College Football Message Board: Heat Check on Michigan's Kyle Whittingham, Clemson and Rutgers

Sports College Football Message Board: Heat Check on Michigan's Kyle Whittingham, Clemson and Rutgers College football would be nothing if it didn't have fans who deeply and passionately care about schools of all shapes, sizes and resources. They are the lifeblood of the sport and will not be dissuaded from showing up every Saturday to see their team, adding to the atmosphere at so many of the game's great cathedrals. Since the internet became a part of our daily lives though, that kind of fandom can sometimes go off the rails a little-especially when emotions are running high and there's an easy outlet that allows anyone to express their opinions. This is the first in a weekly column examining reactions fans had to the results on the field, the style of play which may have not meshed with their expectations or, of course, whatever it is their coaching staff failed to do on any particular Saturday. While there may be the occasional, measured take surrounding some facet of the sport, this is college football we're talking about. There are only a few of those and plenty of hot takes. As a result, it's time to jump on the Monday Morning Message Board and some of the reactions to this extended Week 1. Want to be featured next week? Join SI's free College Football Forums and give us your thoughts. As seen on The Wolverine: You have to fire [Kyle] Whittingham at the end of the season right? If there is one thing fans absolutely love, even with limited sample sizes, is to fire coaches after a loss. There are even some rare instances which will surface a quick trigger after a victory, and it's safe to say the miraculous way Michigan managed to walk away with a win against Western Michigan on Saturday night left a good chunk of those watching at home (or storming the field at the Big House) ready to move on from the Kyle Whittingham era after just 60 minutes … and some change. As much as that is understandable after snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat in the literal last second against a MAC team (albeit a very good one), there needs to be a dose of perspective. First, Whittingham's Utah teams notoriously started slow as things seemed to always take a few weeks to start clicking on both sides of the ball. Given what he was stepping into in Ann Arbor, Mich., and all that comes from a transition to a program in disarray, it was pretty foolhardy to think things would go off without a hitch. Michigan wide receiver JJ Buchanan catches a 47-yard touchdown on a Hail Mary against Western Michigan after a second was added to the clock. The Wolverines won. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect The way the team was pushed around in the trenches and failed to get the ball moving offensively should be concerning. It's one thing to brush off the talk about quarterback Bryce Underwood struggling in the offseason, it's another to see very real growing pains against a defense which comes nowhere near what he'll see against Oklahoma in Week 2 or during Big Ten play. You should be able to trust in a staff which has been around the block to get some of the glaring deficiencies fixed-especially in light of an incredible wake-up call-but it's hard to find a worse debut which resulted in a win than that. Even Whittingham seemed to recognize that with his shell-shocked look afterward. As for the practicality of the sentiment, Michigan is not going to fire its coach after one game and introduce yet more chaos around the team. There is finally a new school president (though C. Cybele Raver won't start until later this year), but the Wolverines still need to search for an athletic director to replace the departing Warde Manuel. The first order of business for that person is not to make a rash move and give into angry fan sentiment by letting go of a stabilizing force in the football program, but to trust a coach who has a ton of experience at getting things pointed in the right direction. There just might be a few more bumps in the road before the team gets to that place before the fall weather really takes hold in the state. Heat check: Slowly simmering, ready to start boiling the maize and blue with a blowout next week. Now, speaking of firing coaches after Week 1 … Thread from dawk1 on TigerNet: I apologize to Garrick Riley Setting aside that Clemson's former offensive coordinator is Garrett Riley, you can understand the sentiment many Tigers fans had about the unit after Saturday's beatdown by LSU. Even the ones who headed to Baton Rouge dressed in orange seemed to be bracing for a lopsided loss, but the thoroughness with which the new-look Lane Kiffin team dismantled a once-proud program on that side of the ball was eye-opening. "We got our asses kicked," coach Dabo Swinney said. Hard to deny that in a game where nothing worked offensively. Clemson crossed midfield on its own just once all night, and every play called by newish/oldish OC Chad Morris looked pure vanilla and the team still had trouble executing. It's clear the talent level, from quarterback to offensive line, is mediocre at best and there will be no easy fixes in 2026 to improve the product. That opener is the type that saps all hope from supporters instantly and signals the Tigers will be in for a very long season yet again. Heat check: It's a five-alarm fire for everyone at Clemson and the fire department isn't picking up the phone. "I'm done. I am cancelling everything, it's dumb," a 20-year Rutgers season-ticket holder said on WFAN. "What I saw tonight was the most deplorable, despicable, horrible adjustments on defense [versus] the worst team in football last year … I don't know what else to say, I'm done." That man, after two decades watching the Scarlet Knights, has seen some things. Few of them good and nothing resembling decent football either. Yet, he is probably not wrong to jump willingly into the arms of despair after seeing UMass come into Piscataway, N.J., and not just push around Rutgers, but bully them. The Minutemen had very much earned the title of the worst program in FBS with a 16-game losing streak and then promptly saw William "Pop" Watson III turn into the second coming of Michael Vick against the Scarlet Knight defense. Rutgers has been no stranger to giving up 200-plus yards rushing in a game (it did so seven times in 2025), but to do it at home against a MAC team which has struggled at every turn since joining the FBS ranks has to qualify as rock bottom for Greg Schiano & Co. UMass quarterback William Watson III throws a pass against Rutgers. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect What's worse, the most financially challenged athletic department is not exactly well positioned to find a way out of this situation with some new voices around. Unless Schiano wants to quietly step away and give up his $18.5 million buyout, athletic director Keli Zinn does not have a clear path to turn around a football program which helped invent the game but has had a hell of a time trying to become good at it. For many fans, it's often the hope that hurts the worst. For Rutgers, the problem is efforts like that one against UMass extinguishes every trace of hope, which is going to turn off even more of a fan base which has put up with dysfunctional football unlike few others. Heat check: Not even Costco can help the Scarlet Knights sell enough discounted tickets this season to make a difference for home games, where those who do attend may not even bother with paper bags over their heads at this point to show their displeasure. "Deleted any hope for respectability this season nice and early. Saves me some time." - Sturdevant on r/CFB Reddit. This comment came in response to Charlotte's loss to The Citadel on Saturday, which fittingly came 34 years to the day after the latter knocked off Arkansas in one of the more seismic upsets in the sport's history. The 49ers are not anywhere near the caliber of program that Arkansas was and is, but it certainly served as a massive setback for a team hopeful of being more competitive in 2026. It also is a good reminder for coaches to choose their gigs wisely. Tim Albin did an impressive job leading Ohio to a MAC title and went 33–19 over four very good years. He was in the mix for several jobs subsequently amid administrative turnover above him and the usual issues that come with being in the conference where resources are lacking, but it just hasn't worked out with the move to Charlotte. They've turned over the 49ers roster twice in two years and gone 1–12 on the field. No game against an FBS team has been within two scores and you can now add a loss to a bad FCS program. Charlotte just hired a new AD, Kevin White, and that's not where you want to be as a head coach or, it seems, as a fan. With UMass's victory over Rutgers, this might well be the worst program in the FBS ranks and one of the bleaker situations given Charlotte is well behind most of their conference peers in the American. The good news is that next weekend for 49ers fans may be one to tidy up around the house and focus on the family as the team takes a trip to, checks notes, Ole Miss on Saturday night. If they're looking for any comfort, they will be far from the only fan base who is sitting in the same situation and outlook after a rough Week 1. Heat check: Something says fans at TCU, NC State, Utah State and Oklahoma State (among others) are in a similar boat of looking a little more longingly at doing chores on the next few Saturdays instead of getting emotionally invested in outcomes that are dictated by 18- to 24-year-olds. If that doesn't say the real college football season is back, nothing does. PODCAST: Listen to Sports Illustrated's college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, hosted by Pat Forde, on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI's college YouTube channel or on SI TV. This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Message Board: Heat Check on Michigan's Kyle Whittingham, Clemson and Rutgers. Copyright ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. All Rights Reserved. This story was originally published September 7, 2026 at 2:53 PM.