The last seven days have been something of an anomaly in the 2025 college football season. Since the end of the last full weekend of action, not a single head coach has been fired after a flurry of departures in the three weeks prior. However, that could be set to change, with the college football hot seat smouldering uncontrollably for these five head coaches after Week 7.
James Franklin, Penn State
James Franklin stood motionless among the throng of players, media, and others wielding on-field passes at Beaver Stadium. Perhaps he was shell-shocked. Maybe he was taking it all in for the last time. He’s stood on that field many times before in his long tenure at Penn State. But, never before have the cries of “Fire Franklin” rung out so vehemently from once-adoring fans.
Franklin has endured against perception throughout his time in College Station. His record in big games, his struggles to take the Nittany Lions over the hump from good to great, have been long-documented. Just one win in 17 games against Top 5 teams. 5-21 against Top 10 teams. No national championship, not even a sniff of leading this team to the biggest stage in the sport.
But now, there are new talking points, bigger problems. Penn State has lost the last three games, two of them in embarrassing style against an opponent they were meant to beat. Franklin is now the first coach in the last 30 years to lose consecutive games as a 20-point (or more) favorite. It’s another damning statistic on his resume, one that stings more than others.
Asked by one media member if he still wanted to be the Penn State football head coach in the wake of the loss to Northwestern, Franklin dodged the question. Noncommittal, he flipped focus to the players in his locker room. Perhaps the Nittany Lions head coach doesn’t want to be there anymore. Maybe it won’t be his decision to take by the end of the weekend.
Luke Fickell, Wisconsin
College football is built on tradition, and the third-quarter intermission “Jump Around” at Camp Randall is one of the greatest in the sport. It’s a Wisconsin Badgers’ tradition, but on Saturday night, it was the Iowa Hawkeyes, pitching a shutout, who were jumping around like maniacs, celebrating a humbling of a program whose coach is on the college football hot seat.
Luke Fickell has been under pressure for the past few weeks. He’s now 15-17 as the head coach in Wisconsin, much closer to his stint at Ohio State than the six years in Cincinnati that earned him a shot with the Badgers.
The program is slipping into obscurity behind their current head coach, who has been subject to boos and a dreaded “vote of confidence.” Being 0-3 in the Big Ten simply won’t cut it, especially with Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, and Illinois all still to come. This situation feels like a when, not if.
Trent Dilfer, UAB
At the risk of sounding like a broken record where UAB Blazers head coach Trent Dilfer is concerned, it’s another week with a loss, another week without a win over an FBS program after succumbing to the Florida Atlantic Owls in Week 7. The Blazers failed to score more than the average that the 125th-ranked defense has allowed this year, while shipping 53 points to a unit that had only averaged 28.8 points per game coming in.
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Dilfer remains on the college football hot seat as his overall record moves to 9-21. The program’s 2-4 record certainly isn’t the worst in the country. However, their outlook is arguably the most bleak of any team in college football, with a lack of wins, discipline, and direction under their current coach. Bowl eligibility became a right under Bill Clark and Bryant Vincent, but UAB is a long way from hitting six wins under its current coach.
Trent Bray, Oregon State
After a 39-14 thumping at the hands of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, the Oregon State Beavers have been slapped with the embarrassing label of being the first team to be mathematically incapable of being bowl eligible. The defeat at home in ACC play dropped the team to 0-7, with head coach Trent Bray a regular occupant of the college football hot seat.
Bray was dealt a difficult hand when he took over at Oregon State, but we’re no longer in Year 1, and the program looks worse than ever. A defensive savant who was responsible for the stingy units under the previous head coach, the Beavers are now as porous as any team in the country and lack any form of identity. They’re one of just three teams at the FBS level without a win following Week 7 of the 2025 campaign.
Bill O’Brien, Boston College
While most people will focus on a different former NFL head coach struggling in the ACC, it’s time to start questioning the Bill O’Brien regime at Boston College. There were bright spots in Year 1, but the Eagles ultimately ended the 2024 campaign with the same record as the final season of the Jeff Hafley era. In Year 2, results — and performances — have become more difficult to come by.
After beating Fordham to open the year, Boston College has fallen to five consecutive defeats. Two of those were by tight margins, but in the last two weeks, the Eagles have scored just 17 total points and have allowed 99. Both Clemson and Pitt put up their most points in a single 2025 game (against FBS opposition) when facing the Eagles, a damning indictment.