From winning the national championship in the 2019 season to … the hot seat in 2021? Is that the current situation for LSU head coach Ed Orgeron with the new season about to begin?

Dan Wolken of USA Today seems to think so. On Thursday, he shared his list of the top 5 coaches on the hot seat heading into the 2021 campaign, and he put Orgeron in the No. 1 spot.

“Orgeron won a national title 2 years ago. How much goodwill does that buy you? Not a lot in this environment in college football, especially at a place like LSU,” Wolken said in his rankings breakdown. “He has been on the Gene Chizik path, I would say, ever since winning that national championship.

“Last year was not good. If they continue to backslide and it looks like they’re kind of getting stuck behind not just Alabama but [Texas] A&M, if they fall behind Ole Miss, they’re not going to wait too long at LSU to try to right that ship.”

Wolken rounded out his list with USC’s Clay Helton, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Nebraska’s Scott Frost and Virginia Tech’s Justin Fuente.

Several of those choices make sense, but Orgeron is an interesting choice for the top spot. He took over as LSU’s head coach in 2016, when Les Miles was fired, and he’s had success both on the field and on the recruiting trail since.

The Tigers went 40-9 from 2016-19 with Orgeron at the helm — which included a 15-0 season in 2019 — before going 5-5 last season. However, there are reasons to believe that the Tigers, who were ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, will bounce back in 2021.

If not, we’ll see if Wolken is right or if Orgeron has more job security than Wolken anticipated.

LSU opens its season with a road matchup against UCLA on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX.