THE COACHING CAROUSEL FROM HELL

You guys know how it works: A college coach leaves for a better job (in this case the NFL), causing a chain reaction of coaching changes with guys clawing and scratching their way to more prestigious jobs.

Well we challenge anyone to find a more disastrous coaching carousel set off when Bobby Petrino left for the Atlanta Falcons. Behold:

Atlanta Falcons: Right off the bat, let's admit the power-hungry Petrino never had a chance this year after the Michael Vick saga unfolded. But the nightmare in Atlanta just started once Vick pleaded guilty to dog fighting charges. After going a respectable 7-9 last year, the Falcons are 1-5 and have averaged 13 points per game.

Louisville Cardinals: Despite this disastrous start, the folks in Louisville sure miss Bobby P. They've been stuck with Steve "Krapthorpe," who has no excuses for his team's play. He's run Louisville into the ground with a team that was supposed to compete for a national title, led by the possible #1 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Yeah, they were probably way overrated to begin with, but losing to Syracuse, Utah and Connecticut is ridiculous, the last of which was a complete meltdown.

But those two you already know about.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane: What you didn't know is that Kragthorpe's successor at Tulsa isn't faring much better. After turning around one of the most pathetic programs in college football at Rice, Todd Graham doesn't look like a genius anymore. At just 4-3, the Golden Hurricane got rocked by UCF yesterday, 44-23, coming off a loss to UTEP and squeaking out a victory over Marshall.

Rice Owls: Meanwhile, Rice is busy being.... well, Rice. While Rutgers got all the attention, Rice had a Cinderella season of its own, going to its first bowl game since 1961. Despite returning the dynamic duo (did I really just say that?) of QB Chase Clement and WR Jarrett Dillard, the Owls and new coach David Bailiff are 1-6 after stumbling out of the blocks with a Michiganesque loss to Division I-AA Nicholls State.

Texas State: Just for fun, we decided to track Bailiff's old school, which are really starting to resemble the team from Unnecessary Roughness right now (seriously, we'll take Scott Bakula at QB any day over this guy). The Bobcats just picked up their second win of the season after 5 straight losses by an average of 25 points (Note: Their coach - Brad Wright - used to be the team's offensive line coach, which we'll just go out on a limb and say sucks right now as well).

Seriously, can't these guys just get on one big conference call with Arthur Blank and the schools ADs and work out an agreement where everyone goes back to their old job before they are fired? Sure, it'd leave the Falcons without a football coach for the last 10 games, but would their fans even notice?

Very doubtful...