College Football 2011: 5 Coaches Who Must Win in Week 7

Yesterday, Mike Stoops became the first coaching casualty of the 2011 season when Arizona terminated him after Stoops lost his 10th straight game to an FBS opponent.

The firing likely won’t be the last we see before the season ends.

There are plenty of "hot seat" coaches out there who are truly starting to feel the heat.

Here’s a look at five coaches who can’t afford a loss this weekend.

Luke Fickell, Ohio State

We all knew Ohio State interim head coach Luke Fickell was going to have his work cut out for him this season, but you had to expect Fickell’s team to perform much better in the face of adversity than they have.

The Buckeyes' offense is an embarrassment and it’s the main reason that Ohio State is 3-3 at this point in the season.

Sorry Luke, but beating the likes of Akron, Toledo and Colorado at home isn’t going to be enough to earn you a full-time gig.

It’s time make something happen in conference play and it has to start this weekend when Ohio State heads to Illinois.

Starting off 0-3 in the Big Ten would not endear Fickell to the Buckeye faithful.

Mike Riley, Oregon State

It wasn’t all that long ago that Mike Riley was considered one of the most underrated coaches in college football, but now after his team’s lousy 1-4 start, that title has quickly evaporated.

The season got off to a dismal start when the Beavers lost at home to FCS opponent Sacramento State in the season opener, and things haven’t gotten much better since.

The Oregon State offense is one of the worst in the country, ranking 97th in scoring.

Riley’s team got off the schneid by beating Arizona last week, which ended up costing Mike Stoops his job.

Now BYU comes to Corvallis and Riley better have his team prepared again, because the Cougars will be looking to battle.

Mark Richt, Georgia

After an 0-2 start, Mark Richt has calmed the storm in Athens by winning four straight games against mediocre competition, but now his team has to deal with its second-straight road game when they head to Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Even though it’s a tricky spot, Richt isn’t going to get any leeway from Georgia fans, who will be expecting a convincing win over the Commodores.

If the Bulldogs slip up on Saturday, Richt will certainly start hearing the grumbles again.

Ruffin McNeill, East Carolina

East Carolina was absolutely throttled by Houston last weekend.

The 56-3 drubbing that the Pirates took dropped their record to 1-4 on the season.

After going 6-7 in his first season on the job, Ruffin McNeill is now watching his team spiral out of control.

It’s not as if McNeill’s predecessor, Skip Holtz, didn’t leave this program in good shape, so there aren’t really any excuses for this type of poor performance.

Yes, the early schedule has certainly been tough, with the likes of South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Houston, but when you’re only victory of the season is against a winless UAB team, there’s not really much to brag about.

Now the Pirates will head out on the road to meet up with 1-5 Memphis.

Losing to the Tigers, who have won a total of four games dating back to 2009, would be humiliating.

Bob Toledo, Tulane

For some reason, Tulane keeps letting Bob Toledo coach, even though the Green Wave have performed poorly in each of his four seasons.

Toledo’s 13-35 record going into this year was certainly nothing to be proud of, and the coach hasn’t exactly done much to right the ship this season.

Tulane is now 2-4 on the season, with “big” wins over Southeastern Louisiana and UAB, who have a combined record of 1-9.

The only way it could get much worse is if the Green Wave lose to 2-3 UTEP at home on Saturday.