How do you know a coach is cooked? Well, when he runs out of answers, that’s generally a good indicator.

Brian Kelly is out of answers at LSU, but one question lingers: Is LSU ready to admit its hiring mistake and eat a buyout that tops $53 million?

Hot seats and coaching searches remain the headline story after college football’s Week 9, but the College Football Playoff will make a bid for the spotlight when the initial rankings come out next week.

Here’s what lingers on the brain after Week 9:

Brian Kelly becomes fired-coach-in-waiting after Texas A&M routs LSU

Brian Kelly stars in a four-act tragedy that's playing in Baton Rouge. Let’s call it, “A Sad Season and a Broken Coach.”

The curtain rises on a veteran coach wearing LSU gear in a beachfront hotel in Miramar Beach, Florida. Reporters gather ‘round, and he tells them on this May day, when hope springs eternal, he’s assembled his best team yet on the Bayou. And the reporters lap it up like it’s Louisiana’s finest gumbo and begin to believe maybe this Yankee with the faux Southern accent is poised for his finest hour, inside the SEC's fires, no less.

Act I: Seeding of hope. In Week 1, at the show's beginning, we’re free to believe anything. So, when we see Kelly’s Tigers beat Dabo’s Tigers, we don’t see two past-their-prime coaches or a pair of overrated teams. We see an LSU team with a star quarterback and a worthy supporting cast, bought from the transfer portal.

Act II: Warning signs. Clemson loses twice more. It’s apparent Dabo’s Tigers are a fraud. Down in Baton Rouge, cracks show. The offensive line can’t block. The offense can’t score. The quarterback looks off. The coach gets hot under the collar. In a classic warning sign of a failing coach, he lashes out at the media. Trouble brews.

Act III: The jig is up. The coach humbles himself before the press after a loss to a former doormat that’s become emboldened in Nashville. The Vandy boys play with more spirit and swagger than this LSU team ever mustered. Vanderbilt looks like LSU, and LSU looks like Vanderbilt. Then comes an enemy from the west, and Texas A&M completes this unmasking of LSU by emptying out Tiger Stadium, so that Aggies are all who are left. LSU’s coach is revealed to be a charlatan. He yells at anyone within earshot, for all the good that does. He looks tired. So very tired.

Act IV (still to come): Failure. A sad trombone plays, while a broken coach prepares for his last stand against an unforgiving adversary in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Somewhere back in Louisiana, a hat is passed.

Would Lane Kiffin be an option for LSU … in 2026?

Kelly might have one fan left. For multiple reasons, it’s good for Lane Kiffin if LSU perks up in November. If LSU fizzles, that downgrades one of Mississippi’s top victories, which could negatively affect its playoff seeding.

Also, Kelly persisting into 2026 could give Kiffin a potential offramp, should he desire to exit Ole Miss next season.

Kiffin is understandably attached to Florida’s ongoing coaching search, but the Rebels making the playoff would complicate an exit. If Kiffin stays at Ole Miss and LSU sat out this year’s crowded coaching carousel and waited a year to fire Kelly, Kiffin could emerge as a target for LSU in 2026.

Either way, it behooves Kiffin for LSU to find some life these next few weeks.

Hot seat finds Jonathan Smith at Michigan State

The cutting of the buyout check looks like the only possible ending for Jonathan Smith at Michigan State. He’s gone bust. His Spartans are 0-5 in the Big Ten after a 31-20 loss to Michigan.

As Smith languishes in his second season, no signs of life have presented either on the field or on the recruiting trail.

Spartans athletic director J Batt arrived this summer, meaning he’s not responsible for hiring Smith. Neither is Michigan State President Kevin Guskiewicz. He, too, arrived after Smith’s hiring. A coach with an 8-12 record working for bosses who didn’t hire him becomes a recipe for a swift firing.

In Smith's defense, he inherited a rough situation. He hasn’t improved it. There's no sign of this being a well-coached team. Curt Cignetti’s Indiana success makes programs like Michigan State think: Why not us?

CFP committee must consider Texas A&M for No. 1 ranking

The first CFP rankings will arrive next week (Nov. 4) with at least a sliver of intrigue around the No. 1 ranking, with the potential for three undefeated teams from either the Big Ten or the SEC.

Ohio State, riding an 11-game win streak that dates to last season, is the prevailing candidate, even if the Buckeyes lack a signature victory. Indiana offers one alternative. The Hoosiers ace the eye test and own a road win against Oregon.

If the committee values resumé above all else, though, then Texas A&M would be No. 1. The undefeated Aggies claim road wins at Notre Dame and LSU. Their average margin of victory does not stand out like that of Indiana or Ohio State, but the Aggies have played the toughest schedule of the trio.

My prediction: Texas A&M will rank No. 3, behind Ohio State and Indiana. The Aggies would rank No. 1 if they wore Ohio State or Alabama uniforms.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hot seat Brian Kelly out of answers. His LSU tragedy nears last act

Reporting by Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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