College Football Coaches Hot Seat Index: Pressure on Shane Beamer After Week 5

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer headlines the college football coaching hot seat after Week 5, as five of the six coaches under the most pressure lost Saturday and Florida State head coach Mike Norvell won only a brief reprieve.

Beamer's Gamecocks blew a 17-0 lead in a 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky, their eighth straight SEC defeat. Meanwhile, Rutgers allowed 593 yards to Indiana, Maryland gave up 34 unanswered points at Nebraska and Clemson lost 41-13 at home to Miami.

Shane Beamer, South Carolina Gamecocks

College Football Coaches Hot Seat: Pressure on Shane Beamer, Dabo Swinney After Week 5 — South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer directs his team against the Kentucky Wildcats | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

South Carolina scored first in overtime, but Kentucky answered with a touchdown and a two-point conversion to finish the comeback for first-year head coach Will Stein. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 147 yards and two more touchdowns in the loss.

The Gamecocks are 2-3 and 0-3 in SEC play. The 49-year-old coach is now 35-33 overall and 16-27 in conference games across six seasons, and columnist Blake Toppmeyer wrote that the loss turned Beamer from "an embattled coach to a doomed coach."

Beamer didn't dodge the record afterward. "The first half of the season, nobody expected to be 2-3, and I'm well aware it is not good enough. I get it," he said.

College football insider Pete Nakos reported Sunday that sources had circled the Kentucky game as one Beamer needed, though a move as early as Sunday appeared unlikely. His buyout sits at $28 million, and South Carolina visits Florida before its bye week.

Mike Locksley, Maryland Terrapins

Maryland twice led by nine points in the first half at Nebraska. But a pick-six by quarterback Malik Washington swung the game, and the Terps gained 300 yards in the first half and just 62 after it.

The 48-23 loss dropped Maryland head coach Mike Locksley's team to 2-3 and 0-2 in the Big Ten. It came one week after a 54-3 home loss to UCLA that put him on last week's hot seat list, and it was the program's 18th loss in its last 20 Big Ten games.

"I can't complain about the effort and the energy we started the game with," Locksley said. Still, the D.C. native also pointed to "way too many self-inflicted wounds."

Locksley would be owed roughly $10 million if fired before January. Maryland visits Ohio State on Saturday, and Mark Pszonak wrote that the administration could wait until after that game "to make it official."

Greg Schiano, Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Indiana piled up 593 yards, including 329 on the ground, and averaged 8.7 yards per play in a 47-15 win on Rutgers' homecoming. The Scarlet Knights fell to 1-4 and 0-2 in the Big Ten.

Rutgers rebuilt its defense in the offseason with a new coaching staff and more than 10 transfers. However, the unit hasn't held up since a season-opening 37-21 home loss to UMass.

Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano opened his postgame news conference by addressing the open date. "So we've got a bye week and we need to examine some things and make some tough decisions," he said. Asked to elaborate, the 60-year-old coach said, "Anything's on the table."

Pszonak labeled Rutgers "a lost cause" in his Sunday recap. After the bye, the Scarlet Knights visit Maryland in a matchup between two coaches on this list.

Dabo Swinney, Clemson Tigers

Fourth-ranked Miami handed Clemson its worst home loss since Florida State won 51-14 in 2013. The Tigers are 3-2 and 2-1 in ACC play, and their two losses, 51-10 at LSU and 41-13 to Miami, came by a combined 69 points.

The LSU loss was the worst of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney's career. In addition, national college football writer Bryan Fischer noted that Clemson is 10-8 over the past two seasons and 7-8 against power-conference opponents.

Swinney still believes his team can win the ACC. "The season ain't over," he said.

His buyout is $57 million at the end of the season, which would rank second in college football history. Fischer also reported that athletic director Graham Neff isn't expected to make a rash decision.

Deion Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado scored on its opening drive against No. 12 Texas Tech and didn't score again in a 29-7 home loss. Isaac Wilson, making his first start in the program's fifth quarterback change in 13 months, threw three interceptions as the Buffaloes committed four turnovers and missed two field goals.

The loss dropped Colorado to 2-3 and 0-2 in the Big 12, and the Buffaloes were outscored 93-27 during their three-game skid. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is 18-24 in four seasons after a 3-9 finish last year.

Coach Prime pointed at the quarterback room. "That's the position that's somewhat disabling us and disarming us," Sanders said. So Wilson, Kaneal Sweetwyne and Julian Lewis will compete during the bye week before Colorado faces Utah.

Mike Norvell, Florida State Seminoles

Florida State gave up the first touchdown to Virginia, then scored the final 38 points to improve to 3-2 and 1-1 in ACC play. The Seminoles ran for 281 yards, and quarterback Ashton Daniels set the school's single-game record for rushing touchdowns.

"I believe this can be a really good and dominant football team," Norvell said.

College football reporter Chris Hummer wrote that Norvell now has "a path to potentially save his job." Still, FSU hasn't won consecutive games against Power Four opponents since 2023, and it's 0-10 in true road games over the last two-plus seasons.

That road streak gets tested Friday at Louisville, followed by a trip to Miami, a bye and a home game against Clemson to close Florida State's October stretch. The school fired athletic director Michael Alford in September, and Norvell's buyout sits at roughly $49 million, with the full cost of a coaching change near $100 million.

Also on the hot seat: USC's Lincoln Riley, NC State's Dave Doeren

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