Welcome back to a long overdue installment of Five Wide Fullbacks! This is the first 5WF I’ve done in 10 months, whoops. I guess time flies when you’re having fun. Well, I guess things haven’t been too fun as of late. In today’s post we’ll talk about good and bad for UTEP, the coaching hot seat, Notre Dame’s MVP, moving on from coordinators, and how to cope with the loss to Brigham Young University.

1) Out of ranking of 10, where does your disappointment and anger sit following the loss to BYU?

Everyone has their own experience with the stages of grief after Notre Dame losses. During the game I was hit over the head with disappointment through the first half, then a wave of anger eventually took over when the last throw from Carr fell incomplete in the end zone. I turned the TV off immediately, took a quick shower, then promised myself I wouldn’t toss and turn in bed well past midnight thinking about the game and proceeded to toss and turn thinking about the loss. Over a week later, this is how I feel:

Disappointment: 4/10

This is college football, to be honest. When you step back from some of the errors and blunders (we’ll get to that!) a close loss isn’t surprising at all. Being able to look at the rest of the season while still no. 5 in the AP Poll right now, it was remarkably easy to get over the loss with an eye to the future. There’s still so much of the season left to be played, and I have a feeling (like many) that this could be a season where there are losses all over the place across the nation. Heck, we might see a 3-loss team win the title.

Anger: 8/10

Notre Dame was simply out coached at BYU. Yeah, a bunch of weird stuff happened and they fought back to almost win. Leaving a game like that with a whole bunch of questions about the coordinators, which then trickles up to Marcus Freeman’s leadership, is never a good thing. It goes beyond thinking “our receivers aren’t good enough to win in the playoffs” to an entirely different conversation about getting the best out of the players right now and navigating the program for the future.

3rd & 5 with the game on the line here.

I keep thinking about the throw to Mylan Graham on the penultimate play of the game. Everything about it was terrible. They were stacking bad decisions after one another leading to this ridiculous throw to a completely cold and unused receiver prior to this snap. The anger comes from thinking the coaching staff is letting the players down and whether performances like this will ultimately sink the team later in the season.

Maybe there’s some anger at myself for thinking we’d turned a corner as a program and didn’t have these types of problems where the rest of the country really questions Notre Dame’s coaching staff and sees a lot of weaknesses there.

2) The coaching staff is under scrutiny through the bye week, which assistants are on notice and what are the odds Notre Dame goes into 2027 with a new coordinator on either side of the ball?

Well, answering this question depends on the outcome against Miami and possibly what happens against SMU. I don’t have the game preview for the former game but I think we’ll beat Miami anyway. But, let’s say the Hurricanes do win and Notre Dame either misses the playoffs or barely makes it in and finishes a disappointing 10-3, or something like that.

Will Ash be DC next year?

I’ll rank the 5 assistants under the microscope from least likely to most likely to be gone in 2027:

OC Mike Denbrock – I don’t see this happening unless things get worse on offense and the heat picks up, particularly from the national media. Also, the situation with CJ Carr complicates things. If he returns for 2027, do you want to be starting over with a new offensive coordinator? Maybe! But it’s risky. If Carr leaves for the NFL then the odds of a new coordinator go up a little bit.

LB Coach Brian Jean-Mary – A firing after one season? Quite unlikely. Still, the association coming from Michigan is going to be held against him (by me) and things haven’t quite been up to expectations.

DB Coach Aaron Henry – This is a situation where maybe a one-and-done happens if we see continued issues with pass defense when this was supposed to be a generational season for the defense. Some of the criticisms we saw from Illinois fans start to make more sense now.

DC Chris Ash – This situation feels a lot more tenuous than Denbrock with the offense. With Freeman’s defensive background I’m sure he’ll feel more confident and secure to pull the plug here if that’s what the decision needs to be. Coming out of the BYU game I know this feels like it’s 70% likely Ash is gone. I doubt it’s that high right now.

WR Coach Mike Brown – Three years is enough. Even if you don’t want to lay the blame for the issues at wide receiver at Brown’s feet it’s time to move on and try someone else.

3) Who is the first half Notre Dame MVP, Most Improved Player, and which position group has surprised the most so far?

Who are the candidates for MVP? Several on defense (Moore, Johnson, KVA, Talich) have been injured and missed time. I would’ve put Traore in the conversation but maybe not after his targeting penalty against BYU. I don’t think there’s another player standing out enough on defense.

So, it has to be someone on offense. The default answer is CJ Carr but there could be MVP votes for Anthonie Knapp, Jordan Faison, or even Nolan James. My vote is for Knapp.

MIP I’m going to Micah Gilbert. A little more consistency to finish the season should make him a lock for this award. I don’t think anyone would’ve guessed he’d be over 400 receiving yards at this point in the season.

My surprise position group is the offensive line. They’ve had a really clean and impressive season, this was a spot on the team I was really worried would hold the offense back and instead they’ve been a rock after a few growing pains earlier in the season.

4) Firing season has already begun with Mike Locksley (Maryland), Dave Doeren (NC State), and Dave Aranda (Baylor) given the axe over the weekend. How many other coaches are on the hot seat?

I thought this section would have a long list of names but actually it’s hard to predict more firings without going wild. Also, there are a lot of coaches who haven’t been at their school long enough to get fired, even though maybe they should be. Take for example Tim Albin at Charlotte. He did just beat Temple two weekends ago and is coming off a bye week, but he’s lost 17 out of his 19 games so far with the 49ers. Would an American Conference program fire a coach with 3 years remaining on his contract?

Also, you can always throw in some big names as likely: Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Lincoln Riley (USC), and Skeletor (Oklahoma) make just about any list these days.

Fran Brown, Syracuse – It seems like Brown has been at Syracuse longer than just 2.5 years. He did just beat North Carolina so I think he’ll be safe. But, they lost 9 games last year and might miss a bowl game in 2026. Also, he’s never been extended and is only under contract through 2028, this would be as friendly of a buyout situation as you’ll see at a power program.

Mike Norvell, Florida State – And in the opposite corner, one of the worst buyouts for a power program! Everyone knows this is a question of when not if for Norvell to be sent packing from Tallahassee. This is year 7 for Norvell, too. That 2023 season seems so far away now. The Noles are 10-21 since then and just 4-16 in the ACC, truly wretched stuff. The buyout is reportedly $45 million if he’s let go after the 2026 season.

Deion Sanders, Colorado – Looking at this buyout situation, Sanders may be safe for another year. Still, he’s on track for his 3rd season of at least 8 losses and the lone decent 2024 season wasn’t even that good. Since the end of that season, Prime is 6-16 with the Buffaloes. He’s also dealt with health issues which may complicate things.

Lance Leipold, Kansas – I’ve liked Leipold since he was DGT™ at Buffalo and after a brief renaissance in 2023 where the Jayhawks looked like a problem it’s been mostly stagnation since then. Kansas was 5-7 in each of the last two seasons and while they’re only 3-4 right now they’re 1-3 in the Big 12 and might finish as a bottom 3 team in the league. However, Leipold’s buyout is reportedly $18 million so he’ll probably stick around.

Phil Longo, Sam Houston – Okay, I added a coach who is only in his second season at a program. Sure, Sam Houston is in a tough spot making its way up from FCS. Although, they were quite good in 2024 with 10 wins in Conference USA. Since taking over this program, Longo is 3-15 and his Air Raid offense has been completely grounded. They’ve only scored 30+ points once in his tenure and they’ve been held under 20 points in 10 separate games. This buyout is less than $5 million.

Joe Moorhead, Akron – Once the hot name offensive coordinator, Moorhead has been languishing at Akron. In fact, I forgot he was still coaching here! No one pays attention to Akron football but it looks like he’s only under contract through 2027. Maybe they run this contract down and say goodbye but for someone in year 5 with only 14 wins they should probably pull the plug sooner.

Scotty Walden, UTEP – Walden took this job when he was just 33 years old and it doesn’t seem to be working out. He’s 6-24 through 2.5 seasons and it’s another example of an offensive head coach not getting things to work on that side of the ball. Going into this week, the Miners are tied for second to last nationally in scoring.

5) The regular season is half over, give us your best and worst uniforms from 2026 so far.

Maybe things aren’t going so well for UTEP on the scoreboard right now but I saw these Texas Western throwbacks they wore earlier this season and thought they looked fantastic. They should rebrand back to this tough look and colors. Their current navy blue and orange color scheme is boring and dated, while all of their branding makes them look like an EA Sports create-a-team program.

At least something is going right for UTEP.

Utah is doing too many silly things with their uniforms. I don’t like their interlocking “U” logo as seen on their shoulders. I believe that’s a recent secondary logo that they are using a lot more on the football field and it looks boring. Also, Utah changes their helmets as much as Oregon. Look at these abominations:

Helmets made by Santa’s elves. 

What are we doing? An icy Utah script floating above mountains? Maybe this isn’t the ugliest helmet of the 2026 season. Yet, something about the way this thing looks on a football field makes me want to throw in the trash bin forever. It doesn’t look like a logo that should be used in competitive sports. That’s something for a book cover or travel guide.