NCAAF · 10 minutes ago

5 College Football Programs That Should Be Worried After Regular Season

TJ Inman

Host · Writer

5. Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin made his choice and bolted from Oxford for Baton Rouge. It was a difficult situation and was handled poorly by Kiffin, which hardly comes as a surprise to anyone. The best regular season in school history has Ole Miss likely hosting a first-round College Football Playoff game, but fans should be worried about the mental state of this team and its coaching staff. They are scrambling to fill out the offensive staff after Kiffin took some of them with him to LSU, and it’s fair to wonder whether or not the team will be able to entirely focus on the goal of winning a national title.

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1. Penn State Nittany Lions
The Penn State Nittany Lions finished the regular season by completing a turnaround, of sorts, rallying to survive a scare against Rutgers and reach 6-6 to make a bowl game. All attention has been on the search for a new head coach after Pat Kraft fired James Franklin more than seven weeks ago. As hires were made around the country and the Lane Kiffin saga came to an ugly conclusion, the main spectacle remaining is in State College. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake emerged as the surprise target for the Nittany Lions. On Sunday night, the Penn State administration was extremely confident they had a deal in place. It would be an odd fit for Sitake, as he’s never coached in any significant capacity outside of Utah. Still, he’s a culture builder and was really wanted by athletic director Kraft. On Monday, as the name began to leak out, BYU boosters fought back and worked throughout the day to boost resources and salary for Sitake and try to keep him “at home” in Provo. Going toe-to-toe with the Church of Latter-Day Saints in a financial battle is a losing proposition. Hiring the coach from BYU is a risk for Penn State. Publicly attempting to hire the coach from BYU and missing out while other targets have been locked up with contract extensions or new jobs? That would qualify as a disaster.

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2. Florida State Seminoles
Florida State announced that it is keeping head coach Mike Norvell for another season. That decision was met with the expected chorus of anger and derision. The Seminoles closed the regular season with an ugly loss to North Carolina State and then followed that up with a horrid loss to the Florida Gators, a team led by an interim coach. The Gators put up 40 points and ran all over the Seminoles. Florida State now faces the prospect of filling the roster via the transfer portal again while trying to attract a quality coaching staff, with Norvell on the hottest seat. There is something worse than anger and rage from a fan base, and FSU is flirting with it: apathy.
3. Maryland Terrapins
The Maryland Terrapins finished the 2025 campaign with eight-straight losses and a very disappointing 1-8 Big Ten record. That’s back-to-back 4-8 records for Mike Locksley, but he’s keeping his job, and attention now turns to the transfer portal. Maryland fans should be worried because they have some exciting young players they’ll have to pay up to keep from other schools. The obvious headliner is freshman quarterback Malik Washington. Still, there are young defensive linemen like Zahir Mathis, Bryce Jenkins, and Sidney Stewart, and leading tackler Daniel Wingate, who will undoubtedly have a lot of options.
4. Vanderbilt Commodores
The Vanderbilt Commodores finished one of the best regular seasons in school history with an emphatic victory over rival Tennessee to improve to 10-2 on the year. Clark Lea signed a contract extension to stick around and continue to lead the program, and Diego Pavia still has a very outside shot at the Heisman Trophy. Everything seems fantastic, and that’s a very fair assessment of the state of things in Nashville. That said, the Commodores are still likely on the outside of the College Football Playoff picture. Despite taking care of business against Tennessee, the Commodores got absolutely no help, and they have losses to Alabama and Texas that probably freeze them out from true consideration.
5. Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin made his choice and bolted from Oxford for Baton Rouge. It was a difficult situation and was handled poorly by Kiffin, which hardly comes as a surprise to anyone. The best regular season in school history has Ole Miss likely hosting a first-round College Football Playoff game, but fans should be worried about the mental state of this team and its coaching staff. They are scrambling to fill out the offensive staff after Kiffin took some of them with him to LSU, and it’s fair to wonder whether or not the team will be able to entirely focus on the goal of winning a national title.

Stay ahead of the game and elevate your sports betting experience with SportsGrid.
1. Penn State Nittany Lions
The Penn State Nittany Lions finished the regular season by completing a turnaround, of sorts, rallying to survive a scare against Rutgers and reach 6-6 to make a bowl game. All attention has been on the search for a new head coach after Pat Kraft fired James Franklin more than seven weeks ago. As hires were made around the country and the Lane Kiffin saga came to an ugly conclusion, the main spectacle remaining is in State College. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake emerged as the surprise target for the Nittany Lions. On Sunday night, the Penn State administration was extremely confident they had a deal in place. It would be an odd fit for Sitake, as he’s never coached in any significant capacity outside of Utah. Still, he’s a culture builder and was really wanted by athletic director Kraft. On Monday, as the name began to leak out, BYU boosters fought back and worked throughout the day to boost resources and salary for Sitake and try to keep him “at home” in Provo. Going toe-to-toe with the Church of Latter-Day Saints in a financial battle is a losing proposition. Hiring the coach from BYU is a risk for Penn State. Publicly attempting to hire the coach from BYU and missing out while other targets have been locked up with contract extensions or new jobs? That would qualify as a disaster.

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5 College Football Programs That Should Be Worried After Regular Season

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