Many teams are several games into the 2020 season, so that means there are a bunch of fanbases weeping and gnashing their teeth. After all, in college football, there are equal parts angst and elation.

Coaches get paid big bucks, and the stakes are high. So, when they don't win games, the sweat begins to roll, and there's the possibility they'll be put on the hot seat. 

In other cases, there are coaches who will be under immediate pressure when their teams finally suit up. In the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of the sport, things can change week to week.

Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt was lauded at halftime of last week's Georgia game, and then the Bulldogs thrashed the Vols. On Saturday, Kentucky embarrassed UT 34-7 in Neyland Stadium. Pruitt may be edging closer to a temperature check. But he just signed a contract extension, so he's safe. For now.

Houston's Dana Holgorsen led the Cougars to a season-opening win over Tulane a week ago after a pandemic-delayed start to the year, and the team looked great early against BYU on Friday. But four unanswered BYU touchdowns led to a 43-26 loss, and Houston has major defensive concerns again.

In college football, life comes at you fast.

Neither of those coaches made this list, but they were close and are future candidates to get here. Let's take a look at the guys who did. These coaches either have teams off to rocky starts or need immediate good fortune to keep their jobs.    

Scott Frost, Nebraska Cornhuskers

Out of everybody on this list, Nebraska's Scott Frost is probably the coach with the longest leash, but the Cornhuskers aren't going to wait forever.

The favorite son came to corn country after leading UCF to a mythical national championship three years ago with a 13-0 record after a tough 6-7 first season in Orlando, Florida.

Frost was tasked with turning the once-proud Huskers program into what it once was, and he has done some rebuilding on a team that needed far from an overnight overhaul. 

But a 4-8 season followed by a disappointing 5-7 campaign that began with Nebraska ranked will not cut it. Now, he has a veteran quarterback in Adrian Martinez, but there is little margin for error in a Big Ten season that will begin for Nebraska on Saturday at No. 5 Ohio State.

After that daunting opener in Columbus, Nebraska will head home to play No. 14 Wisconsin, visit Northwestern for a minor respite and then hosts No. 8 Penn State. That schedule has the Huskers playing the three top programs in the conference over the first four weeks of an eight-game schedule.

It's going to be tough for Frost to build any goodwill with a slate like that, and you have to think he needs to pull off an upset somewhere to remain in Nebraska's good graces.

Will Frost lose his job with another tough campaign in 2020? It's hard to envision Nebraska pulling the plug that quickly, but the pressure cooker could be on high before too long.

Nebraska is a proud program that deserves better than losing season after losing season.     

Clay Helton, USC Trojans

Let's go from the least likely coach to get canned to the most likely, shall we?

When you talk about being on thin ice, USC's Clay Helton is driving a Ford F-150 on a deep pond after the winter's first overnight frost. In other words, it's just a matter of time before the Trojans go in a new direction unless things go very differently very quickly in L.A.

It appears recruits are getting the message, which doesn't help Helton.

In 2020, USC finished a shocking 64th in recruiting, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. The Trojans have enjoyed a turnaround, though, sitting sixth in '21.

But none of that matters if the Trojans don't win on the field.

The good news is they will play a stunted schedule that doesn't look too tough. Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Washington State and UCLA are the locked-in opponents, and the Utes aren't guaranteed to perform at the level they have over the past couple of years.

Meanwhile, Helton has a ton of offensive weapons, led by sophomore Heisman Trophy candidate Kedon Slovis, who could be the best player in the Pac-12. With the quarterback running offensive coordinator Graham Harrell's offense, there are a lot of reasons for excitement.

That hope has to translate into victories, though. If it does, Helton will keep his job. If not, he's going to be on his way out in a hurry.      

Tom Herman, Texas Longhorns

Everything is bigger in Texas, including expectations, and head coach Tom Herman hasn't met them.

There's no question the Longhorns have been putrid defensively over the past two years, and it hasn't gotten any better with former Rutgers head coach Chris Ash taking over for coordinator Todd Orlando in 2020. Though quarterback Sam Ehlinger has played well, the team has made crucial mistakes in big games.

The Horns stand at 2-2, but they're coming off a 53-45 four-overtime defeat to Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown, losing to the Sooners in the rivalry game for the second year in a row. 

The .500 record isn't as good as it looks either. Had it not been for a frantic comeback near the end of regulation before beating Texas Tech 63-56 in overtime, Texas would be 1-3.

Nobody is happy with the Horns defense, especially with all of the talent Herman has brought in during the past several recruiting cycles. Simply put: That's a coaching and developmental thing, and Herman is coming off a year in which he made changes to both coordinator positions.

Was he biding his time? If so, how much goodwill did that buy him? 

There are deep pockets in Austin, and with head coach Jimbo Fisher doing big things at Texas A&M (3-1) and Oklahoma struggling but still beating Texas, you'd better believe there are plenty of grumbles about Herman.

That could turn into a quicker-than-expected exit for a guy who, just a few short seasons ago, was expected to be the next great coaching star.        

Chip Kelly, UCLA Bruins

Everybody can talk about how much USC is struggling, but the bleak fact is that the coaching situation for rival UCLA is equally bad if not worse under Chip Kelly.

When the Bruins hired Kelly, many expected he would help UCLA play at the level that helped his Oregon teams dominate the Pac-12 and led to him to the NFL, where he largely failed as a coach before heading to the booth. A return to the college game surely would result in wins, right?

It's been far from what UCLA had hoped.

Not only have the Bruins failed to recruit a top-15 class over the past three years, but they also have not found on-field traction. After going a remarkable 46-7 from 2009 to '12 with the Ducks, Kelly has gone 7-17 with the Bruins.

Considering Kelly doesn't have the greatest reputation in California after running the 49ers into the ground—refer to a recent SFGate article from Eric Ting if you need any reminders—he isn't likely to coast on the great work he did nearly a decade ago for a rival Pac-12 program.

One look at UCLA's roster doesn't give you a lot of hope for a turnaround in 2020 either.

The Bruins desperately need quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to be the type of star he was expected to be out of high school.                

The team is scheduled to kick off its campaign Nov. 7 at Colorado.   

Seth Littrell, North Texas Mean Green

When Mason Fine was flinging darts for North Texas—turning one of college football's former laughingstocks into a team that won nine games back-to-back in 2017 and '18—Seth Littrell was one of the coaches who was whispered about getting a big job.

He stayed with the Mean Green, and times have been considerably tougher.

Last year, North Texas stumbled to a 4-8 season, and the team is just 1-3 this year after beating Middle Tennessee 52-35 on Saturday. That's not a major victory, though. The Blue Raiders are one of the nation's worst teams.

Still, getting the team's first road win since 2018 was a relief.

"We have had some challenging weeks and responded well," Littrell told the Denton Record's Brett Vito. "Going on the road and get a win was huge for us. We hadn't had a road win in a while. We won because of the mentality we came in with this week."

Past results will buy Littrell a bit of time, and he may be the safest on this list other than Frost. If there's any pressure, it's because the coach is a victim of the expectations he set during those two aforementioned seasons.

The wheels could come off for North Texas, which still has to play Louisiana Tech, UAB and UTSA. But only the Blazers are definitively better, and the Mean Green should be favored in games over Rice and UTEP.

If the Mean Green win just two or three games this season, you could see Littrell having to answer some serious questions, but as of now, he's simmering on low.        

Gus Malzahn, Auburn Tigers

There is some serious pain on the Plains this week.

When your most hated rival is an Alabama team that spends every year near the top of the rankings, everything is amplified, and that's the world head coach Gus Malzahn is living in right now. As a matter of fact, perhaps the biggest thing saving the Auburn coach's job is his ability to beat the Crimson Tide.

That doesn't change the fact that the Tigers are 2-2, with a lopsided loss to Georgia and Saturday's shocking setback against a South Carolina team that looked like the better-coached squad all day.

Though Malzahn brought in former Arkansas head coach Chad Morris to be his offensive coordinator this year, sophomore quarterback Bo Nix looks like he's regressing from a freshman campaign in which he displayed toughness and a knack for the big moment.

If Nix hadn't been saved by a call that should have been a fumble in a game that Auburn ultimately won 30-28, the Tigers would be staring 1-3 directly in the kisser.

Games at Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Alabama and against LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M remain in a schedule that doesn't look like it features any gimmes. 

Malzahn's tenure at Auburn has been difficult to figure out. When there have been high expectations for the Tigers, they've fallen flat. When not a lot has been expected, they've excelled. 

It's tough being in Alabama's shadow, and that's where the Tigers typically remain. It was that way again Saturday when the Crimson Tide handled a Georgia team that previously made easy work of Auburn. 

A ton will depend on Nov. 28's game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. If Malzahn wins that, perhaps he can quiet the harrumphing for another year. But the grumbles are getting louder and louder.      

Derek Mason, Vanderbilt Commodores

When coach Derek Mason's Vanderbilt Commodores opened the season with a hard-fought 17-12 loss to a good Texas A&M team, it looked like they may be more competitive than expected this season.

But consecutive 41-7 losses to LSU and South Carolina ended any of that talk. 

Their game against Missouri on Saturday was postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests on their roster, and it's looking like their only chances at wins are that makeup game against the Tigers, Nov. 7's game at Mississippi State and Nov. 28's game against Tennessee.

And not great chances either. There's no question Mason's team will be an underdog in every game, and there's no way he'll survive an 0-10 campaign.

Before the season started, Pat Forde of SI.com listed Mason on his hot-seat list. Forde said: "James Franklin showed what is possible (albeit unlikely) at Vanderbilt, and Mason hasn't come close to approximating that. He hasn't recorded a winning record yet at the school, and last year was his worse season: 3–9, with a 24-point loss to a UNLV team that would fire its coach." 

Mason is now 27-50 in his time on Nashville's West End and 10-41 in the SEC. Those are awful numbers, even by Vanderbilt's lowly historic standards.

There's no question Mason is a terrific defensive mind who was an elite coordinator at Stanford under David Shaw, but he is struggling as a head coach at a place that is as difficult as any to win in and almost certainly the toughest Power Five gig.

Yes, that will be taken into consideration, but the Commodores have to win more than what they are.  

Les Miles, Kansas Jayhawks

Les Miles did not make the trip to Morgantown on Saturday with his Kansas Jayhawks, who lost in lopsided fashion to West Virginia. He tested positive for COVID-19, and he has been isolating at home.

Losing to Coastal Carolina for the second consecutive season was an embarrassment, but the defeat has at least aged well, as the Chanticleers upset Louisiana last week and are one of the best Cinderella stories in college football this season.

Miles' Jayhawks are not.

They are the Big 12's worst team yet again, and it doesn't look like there is a very winnable game remaining. Kansas still has to play at Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech and against Iowa State, Texas and TCU. 

While it would be a bit surprising to see Miles get the ax after just two seasons—especially considering that many people in Lawrence don't care about college sports until Bill Self's team hits the hardwood—you'd have to start looking closely at things if there were a winless campaign.

Miles doesn't appear to be striking a chord in recruiting, with the 49th-ranked class in 2021, so it may not be out of the question for the Jayhawks ultimately to cut ties.    

Will Muschamp, South Carolina Gamecocks

After last year's embarrassing 4-8 record, it was a bit surprising South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp got to keep his job. 

The Gamecocks perhaps played the nation's most daunting schedule in 2019, but there were plenty of disappointing twists and turns. 

This year didn't get off to the best start either, with losses to Tennessee and Florida in games that started out well for the Gamecocks. Muschamp's team has rebounded nicely, though, blowing out Vanderbilt and getting a big win against Auburn on Saturday.

It was the program's the first win over the Tigers since 1933. That type of victory can turn a season around. It could also be catalyst to keeping Muschamp.

South Carolina must travel to LSU before hosting Texas A&M, so the next two weeks could be a pivot point for its season and the fate of its head coach. 

The duo of new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and transfer quarterback Collin Hill—who followed Bobo over from Colorado State—have meant big things for Muschamp this season, and though the Gamecocks are 2-2, they could have a rebound season. 

But if things turn sour the way they have in the past couple of seasons, South Carolina may be looking for a new head coach in 2021.      

Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

Not that long ago, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders were one of the most fun Group of Five teams to watch, flinging darts around the field and scoring points with the best of them.

But since head coach Rick Stockstill's son and quarterback, Brent, left Murfreesboro, the Conference USA program has had a tough go. After winning at least seven games every year from 2015 to'18, the Blue Raiders went 4-8 in 2019 and are 1-5 to start the year. 

When you factor in the belief by some that Middle Tennessee underachieved with Stockstill's son under center, the former Steve Spurrier disciple is in a difficult spot. He is 92-91 in his 15 seasons in Murfreesboro.

After getting blown out by Army and Troy, the Blue Raiders had close losses to UTSA and Western Kentucky. They claimed a narrow win over Florida International before losing 52-35 to a mediocre North Texas team whose coach is also on this list.

Stockstill is the sixth-longest tenured head coach in the FBS, and he has a ridiculous $6 million buyout, according to Joseph Spears of the Daily News Journal (h/t Brett Vito of the Denton Record-Chronicle).

Still, Spears noted the coach's seat is getting hotter by the week, and that was before the Mean Green's lopsided win Saturday.

"You also have the fact that MTSU has been competitive in conference games this year so far and a lot of people are looking at this as a throw-away year with players all eligible to come back next season. Now if MTSU doesn't win any more games this season and then starts off next season on the wrong foot, I think the hot seat really starts to get hotter."

That seems to be materializing before our eyes.