College football’s hot-seat conversation has started to move, and Mike Norvell is no longer the name drawing all the heat.
That doesn’t mean Florida State’s coach is out of the woods. After back-to-back disappointing seasons that added up to only seven combined wins, Norvell opened this year with plenty of pressure already on him.
A 2-2 start didn’t help. But after Week 4, his name was off USA Today’s list of coaches who could lose their jobs first, and the focus has shifted elsewhere.
There are at least some signs Norvell can point to. The Seminoles’ passing game has shown life, throwing for 377 yards against Alabama and 238 against Central Arkansas.
Texas transfer running back Quintrevion Wisner, who didn’t get a carry against SMU and had just one against Alabama, delivered his most productive game in Week 4. If that keeps building, it could validate Florida State’s decision to spend resources bringing him in.
The bigger question around Norvell is whether Florida State can get to the number it reportedly needs to keep him for another season. With Saturday’s game against Virginia looking more manageable than it did a few weeks ago, and oddsmakers listing Florida State as a 2.5-to-3.5-point underdog, a 7- or 8-win season is still in play.
That’s a different kind of pressure than what’s hanging over USC’s Lincoln Riley, who now appears to be sitting on one of the hottest seats in the country. Even the part of Riley’s résumé that once sold the whole package - the offense - is no longer enough to calm things down, with Urban Meyer saying they “don’t even want to hear about anymore,”
The frustration is easy to trace. Riley hasn’t beaten Notre Dame since his first season in Los Angeles.
He is 5-15 against top-25 teams and 2-6 against ranked Big Ten teams. Norvell’s last two seasons have been rough, but he still gave Florida State a conference championship.
Riley, by comparison, has left USC fans with false hope and failed expectations.
That latest disappointment came in a 41-27 loss to Oregon, and now the Trojans may be weighing an expensive exit. Riley is making roughly $11.8 million a year, and Matt Zenitz reported, “Despite a buyout believed to be around $70 million,” Matt Zenitz wrote. “Industry sources have told CBS Sports that the Trojans could part ways with Riley depending on how the rest of the season unfolds.”
Shane Beamer has also surged into the conversation after a rough SEC opening for South Carolina.
The Gamecocks are 2-2, and the losses have been ugly. Alabama had the game effectively under control by halftime, when South Carolina trailed 34-10 on the way to a 49-18 defeat.
That came a week after a 41-34 loss to Mississippi State, the Bulldogs’ first win over the Gamecocks in 28 years. Unlike the Alabama game, South Carolina led 23-14 at halftime before being outscored 27-11 after the break.
Those results have only added to the pressure around Beamer, who entered the season on one of the hottest seats in the SEC. South Carolina is now 9-15 in SEC play since the start of the 2023 season and 20-21 overall. Of those 21 losses, 57.1 percent have come by 10 or more points, and 23.8 percent have come by 20 or more.
The Gamecocks are also 3-14 against top-25 teams in that span. Their last win came on Nov. 30, 2024, against No. 12 Clemson, 17-14.
At this point, the question around Beamer is less about whether South Carolina will move on and more about when. The school would owe $27.9 million to fire him before the end of the year, or $22.1 million if it waits until Jan. 1.
Norvell still has pressure to win, but for now, the spotlight has swung toward Riley and Beamer, both of whom are dealing with mounting problems of their own.
In Other News...
Oregon Freshman Turned A Scary USC Moment Into A Statement Win
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Oregon still found a way to turn a frightening injury situation into a statement result, rallying behind backup quarterback Dylan Raiola to win the game. For a team that had every reason to get rattled, the response said plenty about its resilience, and it left Hamptons reaction as only part of a much bigger night for the Ducks. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Revived The Title Talk But One Doubt Still Looms
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UCLA Suddenly Has A Chance To Prove This Start Is Real
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That matters for Oregon because the timing is tricky. The Ducks just beat USC and are trying to steady themselves after the earlier loss to Oklahoma State, which means there is little margin for another slip if they want to keep control of their seasons direction. UCLA gets a chance to prove the start is more than early noise, while Oregon gets a chance to show it can avoid the kind of upset that can reshape everything in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]