Six College Football Programs Under The Most Pressure in Week 2

2. Virginia Tech Hokies

It's only Week 2, but some sportsbooks and betting sites have their odds up on who will be the first college football coach fired this season. Virginia Tech's Brent Pry is the current favorite on some such lists.

After the Hokies finished 3-8, 7-6 and 6-7 in Pry's first three seasons, they opened the 2025 campaign with a 24-11 loss to now-No. 10 South Carolina and now host Vanderbilt at home Saturday. This is the return game in a home-and-home series that saw Virginia Tech lose 34-27 at Vanderbilt last season.

In fact, Pry's Hokies have yet to win a non-conference game against a Power 4 opponent in his tenure, also losing to Rutgers and Minnesota last season, Purdue and Rutgers in 2023 and West Virginia in 2022.

3. UCLA Bruins

Joining Pry on those hot seats lists is second-year UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster, who went 5-7 in his debut last season and is off to a tough start after the Bruins got demolished 43-10 by Utah last week.

There's just not a lot of optimism right now for the Bruins. That was supposed to come from high-profile transfer quarterback Nico Iamaleava, but he was ineffective in his UCLA debut, passing for just 136 yards, one touchdown and one interception while rushing for 47 yards.

Worse for the optics, the quarterback UCLA chased off to bring in Iamaleava, Joey Aguilar -- who took Iamaleava's place at Tennessee instead -- was impressive in his Vols debut, passing for 247 yards, three touchdowns and no picks (with 34 rushing yards) in a lopsided win over Syracuse. Already, some are wondering if Tennessee got the better end of that switch.

UCLA plays at UNLV, coached by former Florida and Utah coach Dan Mullen, on Saturday and the Rebels are already 2-0 (albeit with wins over Idaho State and Sam Houston). The Bruins badly need a win and a strong offensive showing here.

4. Alabama Crimson Tide

To be clear, it's not that we actually think Alabama is at risk of losing this weekend, not at home against Louisiana-Monroe -- even if ULM did famously upset the Crimson Tide back in 2007.

But the pressure is on the Tide and second-year coach Kalen DeBoer every week moving forward after the 9-4 finish last year and a 31-17 loss at then-unranked Florida State to open this season.

DeBoer is not just up against Louisiana-Monroe this week -- he's up against the perception that he might not be the right man for the job (the incredibly tough job of following Nick Saban, that is).

Alabama needs to not just win but look like a team that learned from its mistakes in Week 1 and is back on track.

5. Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables is in the midst of a long-term lease living on the hot seat after the Sooners regressed to a 6-7 finish last fall -- his second losing season in three years at the helm.

The No. 18 Sooners need to have a big season this year if Venables is going to prove he deserves a longer runway to get the program back to its former heights, and they have a prime opportunity to make a statement Saturday in a marquee non-conference showdown at home vs. No. 15 Michigan.

Oklahoma went 1-4 against ranked opponents last season (with the lone win coming over DeBoer's Crimson Time) and also lost to a South Carolina team unranked at the time that would finish No. 19, and unranked LSU and Navy teams. To put it more simply, the Sooners lost most of their big games last season -- a trend that has to reverse for the sake of Venables' future with the program.

Oklahoma looked good in its season opener, but that was against Illinois State. The Sooners have an opportunity to change the narrative this week against the Wolverines and true freshman QB Bryce Underwood.

6. Kansas State Wildcats

Kansas State has won at least nine games in the last three seasons under coach Chris Klieman, who is not on the hot seat, but the Wildcats slipped to tied-for-eighth in the Big 12 last season and are off to a middling start so far.

They lost their season-opener 24-21 to Iowa State in Dublin, Ireland, and then narrowly got past FCS foe North Dakota, 38-35, last week. Kansas State hosts an Army program coming off a 12-2 finish last year (but 0-1 so far this season) that is capable of causing fits for any opponent.

For the trajectory and tone of K-State's season, a win this week would do a lot of good.