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Week 6 was a wild one in college football, with two unbeaten squad proving they’re national title contenders, while the No. 1 team in the nation saw its perfect record disappear. Texas A&M’s upset of Alabama featured Jimbo Fisher beating his former boss Nick Saban to snap the Alabama coach’s perfect mark against former assistants. Fisher is one of the most recent coaches to be let go after winning a national title, along with Urban Meyer. Of course there were other major incidents surrounding both departures but in Fisher’s case, the results on the field didn’t justify the headaches off it. And the coach leading this week’s Diaz-Norvell-Frost tracker finds himself in a similar position.
Ed Orgeron, LSU
Winning a national title buys a coach time. Les Miles was fired four games into the fifth season after he appeared in the national title game, so it’s possible Orgeron is not going anywhere soon. However a 42-21 defeat at the hands of Kentucky is not the standard for a program of LSU’s caliber. The Tigers went 5-5 last season and saw their bowl streak snapped. This season they’re 3-3, and will be fighting just to reach a bowl game. Turns out it’s hard to look good as a coach when you don’t have a superstar quarterback.
Scott Frost, Nebraska
Frost is finding new ways to wind up on this list. Nebraska was tied with No. 9 Michigan in the waning minutes of the game deep in their own territory when Adrian Martinez fumbled the ball trying to fight for a couple extra yards. The Wolverines kicked a field goal and kept the Huskers off the board on the last drive. Frost is now 0-10 against ranked opponents and 5-16 in games decided by one possession. Moral victories are okay early in a coach’s tenure but this is Year 4 for Frost. His buyout might be the only thing keeping him alive.
Mike Norvell, Florida State
Norvell has strung together two conference wins a row at Florida State, something the Seminoles haven’t experienced since the early part of the 2019 season. Norvell has a massive buyout as well and Florida State is still footing the bill on Willie Taggart. But it’s still a question of when, not if, for Norvell.
Honorable mentions
- Manny Diaz is down here only because Miami was off this week. He’ll be back among the main candidates when the Diaz-Norvell-Frost tracker returns for Week 7.
- Matt Wells saw his Texas Tech team lose to TCU, setting up an interesting conversation around Lubbock. Wells was entering a pivotal season and is 4-2 now. If he doesn’t make it to a bowl game, that might be too much losing for the Tech brass to stomach.
- The expectations are not very high for Duke football, so David Cutcliffe might be able to simply walk away whenever he feels he’s done. That time might be approaching sooner rather than later. Cutcliffe turned Duke into a consistent bowl contender at one point but a loss to Georgia Tech makes you wonder if he’ll ever return to that level of success.