After Alabama opened its 2025 football season at Florida State and stumbled to a 31-17 defeat, Kalen DeBoer had a 9-5 record as the Crimson Tide’s head coach and was 4-4 against unranked opponents.
The Crimson Tide had barely returned from Tallahassee when On3Sports.com reported that Alabama boosters were concerned about the direction of the program.
More than a month later, Alabama has a five-game winning streak and is ranked No. 6 in the country heading into Saturday night’s showdown inside Bryant-Denny Stadium against No. 11 Tennessee. DeBoer was quick to reclaim success, but five other coaches in Power Four conferences — DeShaun Foster (UCLA), Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), Sam Pittman (Arkansas) and James Franklin (Penn State) — were fired before reaching mid-October.
Franklin guided last season’s Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff semifinals and had this year’s team No. 2 in the country through the first three weeks.
“When you’re in the moment right now, it feels like it’s a little crazy,” DeBoer said Wednesday on the weekly Southeastern Conference teleconference. “I just feel bad for the coaches who I know are really good coaches and the players and staffs who are in those programs and still have half a season to work through under intense situations.
“I just feel bad for everyone involved in those programs.”
Pittman could have company when it comes to SEC coaches who don’t make it through the 2025 season.
The Palm Beach Post was among several outlets Wednesday to report that Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin met with several influential boosters Tuesday, and that the boosters told him their continuing financial support depends on new direction within the football program.
Billy Napier’s 21-23 record with the Gators, which includes a 2-4 mark this season, is the worst for a Florida coach through 44 games since World War II.
“That’s a reality in our possession,” Napier said Wednesday. “As a competitor and as a leader, it comes with the territory. I think you have to have the ability to focus on the things that are important today. That’s the whole key here.
“You have to stack good days.”
Earlier this week, Auburn athletic director John Cohen told AL.com that a coaching change is “not my expectation at this point.” Hugh Freeze is 5-14 in SEC games midway through his third season on the Plains, having started out 0-3 in league play all three years.
There will be a slew of Power Four coaching casualties before 2025 is over, and a huge reason is because every hire today has a significantly shorter leash than a generation ago. Another big reason is because only three power conference coaches — North Carolina’s Mack Brown, Purdue’s Ryan Walters and West Virginia’s Neal Brown — lost their jobs last season.
On the SEC availability report released Wednesday night, Tennessee running back DeSean Bishop (lower leg) was listed as probable for Saturday’s game, while Alabama running back Jam Miller (concussion) was labeled questionable. Cornerbacks Rickey Gibson III (arm) and Jermod McCoy (knee) remain out for the Volunteers.
Georgia 10th-year coach Kirby Smart was asked Wednesday if the gap between the top and bottom teams in power four conferences has shrunk in this era of revenue sharing and the transfer portal.
“There has been a closed gap, but I don’t know if it’s been between the top and the bottom,” Smart said. “My assumption would be that the top is now closer to the middle but that the bottom hasn’t come closer to the top. It depends on what you define as the bottom, but if you’re talking about the bottom 10%, I think the gap is greater. If you’re talking about the median or the middle, then it’s probably closer.
“There are a lot of teams in the Power Four that don’t have the capacity, and they get poached and picked over. Then there is a middle section that has plenty of money, and they can get the top section’s backups or whatever and get closer to them.”
Lane Kiffin’s next road victory over a ranked SEC team will be his first one.
Kiffin has accomplished a lot midway through his sixth season at Ole Miss, but his only road win over a ranked team to this point was a 37-20 downing of No. 24 Tulane in New Orleans two years ago. He faced two ranked teams away from Knoxville during his one season as Tennessee’s coach in 2009, losing at No. 1 Florida that September and at No. 1 Alabama that November.
Before Bobby Petrino became the Arkansas interim head coach, he was the offensive coordinator of the Razorbacks.
Before Petrino was the offensive coordinator of the Razorbacks, he was Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator under Jimbo Fisher in 2023, which was Fisher’s sixth and final season with the Aggies. The 2023 Aggies had a quarterback depth chart of Max Johnson, Conner Weigman, Jaylen Henderson and Marcel Reed, who was a freshman from Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy.
On Saturday, Petrino’s Hogs host Texas A&M, with Reed now in his second season as the starter.
“Marcel came in as a true freshman and wasn’t one of the guys who graduated in the midyear, so we just got him in June,” Petrino said. “He had a lot of offense to learn and a lot of adjustment to SEC football, but he always had a great attitude and a smile on his face and loved being in the meeting room and being our at practice.
“You could see his natural leadership ability, and I think he’s a really good quarterback. We’ve got a tremendous challenge trying to keep him in the pocket and keep him surrounded.”
With the SEC possessing 10 of the 25 teams in the Associated Press poll, it lends the likelihood of weekly matchups between ranked teams.
That is definitely the case this Saturday with No. 5 Ole Miss at No. 9 Georgia, No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama, and No. 10 LSU at No. 17 Vanderbilt. The LSU-Vandy pairing may rank third among those three in terms of the hype factor, but it again pits Commodores coach Clark Lea against former mentor Brian Kelly.
When Kelly coached at Notre Dame, Lea was his linebackers coach in 2017 and his defensive coordinator from 2018-20.
“When Mike Elko was my defensive coordinator, Mike and Clark knew each other very well and had worked together, so there was an existing relationship,” Kelly said. “I brought Clark in when Mike was my defensive coordinator and got a great opportunity to see him firsthand and work firsthand with him prior to elevating him to the coordinator’s position when Mike left to be the DC at (Texas) A&M.”
Kelly’s Tigers defeated Lea’s Commodores 24-17 last November in Baton Rouge, with Saturday’s rematch in Nashville.
“I think they’re a much more confident football team,” Kelly said. “I think they were feeling their way through it last year. They had some success with the big win against Alabama, and that certainly helped them with confidence, but they play with a confidence this year that they didn’t play with last year based upon the success they’ve had.”
Pasquali’s Pix
LSU at Vanderbilt: LSU has won 10 straight series meetings since Watson Brown’s Commodores defeated Mike Archer’s Tigers in 1990. Tigers 20, Commodores 17.
Georgia Tech at Duke: The Yellow Jackets being bowl-eligible in mid-October is not exactly an annual occurrence. Blue Devils 27, Yellow Jackets 22.
ETSU at UTC: Rusty Wright is 5-1 coming off open dates as UTC’s head coach, with his only loss to Alabama and Nick Saban in 2023. Mocs 24, Buccaneers 19.
Oklahoma at South Carolina: Since the start of the Bob Stoops era in 1999, the Sooners are 24-2 in games immediately following the Red River Rivalry, though one of the setbacks was last year’s 35-9 debacle against the Gamecocks. Gamecocks 26, Sooners 24.
Texas A&M at Arkansas: In last weekend’s 34-17 thumping of Florida, the Aggies did not have a single lost-yardage play in 68 offensive snaps. Aggies 31, Razorbacks 17.
Ole Miss at Georgia: Smart is the closest we’ve seen to Saban on the field. Kiffin is the closest we’ve seen to Steve Spurrier away from it. Bulldogs 27, Rebels 20.
Mississippi State at Florida: Remember when the Gators lost to South Florida on Sept. 6? That’s the last time they didn’t play a top-10 team until this week. Gators 31, Bulldogs 26.
Texas at Kentucky: Only 1,068 miles separate these longtime SEC rivals. Longhorns 27, Wildcats 10.
Tennessee at Alabama: Given how Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is playing, the absence of Gibson and McCoy for the Vols could be move evident in this one than in any other game this season. Tide 31, Vols 24.
Missouri at Auburn: Mizzou’s Eli Drinkwitz was a quality control coach on Auburn’s 2010 national championship team. Those were slightly happier times on the Plains. Mizzou 24, Auburn 23.
Other picks:
Miami 28, Louisville 19
Nebraska 25, Minnesota 22
California 34, North Carolina 15
Michigan 23, Washington 20
Tulane 27, Army 16
Ohio State 42, Wisconsin 17
Indiana 41, Michigan State 18
Clemson 29, SMU 24
Texas Tech 40, Arizona State 21
Memphis 46, UAB 23
Oregon 31, Rutgers 14
Virginia 32, Washington State 27
Notre Dame 35, USC 26
Florida State 20, Stanford 13
South Florida 37, FAU 10
Winners — 17
Coaches fired — 8
Pasquali is 139-36 overall (79.4%) this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.