss was expected, but taking down Texas A&M at home was a nice victory. Malzahn’s team is starting to come on strong late in the season and they’ll have another chance to help their coach out next week when they take on Georgia.
1. Clay Helton: USC – Winner
While Oregon State isn’t a power by any stretch and is often in the basement of the Pac-12, night games on the road in Corvallis can be tricky late in the season. For a program like USC that’s dealing with injuries and an uncertainty toward the future, this could have been an easy trap game.
Instead, Clay Helton’s players were focused and secured a much-needed win for USC, as they look to keep their hopes alive at winning the Pac-12 South. It’s likely that the Trojans move on at the end of the year, but perhaps winning the South and more could change that. That’s a big if however.