Derek Dooley has posted an 11-14 record in two seasons as Tennessee’s head coach. (AP)

Gentle readers,

You are intelligent, good-looking people who do not need to be told that some college football coaches may lose their jobs this season. They will lose their jobs eventually because they did not win enough football games. They are in danger of losing their jobs right now because they did not win enough football games in the past. None of this is rocket surgery.

But between all the drive-time radio rants and FIRECOACH_____DOTCOM blogs, are there elements setting the temperature of coaches’ posteriors that we have not considered? To find out, we recruited a half-dozen fans and bloggers surrounding some of the most hotly debated coaching positions. Some of them wanted to defend their skippers. Some of them are Boston College fans. Read on to find out which is which:

Derek Dooley, Tennessee

• Campus Union: The point we keep coming back to regarding Dooley’s reign at Tennessee is that so many things seem to happen to the team that it’s hard to get a clear read on where the Vols really are at any given time. That said, a losing record for two straight years does not bode well for the lifespan of any coach in God’s Own Football Conference. And that’s before getting to the part where Dooley now has to live with being the guy who snapped the Kentucky win streak. So what are we missing in our rush to condemn the tenure of the SEC’s greatest active hairdo? Will Shelton of Rocky Top Talk has one answer:

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After impressing in backup duty last season, Eddie Lacy will be Alabama’s starting running back in 2012. (Getty Images)

A host of household names departed the corps of college football last winter. So did some lesser-known but crucial moving parts. Today, we get acquainted with their replacements. Here are 10 teams (listed alphabetically) with gaping holes to fill:

Alabama: Trent Richardson

Last year: Richardson finished the 2011 season ranked fifth nationally in rushing, averaging perilously close to 130 ground yards per contest. He ranked sixth in scoring, averaging more than 11 points per contest. About all he failed to do was follow up Mark Ingram’s Heisman with a stiffarm trophy of his own.

This year: The next guy up, if you want to get technical about it, is 2011′s No. 2 man Eddie Lacy. It’s a big dropoff from Richardson’s 130-yard average production to Lacy’s 56, but you have to like the numbers Lacy put up on such a paltry allowance of carries (674 rushing yards, 95 touches). Lacy recently returned to action following offseason foot surgery and will be a full participant in fall camp.

But like CBS’ Daniel Lewis, we are almost more intrigued by the guys coming up behind Lacy: Jalston Fowler, Dee Hart and T.J. Yeldon. These players are always fun to track at ‘Bama because, like Richardson behind Ingram, they are undeniably talented, have to wait their turn and will be endlessly clamored for on the radio and message boards the first time Lacy has an off night.

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Legendary coach Barry Switzer is the patron saint of Campus Union’s college football awards; Dana Holgorsen is one of our distinguished spring 2012 imaginary award recipients. (US PRESSWIRE)

[Previously: 2011 midseason Switzies | 2011 year-end Switzies]

Preseason football is meaningless football, but that won’t stop us from handing out imaginary trophies to the luminaries of spring. Be sure to also check out Andy Staples’ post-spring Top 25 and Stewart Mandel’s 10 spring lessons.

• The Paul Erdős Plaque for Most Relentlessly Complex Spring Game Scoring System: Auburn, which awarded players extra points for “explosive plays”  and consecutive first downs, confounding all onlookers.

• The Mark Mangino Medal of Mean Expectation Lowering: Quoth Dana Holgorsen, tempering fan panic as he tinkers with his offense: ”The guys in there? If we’re playing with them in the fall, we’re not going to win.”

• Most Likely To Announce His Own Retirement At Halftime Of The First Game Due To Incurable Sadness: We had Frank Spaziani slotted in here until about three minutes before hitting the “publish” button, when we realized we’re not sure if he’s capable of processing human sadness. Would Kirk Ferentz make an able runner-up candidate? He keeps right on losing running backs, had to replace two coordinators and has a Week 1 date with Northern Illinois. The Huskies are themselves replacing Chandler Harnish, but if Jordan Lynch can even prove a halfway passable facsimile … oh, man.

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Brandan Bishop and NC State kept DeAndre Hopkins and Clemson in check offensively all night. (AP)

Snap Judgments from the Week 12 swing shift. For early shift Snaps, click here. For late Snaps, click here. For Stewart Mandel’s take on the BCS chaos, click here. For Andy Staples’ Nebraska-Michigan wrap, click here. To see how Top 25 teams fared, click here. For highlights from SI.com, click here.

• North Carolina State 37, No. 7 Clemson 13: Upon examining this result, there can be no conclusion other than that the Wolfpack and Tigers have conspired to erect some magnificent, nationally televised piece of performance art. What other explanation can there be for NC State losing to a Boston College team with one FBS win in Week 11 and knocking off a top 10 outfit seven days later? The Tigers have scored fewer than 35 points four times this season, and three of those games have been their last three, but a faceplant of this magnitude was … not predicted. The ‘Pack has managed a higher score than this only twice in 2011 (against Liberty and Central Michigan) and came into this game with a measly 23 points in their last three outings. Clemson’s Tajh Boyd hadn’t been held scoreless all year. Events transpired to alter matters considerably.

Major culprit: The Tigers’ four turnovers and six sacks allowed. State’s defense, coming off a promising couple weeks, came up huge tonight. It also didn’t have to contend with freshman phenom Sammy Watkins, who traveled to Raleigh with the team but remained sidelined with a sprained shoulder joint.

Time to speak of the NC State offense. Mike Glennon’s numbers were not garish (19-of-29, 253 yards, three touchdowns to three receivers), but he looked like some sort of minor god. The Pack had four receivers record at least 35 yards’ worth of catches. Trailing Glennon in scoring was kicker Niklas Sade, with 13 points including three field goals.

What makes this performance art: It ultimately means nothing. Clemson will drop out of the top 10, but it has already clinched the Atlantic title, and will meet either Virginia or Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship Game. [RECAP | BOX]

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Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne had a big night on the ground against UCF, leading the Golden Hurricane with 92 rushing yards. (AP)

• Tulsa 24, UCF 17: In an alarming twist, all three Thursday night games came off about how we expected them to, with Tulsa and UCF providing the only competitive football of the evening. Central Florida suffered its first home loss of 2011 thanks to an early fourth-quarter touchdown and two-point conversion by G.J. Kinne that could not be answered. Kinne wrapped up the night with 295 all-purpose yards against the FBS’ No. 3 defense. [RECAP | BOX]

• Florida State 38, Boston College 7: Into postseason contention go the ‘Noles, and down into pieces go the hopes of even a crummy mid-December bowl for the Eagles. Would-be BC savior Rolandan Finch was held to just 59 yards on 28 carries, and in a reversal of its usual offensive imbalance, four of FSU’s five touchdowns came on the run. [RECAP | BOX]

• Miami (Ohio) 35, Akron 3: In a fit of pregame hubris, I boasted on Twitter last night that I could knit more positive yardage than the Zips would gain in the span of a game. I did not manage to complete a 201-yard scarf before the final play of the fourth quarter. My sincere apologies to the Akron football community for underestimating the team’s ability to gain ground. The Zips are still pretty bad at football, though. [RECAP | BOX]

• Realignment tidbits, grudgingly dispensed: Facts are pointy! If you are absolutely determined to read about some games some teams might play next year instead of some games that absolutely will be played this weekend, you may peruse the news of Boise State’s latest conference-hop here.

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BC's Rolandan Finch had a breakout game against Maryland in Week 9, carrying 39 times for 243 yards and two touchdowns. (Tony Quinn/Icon SMI)

• Akron @ Miami (Ohio), 7:30 p.m., ESPNU: This is bad, y’all. Akron is 1-7 and the “1″ came thanks to playing VMI. The Zips suffered their closest loss to Central Michigan last week, falling 23-22 thanks to two failed two-point conversions. In their seven losses, they’ve been outscored 260-99. They are bad at running, passing, scoring, protecting the quarterback and defense. The RedHawks … have Zac Dysert. Ballgame. Just watch him play pitch-and-catch with freshman Dawan Scott for a half hour before picking your poison from the 8:00 games.

• Florida State @ Boston College, 8:00 p.m., ESPN: Projection: Also gross! Like Akron (and boy howdy, do you never want to be featured in a sentence that starts out that way), the Eagles have a win over an FCS team (UMass), and finally picked on somebody their own size last week with an unseemly win over a Maryland team in the throes of identity crisis. They’ve been defeated soundly by both ranked opponents they’ve faced, then-No. 8 Clemson and then-No. 18 Virginia Tech. They lost to Duke, and were wholly clocked by Central Florida. And now, although it’s a Thursday night game and things tend to get wacky, BC must welcome a Florida State team that has EJ Manuel back, on a short week, with bowl eligibility at stake. Gulp.

The good news, for the Eagles: Sophomore running back Rolandan Finch, who blew the doors off Maryland’s ground defense last week, has gained yards leaps and bounds over the past month or so. The bad news, of course, is the Seminoles’ fourth-ranked rushing defense and the fact that BC’s having a lot of trouble passing successfully, and even more trouble protecting the quarterback. Chase Rettig, I fear, is in for a reeeal bad night against a defensive front ranking third in the country in sacks. The longer BC can hold onto the ball via Finch, the longer it can keep it out of Manuel’s hands. But the way the ‘Noles have been marauding along the line of scrimmage lately, that may not be a reasonable hope.

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