Charlie Weis is Fat (And other reasons why these coaches might get fired.)

Time for my yearly round-up of the coaches on the hot seat this season. I was unsurprisingly accurate last season. That's bad news for these guys...




Robb Akey- Idaho. Akey is this year's winner of the Gregg Robinson award. That prestigious piece of hardware is given to the one coach that defies all odds and is given another year at his god-awful institutions. Past winners include Gregg Robinson. That's some good company. Also, it's a tradition for the Gregg Robinson award winner to be fired within a year of winning the award. So expect Akey to be out of Moscow by year's end.

Possible Replacement - Someone who will be fired 3 years from now. It's the natural cycle at Idaho.







Steve Kragthorpe - Louisville. Fortunately for Kragthorpe, the Rick Pitino scandal will take off some of the heat that Steve has been feeling at Louisville. Unfortunately for Stevie-K, his coaching ability (or lack thereof) will put all the heat square back on him by October.

Possible Replacement- This seems like a good spot for Turner Gill.






Bob Toledo - Tulane. I'm still trying to figure out how in the hell Bob Toledo even got this job in the first place. I don't see the Green Wave being any good this season, so I think Toledo will be leaving the Big Easy pretty soon.

Possible replacement - How about Tommy Bowden coming back to New Orleans. The Wave haven't been nearly as good as they once were under Bowden.





Neil Callaway - UAB. When I sat down and thought of all the coaches I wanted to include on this highly respected list, I have to admit that Neil Callaway wasn't one of my first choices. This had nothing to do with the fact that I think the Blazers will be better this season. I actually completely forgot about UAB and Neil Callaway. The worst thing for a college football to do is to become irrelevant.

Possible Replacement- Tyrone Willingham. Imaging Willingham and Mike Davis at the same tiny institution.




Charlie Weis - Notre Dame. The poster boy for coaches on the hot seat this season. Weis will need to do better than a trip to the Hawaii bowl this season to keep his job. One good thing for Charlie is that he has a solid defense in South Bend this year. Also, an easy schedule, especially by Notre Dame standards, should help the Irish rebound somewhat.

Possible Replacement- We all know who Notre Dame's first choice is going to be. We'll just agree that that isn't happening. So I'll say the field.




Al Groh - Virginia. Groh saved his job two seasons ago. He found himself back on the hot seat after missing a bowl game last season. A similar result this year could lead to his dismissal. Groh's sticking point used to be his recruiting prowess. However, he is even slipping in that department recently.

Possible Replacement- Skip Holtz. If he can pull off another good season at ECU.







Doug Martin - Kent St. If Martin can't get the Golden Flashes into a bowl game this season, he might be getting the pink slip. Martin needs to take full advantage of Eugene Jarvis while he has him.

Possible Replacement- Someone from the D-II that no one has ever heard of.





Paul Wulff - Washington St. I usually like to give coaches a 3 year grace period before calling for their job. However, there are certain special circumstances in which I can make an exception. This is one of those instances. If the Cougars suffer through another season like last year, Wulff will be out.

Possible Replacement - Some USC assistant.








Mark Snyder - Marshall. I really have no insightful knowledge on this one. I just know that Marshall hasn't been good for a couple of seasons. Howe many more can Snyder stay around for? In my opinion, one.

Possible Replacement - Maybe the UF-Marshall connection will make it's way over to the gridiron, and Billy Gonzalez gets a head coaching gig.







Ron Zook - Illinois. I'm definitely not an Illinois insider, but I gotta imagine that the fans are growing weary of Zook's inconsistency. This I can speak of firsthand. Zook can recruit, but he absolutely cannot coach. How does someone with Juice Williams and Arrelious Benn at their disposal miss a bowl game? I guess the Zooker needs to start a fight with an entire frat house to start feeling the heat.

Possible Replacement - Another Gator, Charlie Strong.








Bret Bielema - Wisconsin. The Badger win total has been decreasing every season under Bielema's tenure. If that trend continues this season, Wisconsin could be missing out on a bowl game. That's an unforgivable offense in Madison. One that could cost Bielema his job.

Possible Replacement - Whoever the hell Barry Alvarez wants.







Jim Leavitt - South Florida. I know Leavitt is the architect of the South Florida program. A program that is on a meteoric rise. But some blame has to be thrown his way for the Bulls lack of success in late season games. If USF suffers another late season collapse, especially in George Selvie and Matt Grothe's last season, Leavitt could be feeling some serious heat in Tampa.

Possible Replacement - One of the many top notch assistants on Leavitt's coaching staff.

The top 25 players: WAC

Over the past few seasons, the WAC has been the cream of the crop when it comes to non-BCS conferences.

Two years ago the Boise St. Broncos pulled off one of the biggest upsets in conference history with their victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

Last season, the Hawaii Warriors made it through the regular season undefeated. This year Boise St. is trying to wrestle back control of the conference. However, a lot of "experts" are picking Fresno St. to make a run at the title.

Here's my list of the top 25 players in the WAC.


1. Ian Johnson - Boise St. RB - Ian Johnson could be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy this season. The now famous back is a touchdown machine. With a new QB, Johnson should get plenty of carries once again.

2. Chase Holbrook - New Mexico St. QB - Holbrook has quietly put up some astronomically numbers for the Aggies. NMSU is in danger of losing it's 1-a status. In order to save the program, Holbrook will have to get accompany those numbers with wins.

3. Luke Lippincott - Nevada RB - A lot of people underestimate Lippincott at the RB position. However, whenever I watched a Wolfpack game last season, I saw this kid make play after play. I think he deserves this ranking.

4. Jeremy Childs - Boise St. WR - Childs is yet another play maker for Chris Petersen and the Broncos. I don't see how people can pick Fresno St. above them.

5. Solomon Elimimian - Hawaii LB - The Warrior defense will need to step up in a big way this season. They lost too much on offense to rely on that unit once again.

6. Chris Williams - New Mexico St. WR - Williams is the preferred target for QB Chase Holbrook at NMSU. Hal Mumme will dig deep in his playbook to find ways to get this guy the ball as much as possible.

7. Adam Leonard - Hawaii LB - Leonard joins Elimimian on a very solid linebacker unit. Coach McMackin knows he can count on these two to lead his defense this season.

8. Andrew Woodruff - Boise St. OL - Woodruff is usually the man in charge for clearing running lanes for Ian Johnson. Based on Johnson's stats, you can tell Woodruff is good at what he does.

9. Colin Kaepernick - Nevada QB - Caepernick is probably the least known of all the dual threat quarterbacks in America. This guy may actually be a bigger threat on the ground than through the air.

10. John Estes - Hawaii OL - Estes' talents may go unnoticed this season. That's largely due to the fact that there is absolutely nothing left on offense for the Warriors. Despite this, Estes will still be plugging away on the line.

The rest:

11. Antonio Baker Louisiana Tech DB
12.David Veikune Hawaii DL
13. Joshua Mauga Nevada LB
14. Christopher Owens San Jose St. DB
15. Bear Pascoe Fresno St. TE
16. Jon Monga Fresno St. DL
17. Kevin Jurovich San Jose St. WR
18. Marko Mitchell Nevada WR
19. Kyle Wilson Boise St. DB
20. Cole Popovich Boise St. OL
21. Dominic Green Nevada OL
22. Shiloh Keo Idaho DB
23. Jarron Gilbert San Jose St. DL
24. Bobby Lepori Fresno St. OL
25. Tom Brandstater Fresno St. QB

Countdown: 65 Days!

65 Days

Idaho has been one of the worse teams in the history of the universe over the last few seasons. I expect that trend to continue this year. Last year, their only victory was over a 1-AA team. They do have a 1-AA opponent on their schedule this season, so we'll see if they can match last year's win total.