On The Hot Seat: Week 12

1. Paul Wulff—Washington State upset Arizona State on November 12^th and lost to Utah in overtime on November 19^th. The Cougars are slowly improving, but that does not take away from the fact that Washington State will have its fifth consecutive losing season, and fourth under Wulff. Wulff is 4-31 in Pac-12 games. He needs to go.

2. Neil Callaway—UAB got a huge 34-31 upset over No. 22 Southern Mississippi on November 17^th. With a 3-8 record, Callaway will have his fifth consecutive losing season. Callaway is 18-41, or .305, in Birmingham with one game left to play.

3. Ron Zook—After starting out 6-0 this season, the Illini had a meltdown and lost their next five games. The Illini play a 2-9 Minnesota squad in their finale Saturday. If it is their sixth straight loss, Zook will probably be canned.

4. Steve Fairchild—Colorado State started the season 3-1, then dropped six consecutive games to fall to 3-7. Fairchild is 7-22 in Mountain West games during his tenure. If the Rams cannot beat Air Force or Wyoming, they will finish the season with their third consecutive 3-9 season.

5. David Bailiff—Bailiff is 23-37 with one game left to play in his fifth year. The Owls will have their third straight losing season and fourth losing season in Bailiff’s five seasons.

6. Dennis Erickson—A few weeks ago, the Sun Devils were looking good with a 6-2 record and a Top 25 ranking. The following three weeks, Arizona State dropped to 6-5, losing to UCLA, Washington State, and in-state rival Arizona inside Sun Devil Stadium. The Sun Devils are having a meltdown.

7. Mike Riley—Just when you thought the Beavers bottomed out last season, things get even worse in 2011. The Beavers are 3-8. The last time Oregon State was that bad was 1997 when they finished the season 3-8. Oregon State has the Civil War left to play against the Ducks, which will likely put them at 3-9.

8. Turner Gill—Kansas is 2-9 this season, with a 1-15 record in Big 12 games. All but two of the Jayhawks losses were by double-digits. Gill needs to start making some progress in Lawrence before the administration and fans lose their patience.

9. Rob Ianello—Rob Ianello is 1-10 in 2011 and 2-21 overall in almost two seasons. Is Akron happy with one win per season? Will Ianello be back for a third season?

10. Larry Porter—Larry Porter is 3-20 in two years at Memphis. The former Tigers running back is struggling, having beaten only one Conference USA opponent in two years. Two seasons may be too early to cast judgment, but the past two seasons have been dismal.

Waiting list: Robb Akey, Frank Spaziani, Rick Neuheisel

Fired: Joe Paterno

We will revisit On The Hot Seat after Week 14.

Big East Expansion Targets

With the announced departure of West Virginia from the Big East last Friday, along with the previous news of TCU, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse turning their backs on the Big East, the once-proud conference is fighting for its survival.

The Big East is looking to add Houston, Southern Methodist, and Central Florida in all sports.

The Big East is looking to add Boise State, Air Force, and Navy as football-only members.

The Big East will need to make one more invitation to get to John Marinatto's desired size of twelve members with the recent loss of West Virginia. Other schools being considered are BYU, Army, Temple, East Carolina, and Memphis.

Looking at how unstable the Big East is right now, why would any school want to make the jump? There is no guarantee the Big East will keep its autobid to the BCS after 2013 even if it does patch itself back together. Announcements on whether these schools will go to the Big East or not will be released tomorrow it is rumored. It is unlikely all of the six aformentioned schools will join if invited.

The Big East needs to figure out what it wants to be: a basketball conference or a conference for all sports. Some conference members don't field football teams. Some conference members like Notre Dame are involved in all sports except football. Other conference members are committed in all sports. There are offers are being made to schools to be football-only members. Unequal commitments will not work in the long term. The Big East needs to get this in its head or it will forever be destined to fail.

Least Returning Starters

Teams with the least returning starters for the 2011 season.

Auburn 5
After winning the national championship last season, the Tigers return the fewest starters in the nation--a paltry 5. However, the Tigers compensate a lack of experience with talent. They recruited the #1 class for 2011 and their 2010 recruiting class was ranked #6. Still, don't expect back-to-back national titles.

TCU 6
The Horned Frogs have only 2 starters returning on offense and 4 starters coming back on defense. Texas Christian's talent level and favorable schedule should get the program to a bowl game but there are lots of questions surrounding the 2011 TCU football team.

Fresno State 6
The Bulldogs are young and inexperienced. They play California, Nebraska, Mississippi, and Boise State in nonconference games. With a lack of experience and leadership, they could easily go 0-4 in those games.

Memphis 7
The Memphis Tigers look to be in big trouble with only 7 starters coming back and not too much hype surrounding the program after going 1-11 last year. Analysts predict Memphis to go 1-11 again and finish last in Conference USA.

C-USA Home Attendance Figures

	East Carolina			Houston
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium			Robertson Stadium
S5 Tulsa	50,010		S4 Texas State	32,119
S11 Memphis	48,123		S10 UTEP	32,119
O16 NC State	50,410		S25 Tulane	32,007
O23 Marshall	50,145		O9 Mississippi State	32,067
N6 Navy	50,191		N5 UCF	32,008
N26 SMU	49,108		N13 Tulsa	30,046
AVERAGE	49,665		AVERAGE	31,728
	Marshall			Memphis
Edwards Stadium			Liberty Bowl
S10 West Virginia	41,382		S18 Middle Tennessee	27,965
S25 Ohio	28,143		O2 Tulsa	22,231
O13 UCF	23,601		O16 Southern Miss	18,848
O30 UTEP	24,740		O30 Houston	19,731
N13 Memphis	25,108		N6 Tennessee	39,742
N27 Tulane	19,302		N27 UCF	14,992
AVERAGE	27,046		AVERAGE	23,918
	Rice			Southern Methodist
Rice Stadium, Reliant Stadium*			Gerald J. Ford Stadium
S4 Texas*	70,445		S11 UAB	16,612
S18 Northwestern	15,562		S18 Washington State	18,184
S25 Baylor	23,395		S24 TCU	35,481
O2 SMU	14,981		O9 Tulsa	19,329
O16 Houston	26,342		O23 Houston	20,741
N20 East Carolina	15,262		N20 Marshall	17,513
N27 UAB	13,007
AVERAGE	25,571		AVERAGE	21,310
	Southern Miss			Tulane
M.M. Roberts Stadium			Louisiana Superdome
S11 Prairie View A&M	27,316		S2 Southeast Louisiana	20,258
S17 Kansas	30,211		S11 Mississippi	36,389
O2 Marshall	27,518		O9 Army	28,756
O9 East Carolina	32,334		O30 SMU	18,636
O30 UAB	26,415		N6 Southern Miss	22,737
N20 Houston	32,606		N13 Rice	16,698
			N20 UCF	19,069
AVERAGE	29,400		AVERAGE	23,220
	Tulsa			UAB
Chapman Stadium			Legion Field
S11 Bowling Green	19,565		S2 Florida Atlantic	25,885
S25 Central Arkansas	21,928		S18 Troy	23,681
O16 Tulane	23,295		O16 UTEP	11,756
N6 Rice	19,036		N6 Marshall	17,860
N20 UTEP	16,547		N11 East Carolina	14,083
N26 Southern Miss	21,901		N20 Memphis	16,177
AVERAGE	20,379		AVERAGE	18,240
	UCF			UTEP
Bright House Networks Stadium			Sun Bowl
S4 South Dakota	34,373		S4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff	30,029
S11 NC State	43,020		S18 New Mexico State	39,214
O6 UAB	40,281		S25 Memphis	29,765
O23 Rice	38,151		O9 Rice	28,955
O30 East Carolina	40,073		O23 Tulane	25,007
N13 Southern Miss	40,358		N6 SMU	23,127
D4 SMU	41,045
AVERAGE	39,614		AVERAGE	29,350

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

East Carolina	49,665
UCF	39,614
Houston	31,728
Southern Miss	29,400
UTEP	29,350
Marshall	27,046
Rice	25,571
Memphis	23,918
Tulane	23,220
Southern Methodist	21,310
Tulsa	20,379
UAB	18,240