College football hot seat: Tom Herman and 3 coaches desperately needing a win

Tom Herman desperately needs a win vs. rival Oklahoma after losing last week, but he’s not the only big-name member on the college football hot seat watch.

We’re really beginning to get into the meat of the college football schedule. It’s a weird thing to say when not all conferences have begun play yet, but we’re beginning to learn a lot about the current season for those that are.

Week 5 left us with new contenders and gave some pretenders a humbling dose of reality. It also provided some programs perhaps the foresight the head coach they hired may not be the genius they took him for.

This week could further those assertions or it could be a chance for those head coaches looking for a win to shake off the bad press. With each passing week, we get closer and closer to the heat being turned up to the point of no return for some on the hot seat. Could Week 6 end up being the tipping point?

The college football hot seat features some coaches making repeat appearances

Tom Herman – Texas

Texas is back to losing football games again. Well in fairness, the program suffered its first loss to TCU this past Saturday. However, if the Texas Tech Red Raiders didn’t have the ultimate collapse two weeks prior, Tom Herman would be staring at two straight losses heading into a rivalry game against Oklahoma.

Which is funny, because that’s where his counterpart Lincoln Riley is. However, Riley has the accolades and success to back his resume while Herman has been a roller coaster during his tenure with the Longhorns.

A loss would push Texas back to .500 and all but certainly competing for a mediocre bowl game at year’s end. Could they still compete for the Big 12 with a loss? Sure, but it’d probably take a miracle in a year where they clearly don’t exist.

Texas is going to reach the point soon where they wonder if Herman is everything they seemingly thought he was going to be. Some people are upset this game isn’t between undefeated programs. I for one like watching a battle where the losing coach is going to have his hair on fire after.

Jimbo Fisher – Texas A&M

For all the money he’s being paid, Jimbo Fisher needs to deliver the results Texas A&M is expecting soon. No one expected them to win at Alabama, but they weren’t exactly competitive in defeat either as the Crimson Tide rolled over them.

Add in their lackluster 17-12 win over Vanderbilt at home to begin the season and its fair to wonder if this A&M squad is perfectly average. Well, lucky for them they get another big-time test when they host No. 3 Florida on Saturday.

Like last week against Alabama, Fisher doesn’t necessarily need to come away with the win here, but he needs his guys engaged for the duration and to be in it until the final gun. Another blowout loss would be steering the car down a road that it doesn’t want to go down.

Gus Malzahn – Auburn

College football’s game of the week in Week 5 ended was a bigger dud than the final season of Game of Thrones. Auburn got blistered 27-6 at Georgia and if you were smart, and since you’re reading this I know you are, you would have flipped over to a Nash Bridges rerun or flipped on Quibi.

Malzahn’s Tigers need a rebound performance to remove last week from the memory. They host Arkansas this week and have a chance to get right. Bo Nix will have his opportunities to sling the football around and hopefully give Malzahn something to smile about in that fall air.

However, they can’t let their guard down against Arkansas the way Mississippi State did. After the Bulldogs defeated LSU on the road to begin the season, they laid an egg at home. Arkansas will catch Auburn if the Tigers don’t respect them.

Brian Kelly – Notre Dame

The No. 5 Notre Dame Irish haven’t taken the field since Sept. 19. Not to fear, they get to host the red hot Florida State Seminoles, who are coming off a program defining win over Jacksonville State.

Listen, Florida State ruined everyone’s fun by beating Jacksonville State. Had the completely inept Seminoles started 0-3, the Mike Norvell hot seat express would have left the station and this would be a one week special dedicated solely to him.

Instead, Brian Kelly has to hope there is zero rust with his program as they get ready to host the Seminoles. This is a game they should roll through their opponent as they look to get back into a groove. If they slip up, well then that’s a pretty deflating defeat that can have a lasting impact on a season.

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