Week 2 barely has a chance to settle in before the heat starts climbing on a few college football head coaches. Some teams are rolling. Others are already giving off the kind of early-season smoke that makes everybody around the program start checking the temperature.
The most uncomfortable situation on this list belongs to Dabo Swinney. Clemson’s 2026 season opened with a 51-10 blowout loss to LSU, and that came after a 7-6 finish last year, his worst season since 2010.
Swinney then got into a war of words with a media member after the LSU game before Clemson came back and beat Georgia Southern 22-7 in Week 2. Even with the win, the pressure isn’t going anywhere.
His buyout would be $57 million if he were fired in 2026.
Rutgers is in a rough spot too, and it started immediately. The Scarlet Knights opened with a 37-21 loss to UMass, snapping a 16-game losing streak for the Minutemen, even though Rutgers was a 29.5-point favorite.
Greg Schiano’s group then dropped a 28-21 game to Boston College. The schedule does them no favors either, with two top-12 teams coming up in the next three games.
If Schiano is fired after the season, the school would owe him roughly $18.5 million.
North Carolina has won both of its first two games under Bill Belichick, beating TCU and East Tennessee State to go 2-0. On the field, that’s the right start.
But the program has been dealing with turmoil away from it, and those off-field issues could end up defining the tenure if they keep hanging around. If North Carolina fires Belichick at any point before Dec. 31, 2027, the school would owe him everything he was set to be paid up to that date.
Mike Norvell looks like the next coach who could really feel the squeeze. Florida State opened with a win, but it was a shaky 34-17 effort against New Mexico State, and then came a 27-24 loss to SMU.
The Seminoles had a bye in Week 2, but Alabama is next, and the program already made a move by firing its athletic director, which only adds to the sense that the head coach could be under even more scrutiny. His buyout is set at $45.6 million after this season.
Dan Lanning is the one who may surprise some people, but the concern is real. Oregon entered the year ranked No. 2, and Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt went as far as calling the Ducks the clear best team in college football.
"There is a clear number one," Klatt previously said. "And I honestly don't understand why this is not more unanimous.
If you actually evaluate rosters out there and what's coming back. Everyone else out there has a question.
Everybody.... Guess who doesn't have questions?
Not one. Oregon.
Oregon is No. 1 in the country, and quite frankly, it's not close."
The Ducks opened with a narrow 34-27 win over Boise State, then lost 39-31 to Oklahoma State, a team that had been on a 12-game losing streak and had just lost to Tulsa. That kind of result is exactly why Lanning’s name is in this conversation. The buyout may help protect him, since Oregon would owe 100% of the remaining money on his contract if it fired him without cause.
Week 2 is still very early, and that matters. Most of these situations can change fast. But right now, Swinney, Schiano, and Norvell all need results in a hurry, Belichick has to keep the off-field noise from swallowing the good work on the field, and Lanning has to prove Oregon’s loss to Oklahoma State was a one-off instead of another sign that the Ducks are coming up short when the expectations are highest.
In Other News...
Rutgers Gets An Early Shot At A USC Weakness Fans Noticed
USC opened the season with a comfortable win over Louisiana, but the final score did not hide some of the defensive issues that showed up along the way. The Trojans allowed 358 total yards and gave up 146 on the ground, with Louisiana quarterback Lunch Winfield accounting for 91 rushing yards and two touchdowns, a reminder that Lincoln Rileys group still has work to do before the schedule tightens.
For Rutgers, that creates an early opportunity to test a weakness that was already visible in Week 1. Riley acknowledged afterward that USC needs to improve defensively, even as he looked ahead to Big Ten matchups with Rutgers and Oregon, and the Scarlet Knights will be watching closely to see whether the Trojans can clean things up before conference play really starts to bite. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Had Multiple Reasons To Feel Proud In NFL Week 1
Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season gave Rutgers plenty to point to, with several former Scarlet Knights making their mark across the league. Kyle Monangai supplied one of the most eye-catching highlights when he turned a 61-yard touchdown for the Chicago Bears, while Bo Melton was active in the Green Bay Packers return game with four kickoff returns for 124 yards. It was the kind of opening Sunday that reminds Rutgers fans how often the programs alumni show up on NFL stages in different ways.
Eric ONeill, Max Melton, Jonah Jackson and Sebastian Joseph-Day also logged contributions for their teams, adding to a week that reflected the breadth of Rutgers pro presence. For a program still building its national profile, having so many former players involved in meaningful moments around the league is the sort of early-season snapshot that matters, even if one of the biggest individual performances still left room for more conversation afterward. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Heads Into USC With One Huge Problem Fans Keep Watching
Rutgers heads into the USC game already facing a daunting early-season test, and the betting markets reflect just how steep the challenge looks. The Scarlet Knights opened as a massive underdog and the number shifted slightly, while the total sits at 58.5, a sign that oddsmakers expect USC to keep scoring. The Trojans have rolled through their first three games by wide margins, and their offense has looked every bit like the kind that can punish mistakes quickly.
For Rutgers, the concern is less about one matchup and more about whether the team can stabilize enough to stay competitive on the road. Through its first two games, the Scarlet Knights have dealt with inconsistency at quarterback and uneven defensive play, leaving plenty of questions as they try to find a rhythm. USC, meanwhile, keeps showing a balanced attack with productive quarterback play, which only raises the pressure on Rutgers to sort out its own issues before the game gets away from it. [Read more 🡒]