College football hot seat watch: 3 coaches who need to win in Week 4
The SEC starts play this weekend and a pair from the conference are on the college football hot seat and a holdover from the Big 12 makes a repeat appearance after a near-upset in Week 3.
At long last, the SEC makes their debut in the 2020 college football season. It isn’t officially college football season until the premier conference gets underway. The sport is starting to feel somewhat whole again, even if the Big Ten and Pac-12 haven’t taken the field. That of course means more coaches tempting the fate of the hot seat.
There are plenty of coaches in the SEC and around the other conferences in the college football landscape that need to deliver soon or the heat is going to be turned up on them another notch or two.
One coach on this week’s list is already feeling the heat after escaping what would have been an embarrassing Week One loss to Tulsa. The other two are SEC coaches that need to kick off their season with a big win.
The best way to get off the college football hot seat is to win
Will Muschamp – South Carolina
In five years with South Carolina, Will Muschamp has a .510 winning percentage. All things considered, that’s not the worst record in the world in the SEC. That being said, his Gamecocks don’t play in the SEC West and it plays a little differently in the SEC East. Coming off a 4-8 season, Muschamp needs a turnaround year from his squad and to show some signs of turning the corner toward competing in the SEC East with the likes of Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. The Gamecocks have a chance at a big win to open the season when they host No. 16 Tennessee. They have to take care of business at home with a big opportunity in front of them. If not, it could be the start of a long season with Florida, Auburn and LSU early on the schedule.
Gus Malzahn – Auburn
It feels like in some way or another, Gus Malzahn will always find his way onto this list. He’s not in any imminent danger and there might be no better coach than surviving the hot seat in college football than Malzahn. No. 8 Auburn hosts No. 23 Kentucky at home to begin the season. It’s a chance for the Tigers to get a good win under their belts before they get ready to visit No. 4 Georgia next weekend. However, a loss would almost certainly cause the Tigers to be facing an uphill climb the rest of the way in the SEC West.
Mike Gundy – Oklahoma State
The lone non-SEC coach on this week’s list is Mike Gundy. After the offseason he had and his tenure almost reaching a tipping point, Gundy began his latest season with an uninspiring 16-7 win over Tulsa at home. For a while, it looked like Oklahoma State was going to suffer a bad loss to begin the season. Now the No. 15 Cowboys begin Big 12 play by hosting West Virginia. A win would almost certainly make everyone forget about the performance against Tulsa. A loss would make an up and down season seem almost inevitable. Gundy needs stability and more wins stat.
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