Six coaches enter October with more questions than wins that matter at schools paying a premium for answers. A few opened in the preseason top 15 with College Football Playoff expectations, while others began the year knowing slow starts could put their jobs in jeopardy. There's still time to turn things around, but the warning signs are hard to miss: offenses without any semblance of confidence and defenses getting exposed.
At this level, high-end salaries come with the expectation that a coach can fix those problems before they cost his team a season. The next few games bring tougher opponents and fewer excuses. For the few coaches within this group already sitting on some of the nation's hottest seats, the coming weekends will decide whether September was a stumble or the beginning of the end.
Ahead of schedule after reaching the CFP in Year 2 last fall, Elko raised the bar and must now live with it. Slight regression was inevitable given vast personnel changes, but you can't lose to Kentucky at home and not be reamed for it. That lackluster effort was troubling enough before Saturday's 29-point beatdown at the hands of LSU, which further exposed the program's offensive deficiencies that have lingered since the end of last season.
After all, it was Elko's decision to stick with Marcel Reed at quarterback this offseason and promote assistant Holmon Wiggins to offensive rather than hire from outside the program. Venables signed a new six-year deal coming off last year's CFP appearance. Think Oklahoma is regretting that decision just a bit?
The offense was bad last fall and has somehow gotten worse with a quarterback who has regressed more than any other player at the Power Four level. The Sooners' Week 2 loss at Michigan was telling, but Saturday's performance against Georgia was even more humiliating after John Mateer's string of mistakes. Venables has some tough coaching staff and personnel decisions to make this fall to bring the Sooners out of the abyss with six games remaining against ranked opponents.
Texas and the SEC's top-ranked scoring defense looms for Red River in Dallas, where a lopsided loss could force Venables' hand. The latest indictment of Riley came over the weekend in the form of a 41-27 loss to Oregon, his 15th in 20 games against ranked teams at USC. One of college football's highest-paid coaches hasn't delivered in Los Angeles, even after offseason staff changes this offseason promised a revitalization on that side of the football.
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