Many of college football's biggest preseason promises have already expired. Entering Week 6, the panic meter is climbing for programs running out of explanations for on-field struggles, including several teams with hot-seat coaches. When the same problems surface every weekend, patience disappears and the excuses begin as program leaders run low on trust.
And for teams not considering a coaching change or battling through first-year issues with new staffs, their situations aren't any less frustrating given the stakes. There's still time to change the conversation for some, but most of these panic-driven programs are nearing midseason with no clear answers given what's ahead on their respective schedules. For this exercise, teams are given a panic meter score ranging from 1-5, with "5" being unfixable.
Shane Beamer's tenure has run its course at South Carolina. Saturday night's loss to Kentucky was the program's eighth straight in SEC play and 12th in its last 14 games against Power Four competition. The Gamecocks haven't beaten a Power Four opponent since Kentucky last season, a span of 373 days, and have no semblance of confidence as a team.
They've blown double-digit leads in three of their last four SEC games dating back to the debacle at Texas A&M last fall and can't seem to execute in crunch time on either side of the ball. South Carolina keeps making the same mistakes, wasting opportunities and asking a defense with its own issues to cover for an offense with noticeable quarterback regression. The talent is there for LaNorris Sellers, but execution lacks.
Beamer built belief in 2024 with a 9-3 finish, but the Gamecocks have been unable to sustain. The eject lever will soon be pulled in Columbia. Humiliating defeats are becoming the norm at Maryland under Mike Locksley, whose days are numbered.
Locksley hoped his team would respond over the weekend at Nebraska after their 51-point thumping at the hands of UCLA, but more of the same ensued during a 48-23 setback. With a trip to unbeaten Ohio State looming, it might get uglier for a program that invested substantial resources this offseason in roster retention to ensure Locksley had what he needed to turn things around. Colorado's offense is broken.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
