It used to be that coaches were safe during the season but teams were not. Now it's the opposite.
The College Football Playoff has produced its own "El Nino" effect, the result of high-pressure booster systems colliding with billions of cumulonimbus dollars.
In 1997, Indiana coach Cam Cameron was safer at 2-9 than top-ranked Michigan was after beating Washington State in the Rose Bowl.
Cameron kept his job four more (losing) seasons but Michigan of '97 lost its No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which reversed field and gave its title to Nebraska.