Fans of both teams wanted to scream 'You're fired!' during and after UCLA's amazing rally to beat Texas A&M

BySN Staff ESPN logo
Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The UCLA Bruins' unbelievable 45-44 win over the Texas A&M Aggieson Sunday was one of the biggest moments of Week 1 in college football. ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit may have best summarized the Bruins' comeback.

There was certainly no shortage of criticism for not one but both head coaches during the course of the game and afterward. The hot-seat pendulum quickly swung from Bruins head coach Jim Mora to the Aggies' Kevin Sumlin as UCLA pieced together its rally.

A Texas A&M regent also had strong words about Sumlin following the loss.

Both Mora and Sumlin were already considered hot-seat coaches by many going into the season. After winning 29 games in his first three seasons at UCLA, Mora's seat started to warm up after the Bruins went 12-13 the past two seasons, including a 4-8 finish in 2016. Sumlin, now 44-22 after Sunday's loss, entered his sixth season with high expectations from the Aggies -- as Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward bluntly stated back in May.

"Coach Sumlin knows he has to win," Woodward said during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show. "He has to win this year. He has to do better than he has done in the past."

We'll see if the rest of their respective seasons are as unpredictable as Sunday's game at the Rose Bowl.

-- Sarah Scrivens

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