An unbelievable Week 5 of college football is in the books. From the Friday night slate, all the way through Saturday night, the sport's biggest weekend of the year lived up to the hype.
Here are 's Week 5 takeaways from a wild weekend across the sport, beginning with a check in on the hot seats of several coaches who lost consequential games this weekend.
Hot Seat CheckFired, Just Not Officially: Sam Pittman, Arkansas
Whether the tenure officially ends Sunday, sometime during the team's upcoming open week or at the end of the season seems moot at this point. What is certain is that the Sam Pittman era is done at Arkansas.
UPDATE: Arkansas fires Sam Pittman on Sunday, names Bobby Petrino interim coach
COACHING SEARCH: 12 Candidates to Take Over the Razorbacks Full Time
The Razorbacks lost 56–13 to visiting No. 22 Notre Dame on Saturday, and just about everything went wrong for the home team. Arkansas surrendered 641 total yards of offense, including 431 through the air to a first-year starting quarterback in Irish sophomore C.J. Carr.
Arkansas's offense, meanwhile, was held to just 13 points by a Notre Dame defense that before Saturday was a shell of the unit that aided the Irish's national title appearance a year ago.
More: College Football Week 5 Winners and Losers: One Top-25 Battle After Another
The 43-point loss on Saturday was the Razorbacks' fourth consecutive home loss against a power conference opponent by double digits, and it was the program's worst home loss in five years.
Arkansas was booed off the field at halftime, and fans who remained in the stadium in the second half were chanting "Fire Pittman."
Pittman has a unique buyout. A clause in his contract stipulates that if he's fired while his record is .500 or above since the start of 2021 (which it is, at 29–27 after Saturday), he is owed $9.8 million if fired. The moment the Razorbacks fall to under .500, the buyout drops to $6.9 million.
How much does Arkansas care about the $2.9 million difference? We'll find out if he remains in command for the Razorbacks' next contest against Tennessee in Knoxville on Oct. 11.
Not Fired, But the Fans Would Like Him Out: Hugh Freeze, Auburn
Auburn held a one-point fourth quarter lead in the fourth quarter a week ago in Norman against Oklahoma. Auburn, of course, lost that game by a touchdown and entered Saturday's game faced with another tall road task at Texas A&M. Auburn's offense mustered just 177 yards of offense in the 16–10 loss, which dropped the Tigers to 2–2 on the season.
Isn't offense supposed to be Freeze's thing? It's a tough look for Freeze, and he's quickly wearing out his welcome a third of the way through his third season on The Plains.
Warming Quickly: Mike Norvell, Florida State
Mike Norvell went 13–1 and won the ACC two seasons ago. The Seminoles would have been in the final iteration of the four-team College Football Playoff if starting quarterback Jordan Travis hadn't shattered his leg in the second-to-last week of the regular season against North Alabama.
The Committee didn't believe Florida State sans Travis was worthy of a playoff spot despite a 13–0 record and an ACC title to its name.
That's water under the bridge. The most important thing that season gained was goodwill for Norvell in the middle of his tenure in Tallahassee.
About that…
Norvell and the Seminoles went 2–10 last season. To call it a far cry from expectations remains an understatement. The seat was hot on Norvell entering the 2025 season, but a home win against No. 8 Alabama in the opener cooled the temperature down considerably.
But Friday night's double overtime trap game debacle at unranked Virginia will certainly have some factions of the fan base out on Norvell once again. Virginia has a good team, but the talent on the Seminoles roster far surpasses that of the one they just lost to in Charlottesville.
Norvell will have to have the Seminoles ready to go next Saturday against rival Miami. A loss there could spell trouble for Norvell's future in Tallahassee.
The Mike Gundy "Overstayed Your Welcome" Coach of the Week: Dave Doeren, NC State
It would take a lot to get Dave Doeren fired from NC State.
He's in his 13th season at NC State, and the Wolfpack have made a bowl game in 10 of his first 12 seasons. Doeren's 90–67 overall in Raleigh, and the Pack have been around an eight-to-nine win program for most of his time at the helm.
But if there was ever a time for Doeren to lose the fan base, it would be by losing to an interim coach-led Virginia Tech team as a double-digit favorite at home. The same Virginia Tech team, by the way, that lost at home to Old Dominion by 19 two weeks ago that got fourth-year head coach Brent Pry fired the next day.
Doeren's into his second decade in Raleigh, but he may have overstayed his welcome. Expect the heat to be taken up a notch by a fan base that is very passionate about Wolfpack football.
James Franklin Still Can't Shake His Issues Against Elite Competition
No. 3 Penn State welcomed No. 6 Oregon to Happy Valley and one of college football's best environments—a White Out at Beaver Stadium.
The incredible atmosphere didn't phase first-year starter Dante Moore and the Ducks, who held a 17–3 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Nittany Lions came storming back to tie it with 30 seconds to play in regulation.
After Oregon scored a touchdown on the first play of double overtime, Penn State's Drew Allar was fooled by Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman, who appeared primed to jump a crossing route but instead dropped into coverage and intercepted a lofted Allar pass along the sideline to clinch the game for the Ducks and stun the home crowd in Happy Valley.
More: Fischer’s Takeaways from Oregon–Penn State: James Franklin Fails in Another Big Game
Penn State is now 4–21 against Top 10 teams under James Franklin, and 1–18 against those teams in Big Ten play.
The Nittany Lions are still capable of winning a national championship, but we'll have to see it to believe it based off Franklin's track record as Penn State's head coach.
But Let's Give Some Credit to Oregon
The Ducks went into Happy Valley, with a first-year starting quarterback, and a roster that is not as loaded as the one that Dan Lanning had at his disposal a year ago, and found a way to win in a brutally difficult road environment against a team that many expected to win the Big Ten.
Now? It's Oregon that appears to be the conference's most impressive team with a quarterback in Dante Moore whose blood pressure runs at astonishingly low levels despite his limited starting experience.
Moore did everything that he needed to do on Saturday night in Happy Valley, completing 29-of-39 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 35 yards on the ground.
He took care of the football, he kept Oregon's offense on schedule, and made enough plays to win the Ducks the ball game.
Oregon's defense? Also outstanding. Penn State broke through with a couple scores late, but for long stretches of this game, the Ducks made life difficult for the Nittany Lions' offense, which managed just 276 yards of total offense.
Alabama and Ole Miss Establish Themselves As Class of SEC
Alabama—remember them? The team that everyone wrote off after a brutal Week 1 defeat on the road against Florida State? They went between the hedges at Sanford Stadium and controlled the line of scrimmage to earn a 24–21 win against No. 5 Georgia.
First-year starter Ty Simpson was outstanding, completing 24 of his 38 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns.
Alabama's defense kept the Bulldogs at bay, and the Crimson Tide's 24–14 lead proved to be too much for Georgia's methodical offense to overcome. Kalen DeBoer and the Tide are in much better shape exiting the month of September than they were entering it.
More: Forde’s Takeaways from Alabama-Georgia: Kirby Smart’s Dubious Record
As for Ole Miss, what more can you say? The Rebels' offense always earns its stripes thanks to head coach Lane Kiffin's offensive prowess, but it was the defense that won the Rebels their home tilt on Saturday afternoon against No. 4 LSU. The Ole Miss defense held LSU to just 254 yards of total offense, including a mere 57 yards on the ground.
Could this be the year the Rebels break through and win an SEC title?
