Eighty-five million, nine hundred and fifty thousand.

That is how much Jimbo Fisher is owed if Texas A&M fires him after this season.

$85,950,000.

That’s more than five times what the United States paid France to acquire what became 15 states in the Louisiana Purchase. (This is not a challenge, A&M message board posters, to justify how Fisher’s buyout would be a better deal than the Louisiana Purchase.)

After losing to South Carolina, 30-24, Fisher is now 4-6 in his last 10 games. The man who makes $9 million a year, built off an offensive guru reputation, hasn’t guided his team to more than 25 points in nine consecutive games. Against South Carolina, Fisher’s Aggies were a disaster from the start and quickly fell behind 17-0 before losing for the first time in school history to the Gamecocks.

After the game, a reporter asked Fisher why he believed he could turn things around. His answer sounded like a coach in denial about what had unfolded before his eyes.

“We have good players. We are right there,” Fisher said. “It’s not like we’re getting ran out of the stadium. Guys are right there, how hard they are playing, the belief they have in what we’re doing. We just have to keep executing, find a way to make a play or two, and get over the hump.”

Is not getting run out of the stadium by South Carolina really the best that $9 million a year can buy? That’s an acceptable standard in Year 5 of a coach’s tenure?

As one TexAgs message board thread title aptly put it, “A&M football is the worst investment in America.”

Can’t argue with that right now.

Texas A&M has poured financial resources into its football program in a relentless pursuit of relevancy, only for the Aggies to come limping home with four losses already. This program has every advantage, from wealthy boosters to excellent facilities to a fertile recruiting base, yet it isn’t good enough to beat Appalachian State. The remaining schedule looks arduous, too, with games against Ole Miss, Florida, Auburn and LSU still to come. This Texas A&M team, which started the season as the No. 6 team in the country, could finish with more than six losses.

If this was a normal-sized buyout, is there any doubt we’d already be talking about possible Fisher replacements assuming A&M would make a move at the end of the season? Fisher would be with Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin as the two SEC head coaches on the hottest seats. If the buyout is even half that nearly $86 million number, we might still be having that conversation.

It’d be silly to assume anything is impossible in college athletics — this is a sport where the breathless desire to be great knows no bounds of depravity — but even if Texas A&M could afford to pay the buyout, it doesn’t mean that it will. The optics would be awful, particularly one year after giving Fisher that massive extension, and would reflect poorly on university leadership that doesn’t want the odorous stench of Fisher’s failure sticking to them, too. For as much dumb money flows through college football, Auburn paying Gus Malzahn $21.45 million to go away is still the leader in the liquidated damages standings. Texas A&M cutting a check four times that number is the type of headline-grabbing action that prompts Congressional hearings.

Far more likely, Fisher will be pushed to shake up his offensive staff and perhaps even give up offensive play-calling duties to focus more on the big-picture health of the struggling football program. It’ll take a willingness and humbleness from Fisher, though — stop laughing — given Texas A&M can’t compel him with any real leverage to do so otherwise. All Fisher has to say is if you don’t like how I’m doing things, pay me my money. The tone from Fisher Saturday night after the game felt much closer to stubbornly doubling down than someone who was about to undergo a deep introspection to fix the problems.

And that’s the scariest thing for Texas A&M moving forward. If Fisher isn’t willing to change and A&M isn’t ready to buy him out, the two could be stuck in a bad limbo that could last years. There is plenty of talent flowing into College Station to give the most optimistic A&M fans hope, but Fisher hasn’t shown an ability to get the most out of it, particularly at the quarterback position. Outside of giving a flawed Alabama team all it could handle a few weeks back, Fisher’s A&M teams have played such sloppy, listless football this season you question why anyone liked this team enough to rank it in the top 10 to start the year.

How do you fix a struggling program closer to the SEC basement than atop the sport like its well-heeled boosters so desperately want? That’s the $85,950,000 question.

GOODMAN: Nick Saban misses the mark with Jermaine Burton

Most pumped fanbase: Oregon

Raucous College GameDay environment? Check. Big win over a previously unbeaten top 10 opponent? Check. Argument as the new best team in the Pac-12? I certainly think so after Oregon beat up on UCLA. The Ducks looked awful against Georgia to start the season, but the team has settled down under new head coach Dan Lanning and is starting to come together at the right time. Auburn transfer QB Bo Nix looked great against the Bruins, finishing with five touchdowns and 96.3 QBR. Oregon isn’t good enough to win it all this year, but it might be good enough to sneak into the College Football Playoff.

Most panicked fanbase: Miami

What a mess down in Coral Gables. After prying Mario Cristobal away from Oregon with a 10-year, $80 million contract, the Hurricanes have done nothing but disappoint. The low point came Saturday when Duke came to town and crushed Miami, 45-21, in a statement win for first-year coach Mike Elko. Miami now has four losses on the season and it hasn’t exactly been to a murderer’s row of opponents (Duke, Middle Tennessee, North Carolina and Texas A&M). Like Fisher at A&M, you expect Cristobal to recruit well at Miami, but there is no excuse for how bad the on-field performance has been so far.

Ranking Week 9 SEC games (all times central):

1) Kentucky at Tennessee (6 p.m.): The Volunteers showed no signs of slowing down in a blowout win against UT-Martin, but the Wildcats won’t make it easy on them. This one will be competitive.

2) Florida at Georgia (2:30 p.m.): The Gators still need more talent to be able to consistently hang with Georgia, but Billy Napier’s team is feisty and could keep this close for a couple quarters.

3) Ole Miss at Texas A&M (6:30 p.m.): Two offensive gurus coming off shaky losing performances. This would be a good time for Jimbo Fisher to find those one or two plays to get his team over the hump.

4) Arkansas at Auburn (11 a.m.): The Tigers looked moderately competent against Ole Miss before a bye week while Arkansas has struggled after a hot start to the season. This could be Bryan Harsin’s best chance at another SEC win as Auburn’s head coach.

5) Missouri at South Carolina (3 p.m.): The Gamecocks are riding high at 5-2 with a very viable shot at getting to 7-2 if they can take care of business the next two weeks. Missouri hasn’t looked good at pretty much any point this season.

John Talty is the sports editor and SEC Insider for Alabama Media Group. He is the bestselling author of “The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban: How Alabama’s Coach Became the Greatest Ever.”