Nearly a third of Southeastern Conference coaches enter the season with questions about their futures and potential make-or-break seasons looming over their programs.Kevin Sumlin and Gus Malzahn, offensive whizzes who have coached Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks, are facing pressure to return to the top half of the SEC West standings.LSU begins the season ranked No. 5, with Les Miles hoping to ride Leonard Fournette back into SEC and national title contention after barely holding onto his job last season. Kentuckys Mark Stoops and Vanderbilts Derek Mason also may need to show some progress to hang on to their jobs.The good news for the coaches is that its opening week, where they can start control what happens to them going forward on the field instead of dealing with questions off it. Of course, the flip side is the intensity of the scrutiny will increase with poor performances.We have pegged our loyalties to LSU and were going to coach like weve always coached, Miles said. Im going to bust my tail, put the best team on the field that is possible, which at LSU is a damn good football team. And Im not going to look behind. Im not going to let anyone on the perimeter distract me.Miles appears to have a team that could challenge No. 1 Alabama in the Western Division a year after a three-game skid put his job in jeopardy. Hes lost at least three SEC games in each of the past three seasons but also led LSU to a pair of national championship games.Ending a five-game losing streak to Nick Sabans Crimson Tide would help wipe out any lingering questions of his security.Malzahn and Sumlin, meanwhile, had great success in their debut seasons with dual-threat quarterbacks but have each posted two straight mediocre records including struggles within the league. They open with big challenges even before they can even start trying to climb up the typically loaded SEC West.Auburn faces No. 2 Clemson and Texas A&M plays No. 16 UCLA. If the season should really unravel, it would cost Texas A&M $15 million to fire Sumlin; Auburn would owe Malzahn $9 million.Malzahn has won just six SEC games combined the past two seasons after debuting with an SEC title and national championship game berth in 2013. Hes facing some heat after going 7-6 in a season when Auburn opened as a popular pick to win the league.Last year obviously we were disappointed with the ways things turned out, Malzahn said. If youre a competitor, you want to do something about it. Our teams kind of had a chip on their shoulder in the offseason, which I think is good.Sumlin got off to a great start, too. His Johnny Manziel-led inaugural team finished 11-2, followed by 9-4. The last two teams have won eight games apiece but also finished sixth and tied for fifth in the ultra-competitive West after going 3-5 and 4-4. The Aggies have opened both those seasons with five straight wins.Weve got to figure out whats going on in the back half, I guess, Sumlin said. Weve spent a lot of time in the offseason talking about what were doing well and what were not doing well, and try to stay ahead of the curve on what we do well and then address some things on the back end.He may have found one answer in quarterback Trevor Knight, a graduate transfer from Oklahoma who arrives after two highly touted passers transferred.Vanderbilts Mason is 7-17 in two seasons after the Commodores had made three straight bowl games for the first time in school history. That includes just two SEC wins, but he has eight returning starters on each side of the ball.Were playing with a big chip on our shoulder, Mason said. We understand exactly where were at.Kentuckys Stoops has downplayed talk about this being a pivotal season or possibly being on the hot seat, and Kentucky would owe him the remaining $12 million on his contract if hes fired. Plus, Stoops has won five games each of the past two seasons, flirting with bowl trips and dramatically improving from his 2-10 debut.You get more comfortable at what youre doing and going into the fourth year as a head coach, he said. I better be better than I was year one, right?---AP Sports Writers Teresa Walker, David Brandt and Gary Graves contributed to this report. Slip On Femme Pas Cher . "I was fortunate to play many years at this level with a great organization and unbelievable teammates," said Hejduk in a statement. Air Max 98 2018 . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. http://www.basketsliponpascher.fr/air-max-270-40-my/ . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. Old Skool Noir Femme . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Nike Special Field Air Force 1 France . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Sydney McLaughlin is going to make some SEC hurdlers very antsy for the next four years.McLaughlin, who became the youngest U.S. Olympic track athlete in more than 40 years at the Rio Games, committed to Kentucky on Monday. She made it to the semifinals in the 400 hurdles in Rio as a 17-year-old. Thats, um, pretty good -- and pretty bad news for the competition shell face in college.McLaughlin also considered USC and took an official visit there, but was sold on working with former Wildcats star Kendra Harrison, according to NJ.com. HHarrison is a world-record holder in the 100 hurdles and on the teams coaching staff.ddddddddddddThats just where I felt more comfortable, McLaughlin told NJ.com. USC and Kentucky are both great schools, but for me and what I want to do I just felt that Kentucky was a better fit. I connected more with the people there.Sean Morrison is a digital media associate for ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @sean_morrison ' ' '