Hot Seat Rankings: 'We Coming' might soon be 'We Gone'

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HOT SEAT GAME OF THE WEEK

Both Jeff Choate and Scotty Walden are still in the 'situations to monitor' category because we're in a backlog of guys who haven't gotten fired yet. This one may be a 'loser leaves town' match, though.

THE RANKINGS

1. Tim Albin - Charlotte (0-5) (Last week: NR)

I apologize to Hot Seat readers for not having Albin ranked until now. If you haven't watched Charlotte this season –and why would you?– allow me to introduce you to the worst team in the country. The 49ers are 0-5, meaning Albin is now an unfathomable 1-16 in the 17 games he's been in charge. It's been bleak all season, but blowout losses to Louisiana and Memphis the past two weeks really put in perspective how awful Charlotte is:

Albin seems ready and willing to go down with the ship. You know it's last stand time when a hot seat coach starts referring to himself in the third-person:

Albin looks like the most obvious candidate to kickstart this season's coaching cycle - possibly as soon as Sunday. Charlotte faces a North Texas squad averaging 40 points and 524 yards per game. It's a strong possibility the Mean Green exceed both those totals at the expense of Albin's job.

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2. Shane Beamer - South Carolina (2-3) (Last week: 4)

I'm sure it's a coincidence that Dylan Stewart's "indefinite" suspension was lifted right after South Carolina blew a 17-0 lead against Kentucky, then lost in overtime. Whether he actually plays against Florida tomorrow feels irrelevant to Shane Beamer's job security at this point.

The defeat extended the Gamecocks' SEC losing streak to seven, while dramatically increasing the odds of them finishing with a third losing season in the past four years. It also added to the number of Beamer L's recently that have been excruciatingly painful. Tell me this play isn't a microcosm of the worst of the Beamer era:

South Carolina is such a funny team. I wouldn't be completely floored if they beat either Florida or Tennessee. It's also just as likely –if not even more so– that they get smacked by both, then lose to Oklahoma and Texas A&M afterwards. You never know what you're getting from a Shane Beamer team, which is exactly why his seat is so hot in the first place.

3. Bryant Vincent - Louisiana Monroe (0-5) (Last week: 2)

We're at the point where I'm just going to show you one play from Louisiana Monroe's previous game to illustrate how rough things are:

4. Mike Locksley - Maryland (2-3) (Last week: 5)

I have nothing to say about Maryland's 48-23 loss at Nebraska, or their their likely 40-point loss at Ohio State tomorrow. All I care about is the Hot Seat Game of the Week matchup to end all Hot Seat Game of the Week matchups awaiting us next Saturday:

T-5. Deion Sanders - Colorado (2-3) (Last week: 7) & Greg Schiano - Rutgers (1-4) (Last week: 9)

Deion Sanders

Let's see, what was the most embarrassing part of Colorado's 29-7 loss to Texas Tech? Was it Tech fans finding a Buffs playbook at the bar of the team hotel the night before the game? Could it be the offense opening with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, then scoring zero points on their other 12 drives? Maybe it's the four interceptions they threw, headlined by a pick-six from their own endzone, down eight in the fourth quarter - when the intended receiver had 20+ yards of open field in front of him:

Those are all solid contenders for the Colorado crown of ineptitude, but my (least) favorite is the special teams unit repeatedly showcasing why they're the most poorly-coached group in the country. The Buffs burned a timeout on a first quarter Tech field goal because they only had seven players on the field:

They only had nine when they came back from the timeout:

They also missed two field goals - one of which was from 29 yards:

The only reason the ball was inside the one on the pick six I showed earlier was because of a heinous punt returning decision. It's not like this is some outlier performance, either. Poor special teams play has been a recurring issue throughout the Prime era (73rd, 119th, and 114th in special teams SP+ in his prior three seasons) and is even worse in 2026. The only units in the country who rank lower in SP+ are Missouri State, UTEP, Akron, and ULM. Those teams are a combined 3-16. Oh, before I forget: they also unsuccessfully faked a punt on fourth-and-seven in their own territory. Sanders yelled, "Who called that?" after it happened:

Postgame, Sanders made sure the embarrassment wasn't just limited to the field. He talked about how the stats didn't tell the full story. He threw his quarterbacks under the bus, including making it sound like Julian Lewis refused to play after being benched. In classic post-loss Prime fashion, he said the exact phrase I knew he would, because it's what he says after every L:

Colorado's now dropped seven-straight Big 12 games dating back to last season, and are 2-13 in their last 15 Power Four matchups. They have a bye this week, followed by Utah and Oklahoma State (road). Their seven remaining opponents have a combined record of 23-8. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not naive. I see where this is heading. Prime better find some answers over the bye, or what started as "We Coming" is about to be "We Gone."

Greg Schiano