A big domino fell over the weekend when Penn State fired James Franklin despite an enormous buyout, creating another Power 4 coaching vacancy. There could be a bunch more on the horizon.
It’s time for our midseason hot seat temperature check across all of the FBS.
ACC
Mike Norvell, Florida State
Two years ago, his team was terrific and got robbed by the selection committee and left out of the College Football Playoff at 13-0. Last year, the Seminoles had a dreadful roster and ended up 2-10. A fast start to 2025 with an impressive win over No. 8 Alabama raised hopes. But they’ve dropped three in a row to Virginia, Miami and Pitt — all by one score — and the chatter to dump Norvell has returned.
His buyout number is massive at north of $50 million, and FSU doesn’t have the resources of Penn State or Texas A&M. There are also no ranked teams remaining on the schedule, although a road trip to a Clemson team that looks as if it’s started to figure some things out is daunting. Getting to 7-5 doesn’t look too challenging, because none of the opponents have winning records in conference play. Then again, neither does FSU at 0-3.
Temperature check: Getting warmer
Big Ten
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
Things have gotten much worse in Madison. After winning the first two games against Group of 5 opponents, the Badgers have lost four in a row to Alabama, Maryland, Michigan and Iowa by at least two touchdowns. Iowa brutalized the Badgers 37-0 at Camp Randall Stadium after Fickell played the revenge card following last year’s blowout loss against the Hawkeyes. It was their first home shutout loss in 45 years.
After the game, Fickell said, “That’s as low as it can be. I apologize,” adding that he was “dumbfounded.” The Badgers have been outscored 74-7 in the first halves of the past four games. Fickell, who did an excellent job at Cincinnati, is 15-17 at a program where Paul Chryst was fired after going 67-26 overall and 43-18 in the Big Ten. And it’s likely to get uglier. Wisconsin’s next two games are vs. No. 1 Ohio State and then at No. 8 Oregon. They also visit No. 3 Indiana. The combined record of the Badgers’ remaining six opponents is 31-6. His buyout is around $28 million. That’s a lot, but it’s hard to see Wisconsin giving him much more time.
Temperature check: White hot
SEC
Hugh Freeze, Auburn
After two losing seasons to begin his Auburn tenure, Freeze has struggled to get any traction and is now on a three-game losing skid, albeit all three tight games against ranked opponents (Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Georgia). The Tigers could’ve won all three but didn’t, which has been a common theme in Freeze’s time.
Under Freeze, Auburn is 2-8 in one-possession games and 1-11 against ranked teams. He’s 14-17 overall and 5-14 in SEC play. The good news: The remaining schedule isn’t brutal. Next the Tigers host Missouri, which will be making its first road trip. Then, it’s Arkansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mercer and the Iron Bowl against Alabama. Expecting Auburn to go 4-2 down the stretch seems plausible. A 7-5 season still might not be good enough, but beating No. 16 Missouri is now a huge game for Freeze.
Temperature check: Caliente
Auburn is 5-14 in SEC games under Hugh Freeze. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Billy Napier, Florida
Napier is 21-23 in four years, and it seems as if he has been at Florida longer. Last year, he battled through a rough first half of the season, but he never lost the team and the Gators responded well, winning their last four games to finish 8-5.
Florida was 3-3 at this point last season with four ranked teams and two woeful ones remaining. The Gators are 2-4 this year, though the schedule isn’t quite as daunting with three Top 25 teams (Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee). Winning four of the six — and I think the Gators are talented enough to do that — might be good enough to save him. But … what is much different now is athletic director Scott Stricklin’s tenure isn’t as tied to Napier as it was last year, when his situation felt more tenuous before his men’s basketball hire, Todd Golden, went on to win a national title last spring, changing the calculus in Gainesville.
Temperature check: Scalding
Conference USA
Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee
After a 3-9 debut season, Mason’s team has sputtered out of the gate to 1-5 in a conference where half the programs recently moved up to the FBS. Worse still, Middle Tennessee got blown out by FCS Austin Peay to start the season. It is still early in his tenure, but it would behoove him to get a few wins in the second half of the season. The Blue Raiders do host winless Sam Houston on Nov. 22.
Temperature check: Warm
Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech
It’s been a slow build for the former Texas Tech star quarterback, who went 6-18 in his first two seasons before winning five games last year. He got off to a nice start this year, going 4-1 with the loss being at LSU by a respectable 23-7 score. But the Bulldogs just got crushed 35-7 at Kennesaw State and now face WKU, the best team in the league. Getting to six wins should be enough, and that seems possible given they still have winless Sam Houston and 2-4 Liberty remaining, both of which visit Ruston.
Temperature check: Cooling down
MAC
Joe Moorhead, Akron
This is a tough gig. Moorhead’s a really good offensive coach and finished last year strong, but the Zips have started 2-5 and he’s just 10-33 in four years. They still have UMass and Kent State, who are both woeful, so getting to four wins is realistic, but does a Power 4 program try to hire him as its offensive coordinator? Moorhead’s son, a promising Class of 2026 recruit committed to Jacksonville State, will be off to college, so the timing might be right for a change.
Temperature check: Warm
Mountain West
Jay Norvell, Colorado State
The Rams got a much-needed win last week, blowing out Fresno State 49-21 to snap a three-game losing skid. They are 2-4 but now have a stretch where they play five teams that have a record of .500 or better. Norvell has done a pretty good job, going from three wins to five wins to eight wins last year after taking over following the dreadful hire of Steve Addazio. It would be surprising to see a change after he just produced the second-best season Colorado State has had in two decades, but if they don’t sustain some of that momentum from last week, this one is worth keeping an eye on.
Temperature check: A little warm
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