Tuesdays with Gorney: Stock reports on Power Five coaches

A lot of interesting coach storylines have emerged this season - like all seasons - so Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney goes through the Power Five conferences to name his hot - and not - coaches in this week’s Tuesdays with Gorney:

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Hot: Clemson, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Syracuse

Clemson is the only undefeated team in the conference after hanging on against Syracuse this past weekend as coach Dabo Swinney changed quarterbacks from DJ Uiagalelei to Cade Klubnik - five-star to five-star - after early struggles. It was a courageous move but seemed necessary even though Uiagalelei has been playing much better this season.

North Carolina’s defense still has issues but coach Mack Brown has the Tar Heels at 6-1 and atop the Coastal Division plus they have the No. 22 recruiting class in the country. After preseason rumors that Dino Babers was on the hot seat, Syracuse is 6-1 with its only loss at Clemson this past weekend and Dave Clawson continues to be a superstar at Wake Forest with his only loss this season coming in a thriller to Clemson as well.

Not: Boston College, Virginia Tech, Miami

The season started ugly for Boston College with losses to Rutgers and Virginia Tech and the Eagles have gotten blown out by Clemson and Wake Forest in their last two games as coach Jeff Hafley is getting no traction from his offense. BC is averaging just 19.3 points per game and cannot run the ball effectively. After going 6-5 and 6-6 in his first two seasons, a losing record looks all but guaranteed in Year 3 as the Eagles are 2-5.

From 2004-11, Virginia Tech won 10 or more games every single season. It wasn’t quite as stellar through 2019 but the Hokies still managed seven of eight winning campaigns. But the program has fallen off since then with losing records in Justin Fuente’s final two seasons and first-year coach Brent Pry hasn’t gotten much traction yet. The Hokies have lost four-straight conference games, three by double digits, and are averaging a little over 19 points per game.

The glory years at Miami are now so far gone that you wonder how many people still really remember them. Since joining the ACC in 2004, the Hurricanes have one 10-win season. They’re onto their sixth coach during that stretch and Mario Cristobal is finding the rebuild to be slow although Miami does have a top-14 recruiting class right now. Still, a loss to Middle Tennessee State was embarrassing and the Canes got whooped by Duke this past weekend to fall to 3-4.

Hot: Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois

Ohio State and Michigan have consistently had some of the best recruiting classes in the conference, if not nationally, and those players are delivering on the big stages of Columbus and Ann Arbor now.

The Buckeyes are undefeated heading into their big clash against Penn State this weekend and they’ve beaten all seven opponents by double digits. Three of the top-six receivers in the Big Ten play for Ohio State in Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Julian Fleming. Ohio State and Michigan are the only teams in the league that average more than 40 points per game.

Heading into its in-state rivalry against Michigan State, the Wolverines have been pretty unstoppable as well coming off a manhandling of the Nittany Lions on both lines of scrimmage in a 41-17 blowout. Ohio State has the third-best recruiting class nationally but Michigan is still a middling group so far at No. 30.

How about what Bret Bielema is doing at Illinois? Running back Chase Brown leads the conference in rushing yards and the defense hasn’t given up more than 14 points but once this season in now a shocking loss to Indiana. If not for that stumble against the Hoosiers, Illinois would be undefeated heading into its game at Nebraska this weekend.

Not: Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern

The Hoosiers started this season 3-0 but have since lose five-straight with a brutal close to the regular season with Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State and Purdue still on the schedule. Indiana is also last in the Big Ten team recruiting rankings with just eight commitments.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is finally getting some heat about having his son, Brian, as offensive coordinator for a Hawkeyes team that doesn’t even look like it’s attempting to score with the playcalling. In a 54-10 rout at Ohio State on Saturday, the Hawkeyes’ lone touchdown was a defensive one. The Hawkeyes are 3-4 and have lowly 1-6 Northwestern this weekend in a game where the over/under is set at 35.5 points.

Coming off a 3-9 season, Northwestern started with a win over Nebraska in Ireland but then inexcusably lost to Southern Illinois and Miami (Ohio) before scoring a touchdown in each loss to Penn State and Wisconsin. A tough stretch to close the season awaits as the Wildcats aren’t even averaging 19 points per game.

Hot: TCU, Oklahoma State

TCU is the only undefeated team in the Big 12 and the Horned Frogs are ranked eighth nationally after coming from behind to beat Kansas State this past weekend. So far this season, TCU has blown out Oklahoma, ended Kansas’ hot start, outlasted Oklahoma State and found a way to beat Kansas State after a slow start. It’s an incredible run for first-year coach Sonny Dykes as the Horned Frogs also have a top-25 recruiting class but only one four-star in DE Avion Carter so far.

The Cowboys are also playing incredibly well and came-from-behind this past weekend to beat Texas in Stillwater. Their only loss this season was a double-overtime thriller against TCU the previous week. With all the success, though, Oklahoma State is second-to-last in the conference team rankings with just 11 commits.

Not: West Virginia, Iowa State

Neal Brown’s seat could be getting much hotter at West Virginia especially after getting routed, 48-10, at Texas Tech this past weekend and especially with a schedule that closes with TCU, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Brown is 20-22 in Morgantown but only 12-18 in conference play.

Still a hot name in coaching circles, Matt Campbell’s Iowa State team is the only Big 12 squad yet to win a conference game. The Cyclones have lost three-straight games by three points or less and have Oklahoma this weekend. Iowa State is holding opponents to about 15 points per game yet have a 3-4 record.

Hot: Oregon, USC, UCLA

After getting blasted by Georgia, 49-3, in the season opener, Oregon has looked like a completely different team with an unstoppable offense. In those next six wins, the Ducks have averaged 49 points per game and are coming off a convincing win over UCLA. Plus, the Ducks have the No. 12 recruiting class nationally led by five-star quarterback Dante Moore and high four-star receiver Jurrion Dickey.

USC and UCLA are both coming off losses but both are 6-1 and playing well as the Trojans have the top-ranked class in the Pac-12 led by five-stars Malachi Nelson and Zachariah Branch. The Bruins have not capitalized yet on their on-field success yet with only seven commitments but coach Chip Kelly has proven he knows what he’s doing and more pledges could come soon.

Not: Arizona State, Colorado

The Sun Devils and Buffaloes have already fired their coaches and both are just trying to hang on through the end of the season. Arizona State has just six commitments, lowest in the Pac-12, and the program is also in the middle of an NCAA investigation that continues to drag on. A 2-5 record also doesn’t help including a 15-14 loss to Stanford over the weekend where the Cardinal scored on five field goals.

Colorado has a better recruiting class with 17 pledges and has not seen any defections since Karl Dorrell was fired earlier this season. After beating Cal for their first win this season, with maybe something to build on, the Buffaloes got blasted, 42-9, this past weekend by Oregon State. Colorado hosts, yes, Arizona State this weekend in a game that might be must-see TV.

Hot: Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU

Alabama and Georgia are still the leaders of the SEC so it’s no surprise both are moving swimmingly through their seasons but the real hot teams in the conference are undefeated Tennessee, a South Carolina team that just beat Texas A&M and LSU, which looks like a completely different squad than in its season-opening loss to Florida State.

The Tennessee story has been amazing this season as the Vols beat Alabama two weeks ago in one of the best environments in recent college football. Kentucky awaits this weekend and then it’s highly possible the undefeated Vols meet the undefeated Bulldogs on Nov. 5 although Georgia does have the Florida rivalry game this weekend.

South Carolina has won four-straight and has a favorable couple weeks before the schedule gets much tougher down the stretch. Still, coach Shane Beamer has done a phenomenal job and especially this past weekend beating what looked like an unprepared Texas A&M team especially in the first quarter.

After a rough showing in a loss to Tennessee where LSU coach Brian Kelly admitted he didn’t do a good job, the Tigers went to Florida and won and then throttled a previously-unbeaten Ole Miss squad this past weekend. Now with his feet under him, LSU looks very good and a showdown with Alabama comes up in two weeks.

Not: Auburn, Texas A&M

Auburn is 3-4 with three-straight losses to LSU, Georgia and Ole Miss but rumors that coach Bryan Harsin would have been gone by now have been premature. It feels inevitable but Harsin will lead his team out against Arkansas this weekend. Everyone is basically just asking: Will this be the end?

Texas A&M’s first six minutes at South Carolina last weekend were a disaster as the Gamecocks returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, kicked a field goal and then the backup center snapped the ball right into Haynes King as he was changing the play at the line, the fumble was recovered by South Carolina and it scored another TD to go up 17-0 early. The Aggies have now lost three straight and haven’t scored more than 24 points since the season op