Coaches on the hot seat

Just over eight weeks ago, I broke down the top five coaches on the hot seat. At the time, I listed Michigan's Rich Rodriguez, Illinois' Ron Zook, LSU's Les Miles, Colorado's Dan Hawkins and Minnesota's Tim Brewster.

Since then, Michigan and LSU are 5-0. The Wolverines are the No. 18 team in the country, with a notable road win over rival Notre Dame. The Tigers are No. 12, having beaten North Carolina on the road and West Virginia and Tennessee at home.

It's safe to move Rodriguez and Miles off the hot seat for now. Illinois is 2-2, standing pretty much where everybody thought it'd be: losses to Missouri and Ohio State, and wins over Northern and Southern Illinois.

Colorado's Dan Hawkins' seat may have cooled down a bit, thanks to the Buffaloes' 3-1 record, including a 29-27 win over Georgia last week. But Hawkins' seat is still warm, and with the Big 12 conference schedule starting up, it'd be surprising to see Colorado end up with more than five wins this year.

CoachesHotSeat.com has the following coaches as their top five: Brewster, Washington State's Paul Wulff, Texas A&M's Mike Sherman, New Mexico's Mike Locksley and Georgia's Mark Richt.

ESPN senior writer Ryan McGee ranks UNC's Butch Davis as his No. 1, as the Tar Heels have dealt all season with accusations of academic cheating and improper benefits.

McGee then puts Brewster at No. 2, Wulff at No. 3, Locksley at No. 4 and Richt at No. 5.

Minnesota is now 1-4, with four straight home losses, putting Brewster's job in serious jeopardy. He's just 15-28 in four years with the Golden Gophers, and 6-19 in the Big Ten.

Wulff's job is looking dicier by the day, as the Washington State coach is now just 4-25 in two and a half seasons. Washington State hasn't been to a bowl game since 2003, and fired former head coach Bill Doba after going 30-29 in five years. It would be shocking if Wulff doesn't pass Doba's losses by the end of the season, which would probably mean that the Cougars are looking for a head coach by January.

In New Mexico, Locksley is 1-15 in a year and a half, and despite bringing in some high-profile recruits such as Ohio State transfer Lamaar Thomas and West Virginia transfer Deon Long, you can only lose so many games before you lose your job, no matter how good you are at recruiting.

Lastly, Richt's tenure in Georgia has been interesting to watch, as the Bulldogs coach has completely fallen out of favor in the last year and a half. With a 90-26 record coming into this year, including seven bowl wins in eight years and six 10-win seasons in the same time period, one would think Richt would be safe in Athens. But a 1-4 start to this year, including four straight losses, and everybody in Georgia is barking for a new head coach.