Phil Steele lists over half of the SEC West coaches on his ‘must-win’ list
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Every fan base in the SEC has something to be encouraged about heading into the season. Until your school drops a game, there won’t be any shortage of hope on campus, and your coach shouldn’t be feeling any pressure at all. Unfortunately, that likely won’t be the case for very long once the season kicks off as the road in the SEC is tougher than in any other conference in the nation.
Taking that into consideration, college football expert Phil Steele has just published an ESPN Insider column listing the 13 coaches in ‘must-win’ mode entering 2017. Incredibly, five coaches from the SEC made the list with four of them coming from the West. The college football expert defines this list as the coaches sitting on the hottest seats entering the season.
Butch Jones, Bret Bielema, Hugh Freeze, Kevin Sumlin and Gus Malzahn were all featured on Steele’s list. The results from each of these coaches head-to-head matchups very well could determine their fates by the end of the season.
Jones won’t face any of the other coaches this season, barring a trip to the SEC title game in December, but does take his team on the road to face Georgia Tech in Atlanta Week 1 in a neutral site game before heading to Florida in Week 3 and hosting Georgia Week 5. That early season stretch will be pivotal for the Vols and potentially Jones’ future in Knoxville.
As for Bielema, his Arkansas team will face off against Sumlin’s Aggies in Arlington, Texas for the annual neutral site showdown. The Razorbacks have yet to beat Texas A&M since the Aggies joined the SEC five years ago. The Hogs host Auburn Week 8 coming off last season’s 53-point loss to the Tigers and travel to Oxford Week 9 hoping to extend a three-game winning streak over the Rebels.
Freeze’s Ole Miss team gets to host Arkansas and Texas A&M, in Week 12, this season but will have to travel to Auburn in Week 6 of the season following a road trip to Alabama.
Sumlin has an opportunity to push his Arkansas winning streak to six this season before hosting Auburn Week 10 of the season followed two weeks later by the trip to Oxford.
Malzahn may have the best chance of coaching his way off the hot seat, as his Tigers return arguably the most talent of any team in the league outside of Alabama. Malzahn’s biggest test this season could come from the challenge of ending three-game losing streaks to both Georgia and Alabama. Fortunately for Malzahn, Auburn gets both opponents on the Plains this season.
Should the Tiger live up to the hype, Malzhan could establish himself as the SEC’s No. 2 coach this season, if not, he could be sent packing. Such is the life in the SEC, where the margin of error can be razor-thin with so much on the line each and every week in the South.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
