Random Thoughts Week 10: SEC Drama Rules a “Slow” Weekend

With some of the top teams off (Alabama, Texas A&M, Oregon) and others playing conference doormats (Penn State-Ohio State, Indiana-Maryland) as per usual, the SEC took center stage. It was much better

entertainment than watching the Dodgers’ “bought” World Series win.

One shlock-fest in particular caught some eyes for the car crash that it was:

Kentucky 10 Auburn 3 – I hear soldiers are forcing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to watch this game until they give up their secrets. Wow, what a mess. Embattled coach Hugh Freeze switched quarterbacks midstream from Jackson Arnold to Ashton Daniels last week and got a win over craptacular Arkansas. So, he went one step further and gave Daniels the start. Under his guiding hand, the War Tigers did cross the 50 yard line until there was 3:27 left in the 2nd quarter. A few plays later, he was sacked on 4th & 6 that put the ball back at the Aub 46 yard line. In UK’s following possession, QB Cutter Boley must have had the under because he threw a pass right into the numbers of an Aub defender who returned it to the Wildcats’ 35 – the best field position of the half for the Plains Eagles – in which they converted into a field goal. The half ended at 3-3.

Kentucky opened the second half with a 10 plays, 75 yards drive for a go-ahead and eventual winning touchdown. The rest of the game was punts and punts and punts and punts and one interception by each team. The UK thrown interception came with under 3 minutes and was returned by an Aubie to beyond midfield, but he fumbled it right back to the Wildcats. An apt ending to a bad team and a bad coach.

Daniels was pretty awful (13/28-108-0-1). Kentucky recorded 7 sacks.

Oklahoma 33 Tennessee 27 – The Sooners managed only 99 yards to 255 for the Vols and 5 first downs to a whopping 17 at halftime. Yet, Okie led 16-10 in the first half due to two Joey Aguliar ugly interceptions, an Aguilar lost fumble, and a missed 37 yard field goal.

Trailing 26-24 with under two minutes, the Vols tried an unsuccessful onside kick that gave OU the ball at the UT 44 yard line. On the first play of the drive, RB Xavier Robinson broke through the line of scrimmage and intentionally went down at the one inch line. Josh Heupel called a timeout and Okie QB John Mateer easily scored on an indifferent defense on the next play. So, all they gained from going down at the one is making UT burn a timeout and 3 seconds. A touchback kickoff and a Oklahoma personal foul gave Tennessee at the ball at 40. The Vawls got close enough to connect on a FG from 48 yards out. The Sooners recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Texas 34 Vanderbilt 31 – For three quarters, this Longhorns team was looking like the preseason No. 1 ranked team everyone was crowing about the whole summer. UT was up 34-10 after 45 minutes of play when the Commodores awoke from hibernation and scored three straight unanswered TDs to make it a field goal game. With no timeouts remaining, Vandy hopes laid on recovering the onside kick – which was a beauty. But football is a game of inches and the oblong ended up out of the grasp of anyone as it was knocked out of bounds.

Arch Manning was 25/33 for 328 yards and 3 TDs, but ddin’t do much of anything in the 4th quarter.

Miami-FL 26 SMU 20 (OT) – Following a whole lotta sleepwalking football, the Hurricanes had a 20-17 advantage. With two minutes to go, the Pony Express drove 69 yards to kick a game-tying field goal with 25 ticks left to send it to overtime. In the extra frame, Carson Beck had all day long to find a receiver from the 7 yard line and threw an interception. The Mustangs had negative yards rushing coming into the extra session and chose to run the ball on 6 consecutive plays. The last rush was the winning score.

NC State 48 Georgia Tech 36 – Wolfpack running back Duke Scott ran for a career-best 196 yards in place of injured ACC rushing leader Hollywood Smothers (101.3 ypg). CJ Bailey threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns while running for another.

GT’s Haynes King threw for 408 yards and two scores while running for 103 yards and two more touchdowns, but the Jackets had to settle for three field goals and also had a missed kick.

Georgia 24 Florida 20 – The Gators came into this one with some juice and it was a tight one throughout. However, UGA snuck away with the win.

This past Saturday, we saw two instances of offensive players intentionally going down in order to run more clock. One was the Oklahoma game (way above). The other was the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

Georgia was leading Florida 24-20 with 1:54 to play. The Gators had no timeouts remaining. UGA’s Sling Blade cosplay quarterback runs around the end for an apparent easy touchdown (above). However, he instead takes a knee at the one yard line. With UF unable to stop the clock, the Bulldogs knelt out the rest of the game. Had he scored with the extra point, Georgia would have gone up 11 points. That means that Florida would have had to score a touchdown plus a two-point conversion, get the ball back, and connect on a field goal just to tie the game – all with no timeouts. 

After the UGA first down kneel down play, the play clock started at 1:19. The second started at 0:39 and the Dawgs did not have to run another play. 

Georgia got the win, but they probably could have used the style points. A 31-20 victory looks much better than 24-20.

One more poll for the WLOCP:

OTHER ESS-EE-SEE

Ole Miss 30 South Carolina 14 – Quit mode engaged. Two interceptions, a lost fumble, and six sacks allowed by the Gamecocks led to the lopsided final score. The ‘Cocks have lost four straight games to fall to 3-6 (1-6 SEC) and likely make it five straight with a trip to College Station on tap. SC may want to consider letting Shane Beamer go to Virginia Tech.

Mississippi State 38 Arkansas 35 – An ugmo game in Fayetteville with Arky getting flagged 18 times for 193 yards (MSU was 4-30). The Hoggies blew a 35-21 lead in the 4th quarter. The Bulldogs scored on drives of 75, 43 and 69 yards to overcome the deficit. The Razorbacks, who entered the game with the seventh-ranked offense in FBS, lost a total of 15 yards on their final three drives leading to a crushing defeat.

The Bullies (5-4, 1-4 SEC) are one win away from a bowl game, but finish with UGA, @Mizz, and the Egg Bowl. Ark’s season (2-7, 0-5 SEC) ends following @LSU, @Texas, and Mizz.

OTHER STUFF

Utah 45 Cincinnati 14 – The Bearcats (7-2, 5-1) were hammered late Saturday night is SLC. They still have a shot at a place in the B12 Championship Game, but there won’t be an at-large bid in the CFP for Cincy.

North Carolina 27 Syracuse 10 – It brings me no pleasure to announce that grumpy ol’ Bill Belichick actually achieved his first ACC victory over the craptacular Orangemen (3-6, 1-5). I still don’t know how he got away with having Tom Brady wear a Gio Lopez uniform.

Duke 46 Clemson 45 – The Blue Devils scored a touchdown with 40 seconds left to play and BOLDLY converted a two-point conversion for the W. It was Duke’s first victory at Clemson in 45 years.

The Orange Pizza Cult Tigers are hilariously 3-5 (2-4) with FSU, @Ville, Furman, and @SC remaining.

Florida State 42 Wake Forest 7 – Nothing was going right for the Demon Deacons. Wake had a 25-yard run called back for holding, an unsportsmanlike penalty for pulling a defender off a pile, a 53-yard run called back for holding, and a fumble on what would have been a first down until the ball bounced back behind the line to gain. Wake even wanted to go for it on 4th down after that fumble but got a false start on the play and had to punt. The Seminoles were hitting on all cylinders and snapped a 4-game skid.

Oregon State 10 Washington State 7 – The Beavers upset Wazzu by this sad little score. Oddly enough, these two Pac 2 members will meet again at the end of the month due to the conference crumbling and them having nobody else to schedule.

TOP HEAVY B1G

Ohio State 38 Penn State 14 – Big

Indiana 55 Maryland 10 – Whoop

SOMEBODY EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS IS NOT TARGETING… ON THE QUARTERBACK!

SELF-OWNING OF THE WEEK

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR

MOST RIDICULOUS FLAG OF THE WEEK YEAR EVER

I am non-plussed.

LOL QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Hugh Freeze: “I wish I could ask for patience but that’s not really something that people want to give in this day and time, and I understand that. I just know we’re so dang close…”

BUYOUT U!

MARTYR COMPLEX OF THE WEEK

MELTDOWN OF THE WEEK

WORST TACKLING OF THE WEEK, POWER GUYS CATEGORY

WORST TACKLING OF THE WEEK, LITTLE GUYS CATEGORY

COVERAGE BUST OF THE WEEK, POWER GUYS CATEGORY

COVERAGE BUST OF THE WEEK, LITTLE GUYS CATEGORY

LIFELONG COASTAL CAROLINA FAN

DERP OF THE WEEK

STOP TRYING TO BE ZABIEN BROWN

Not quite fast enough…

STOP TRYING TO BE GERMIE BERNARD

Get your own score celebration.

SLOPPY-ASS QUARTERBACKING

LAZIEST GOAL POST TEAR-DOWNERS OF THE WEEK

SMU fans took down the uprights after topping Miami-FL. They dumped the posts in a fountain on the Quad, even tough there is a sizable creek 1 mile down the street from Gerald Ford Stadium.

TROLL OF THE WEEK

SCORE OR NOT?

Vandy was granted a successful two point conversion on this play.

KICKOFF RETURN OF THE WEEK

WORST FIELD GOAL ATTEMPT OF THE WEEK

I could do that.

POWER OUTAGE OF THE WEEK

I’D LIKE TO REPORT A MUGGING

DIRTBAG EMBRACE OF THE WEEK

BECK THROWING OTHERS UNDER THE BUS OF THE WEEK

FUNNIEST RANT OF THE WEEK

DOINK OF THE WEEK

That made me LOL.

OLD CODGER OF THE WEEK

24-year old Joey Aguilar – City College of San Francisco (2019–2020), Diablo Valley (2021–2022), Appalachian State (2023–2024), Tennessee (2025).

NAME OF THE WEEK

This is not just the Name of the Week. It’s the Why Does That Guy Look Familiar? of the Week.

Remember that meme of the chubby kid holding a soft drink cup? Same guy. And that high school name?? LOL! It sounds like something Family Guy would come up with.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• San Jose Cuervo State WR Danny Scudero had 7 catches for 215 yards and 2 TDs in a win over Hawaii.
• Louisiana Tech rolled up 425 rushing yards on sad pathetic Sam Houston State.
• The Houston Cougars are 4-0 on the road and 3-2 at home.
• NC State (583) and Georgia Tech (559) combined for 1,142 total yards.
• With Sam Leavitt out for the season, former Ga Tech & Nebraska QB Jeff Sims racked up 228 rushing yards and 177 through the air against Iowa State.
• Despite the loss, Haynes King now owns the most touchdowns responsible for in Georgia Tech’s history at 84.
• Nebraska’s reserve QB TJ Lateef managed to complete 5 of 7 passes for only SEVEN yards. How is that humanly possible?
• In last two games, Colorado has been outscored 105-24.

THE WACKY WORLD OF CORSO A FORMER PUNTER

College GameDay was in Salt Lake City for the Cincinnati-Utah game. It was the show’s first trip to the campus of a Big 12 team this year. TBH, there were not a lot of great games this past week. Vanderbilt-Texas was an intriguing match-up, but GD has already covered the Commodores, home and away plus the ’Horns once on the road. Oklahoma-Tennessee could have been a candidate, but they have already been to both those locations this season. So, they throw the B12 a bone to reassure them they are still relevant. One odd thing is, Cincy-Utah kicked off at 9:15pm CT and 10:15pm ET and it was up against Game 7 of the World Series. I can’t imagine it got an abundance of viewers outside the footprints.

For some reason, Pat McAfee joined the Shirtless Revolution which seemed like a creepy thing for a 38-year old dude to do in front of a bunch of college kids. The next stunt for McAfee ↓↓↓

I am so sure ESPN first approached Shane Gillis and Jim Gaffigan to be the guest picker. Poor guys at the 4-Letter had to settle for former Utah and NFL Pro-Bowl QB Alex Smith. F-U, ESPN.

GD returns to B12 country for BYU at Texa$ Tech.

Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff was in Columbus, OH to see the Buckles stomp the Brittany Lions.

Both shows were majorly kissing up to anOhio State for some reason. Could it be the waning TV rating for the B1G games as compared to the booming SEC?

Bro poster boy Gronk just had to join in a rehearsed spontaneity. Does Sarah Lawrence College have a football team?? Asking for a friend.

BNK is headed to the banging burg of Iowa City for Oregon-Iowa. Go ‘Eyes.

ADOPT-A-TEAM

• Southern Miss (6-2) – The Golden Eagles had a bye week.
• Georgia Tech (8-1) – The bubble finally popped on the Yeller Jackets and you knew it would. Tech gets a form of respite at Boston College in two Saturdays, but the last two are against Pitt and UGA. Ugh.

COUSINS

• Jacksonville State (5-3) – The Gamecocks scored 17 4th quarter points to rally by one-win MTSU. We’ll see if JSU can make it two road wins in a row at UTEP (2-6) and gain bowl eligibility.
• South Alabama (2-7) – The Jags sink deeper into despair after being bullied by six loss Laffy by the score of 31-22 in a game in Mobile. This is Major Applewhite’s second season coaching USA. They were 7–6 last year with a bowl win. However, the QB of that campaign is now in Chapel Hill. @UL Monroe in 11 days.
• Troy (6-3) – A week after becoming bowl eligible, the Trojans fell flat against Arky State at home, 23-10, which snapped a five game winning streak. Next is a trip to Old Dominion a week from Thursday.
• West Alabama (5-3) – Ugh. Scott Cochran’s Tigers lost their third straight. This one at Valdosta State, 45-35. It probably knocks them out of a playoff birth with two games remaining (and a third that probably will not be rescheduled).

THAT ANNOYING GUY WHO STEALS ALL THE REESE’S

• UAB (3-5) – After shocking the non-Power team world with a win over Memphis, the Dragons turned in a garbage effort in a 38-19 loss to UConn. Rice is on the menu.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

• Army (4-4) – The Black Knights kicked a 27 yard game-winning field goal as time expired to get by Air Force, 20-17. Temple pays a visit.
• Air Force (2-6) – At 0-2, the Falcons are eliminated from this season’s Commander in Chief Trophy and will have to win out to get to a bowl. It starts with a trek to San Jose Canseco State.
• Navy (7-1) – I had a feeling North Texas (8-1) would be a problem for the Midshipmen. The Mean Green scored touchdowns on their first two series and led 24-10 at the break. From there, it was cruising to a 31-17 win. Navy had an uncharacteristic 3 turnovers and 8 penalties. NEXT IS AN INVASION OF NOTRE DAME. LET’S FKG GOOOOO NAVY!!!

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

Eliminated: Washington State, Oregon State, Boston College, Cal, Clemson, FSU, UNC, NC State, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Arizona, Baylor, Center Florida, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Illinois, Maryland, Sparty, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Miss State, South Carolina, Tennessee

Endangered: Georgia Tech, Louisville, Virginia, Notre Dame, Texa$ Tech, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tejas

Extremely Endangered: Duke, Miami-FL, Pitt, SMU, Arizona State, Cincinnati, TCU, Utah, Houston, Michigan, Oregon, Iowa, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt

A way WAY WAY too early look at the College Football Playoff (CFP) picture

POWER 2

• SEC – The SEC has as many as eight teams still in the running for a spot in the CFP (and maybe even Tenenssee). Ole Miss has the easiest path. All bets are off for the other seven. Alabama and Okie lock horns. Vandy has winnable home games versus Auburn and UK, but will have to win in Knoxville at the conclusion of the regular season. Texas and UGA meet up in Athens in two weeks. The Longhorns also have a game with TAMU.

• Big Ten – It is laughable that anyone could compare the B1G to the SEC. Might as well update the record books to 12-0 for Indy.

SECOND 2

• Big 12 – Lowly West Virginia (3-6, 1-5) picked up their first B12 win while diminishing Houston’s odds for a CFP birth. The Cougars now stand at 7-2, 4-2 with the defeat in H-Town. BYU and Texa$ Tech have a BIG match-up on Saturday and perhaps a B12CG rematch in December. This could be a one-bid conference unless the CFPC does something socialist.
• ACC – NC State (5-4, 3-2) is a menace to this conference. Two of the Wolfpack’s three ACC wins have been against the top two teams in the league Georgia Tech (8-1) and Virginia (8-1). The ACC is looking more and more like they too will only get one team into the playoff.

AT LARGE

• Indies – Notre Dame dicked around and barely beat a godawful Boston College team. Even you Army guys need to become Navy fans on Saturday. After that, we all become Pitt Panthers for a day (Nov. 15).

PARTICIPATION TROPHY

The best thing that could happen would be for Vanderbilt to miss the playoff. Not because they are unworthy. There are powers-that-be in the sports media and TV networks that want Diego Pavia and the little-engine-that-could Commodores in the playoff so they have a story line to hype. The exclusion of the ’Dores might show the CFP Committee that this non-Power inclusion crap is ridiculous and creates bad TV.

• Tulane (6-2, 3-1) got blown out by UTSA (4-4) to the tune of 48-26. They may be screwed.
• Memphis (7-1, 3-1) devoured Rice, 38-14. The Blue Tigers host Tulane on Nov 7.
• South Florida (6-2, 3-1) is still reeling from their loss to Memphis.
• North Texas (8-1, 4-1) handed Navy (7-1, 5-1) their first setback of the season.
• San Diego State (7-1, 6-0) topped Wyoming to take the lead in the MWC as their last prospect.
• UNLV (6-2, 2-2) screwed up and lost at home to New Mexico.
• Any fleeting hope Boise (6-3) had is gone after losing to Fresno at home by 23.
• The Sun Belt’s James Madison is now 7-1. SORRY, VANDERBILT! THE CFPC THINKS JMU IS MORE WORTHY!

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

GO CRAZY, FOLKS! Tonight is the night of the first college football playoff rankings. They will be announced by Rece Davis on on ESPN beginning at 7pm/8pm.

My predictions (NOT my picks):

1. anOhio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Ole Miss
8. BYU
9. Texa$ Tech
10. Virginia
11. Notre Dame
12. Memphis*

LET’S GO BOWLING!

• Only four teams remain undefeated: Indiana, BYU, Ohio State, Texas A&M.
• In his first season at Kennesaw (6-2), this dude named Jerry Mack has taken the Owls from 2-10 under his predecessor a season ago to bowl eligibility – only the second year for KSU in FBS. They are 4–0 in C-USA and their only losses overall have come against Wake Forest and Indiana.
• New Mexico (6-3) is bowl eligible for the first time since 2016 after defeating UNLV 40-35.
• 38 teams are bowl eligible.

LET’S GO BLOWING!

• Sam Houston (0-8) has straight up quit caring about playing football. La Tech absolutely CU-RUSHED the Bearkats 55-14. Some programs should just stay in FCS.
• Boston College and Oklahoma State are both 1-8.
• No MAC team has gained bowl eligibility as of yet.
• The following teams picked up defeat No. 7 this past week: South Alabama, Arkansas, Purdue, MTSU.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to the Shirtless Revolution. There are too many of these dateless wonders to post all the videos. Just take my word for it that the dumb Gen-Z bros are still doing this thing like it is so original and so funny. Among them: Coastal Carolina, MTSU, Oregon State, Colorado, Utah, North Texas, Iowa State, FSU (!!), and two different groups at Clemson (!!!). So sad.

HEISMAN HYPE

In case you are wondering ↑↑↑, that is Arch, Klubnik, Jeremiah Smith, Allar, Nuss, Mateer, LaNorris, Sam Leavitt. I feel prett positive that none of them will win.

The Heisman Trophy finalists will be announced on Monday, December 8 – the Saturday after the B1G and SEC conference championship games. The winner is announced Saturday, December 13, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The regular season schedules of Indy and anOhio State are pretty much smooth sailing. Therefore unless Ty Simpson goes absolute bonkers, this thing is lined up to be the winning quarterback of the B1GCG.

Odds per FanDuel:

1. QB Julian Sayin (anOhio State) +175 – Remember that Heisman moment?? Yeah. Me neither.
2. QB Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) +220 – The voters love a Cinderella.
3. QB Ty Simpson (Alabama) +340 – RTR
4. QB Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) +650 – Really?
5. QB Gunner Stockton (Georgia) +2500 – “I like them French fried potaters”
6. Four guys tied at +4000

THE SICK REPORT

• Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola will miss remainder of season due to a broken fibula suffered in the 3rd quarter of the ‘Huskers loss to Southern Cal.
• Arizona State star QB Sam Leavitt will miss the remainder of the season due to a lingering foot injury that will require season-ending surgery. A RS-sophomore, he might just leave for the NFL after the season.
• Florida freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson is expected to miss the rest of the season due to a foot injury he suffered vs. Georgia.
• Michigan running back Justice Haynes is set to undergo surgery to repair a foot injury. Recovery timetable is TBD but the current hope is to get him back at some point this season.
• Louisville leading rusher Isaac Brown will be “out for a while” with a lower leg injury, coach Jeff Brohm said Monday.
• Indiana will be without starting offensive guard Drew Evans for the second straight game.
• Starting receiver CJ Daniels (33 rec, 351 yds, 6 TD) and starting corner OJ Frederique will both be out “a couple of weeks” for Miami-FL. Mark Fletcher, the team’s leading rusher, could miss this week’s game against Syracuse as well.

DRAMARAMA

• Last week, Looziana Governor Jeff Landry casually dropped a news bomb during a press conference that was intended to be about about SNAP benefits, no less, that in no uncertain terms would LSU AD Scott Woodward be selecting the next LSU Football coach. The very next day, the man who fired Ed Orgeron and brought in Brian Kelly (as well as previously hiring Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M) would himself be let go. Woodward is still owed nearly $7 million on his contract, which the state is expected to pay. Just add it the the tab.
• Also of note was Landry’s sideswipe at super-agent Jimmy Sexton. It will be interesting to see if there is some kind of backlash (legally or clandestine) against the master manipulator who has sent coaching salaries soaring skyward.
• A funny thing about Landry: he never attended LSU. He earned his bachelor’s at Laffy and his JD at Loyola-New Orleans.
• Unhappy with the direction of their alma mater’s athletic department under AD Martin Jarmond, a group of 64 former UCLA football players sent a letter to chancellor Julio Frenk urging him to find a new athletic director. In response to this uprising of former Bruins, Frenk released a statement that gave Jarmond the dreaded “vote of confidence.”
• Starting this year, all four Power conferences have been required to submit player availability reports throughout a game week. All teams are complying, but some coaches are using them for manipulative purposes. Brett McMurphy of On3 (paywall) has called out these coaches using words like disingenuous, manipulative, paranoid, and ridiculous. He also reprimanded the conferences for lack of enforcement. One coach in particular is longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham who he accused of yo-yoing starting quarterback Devon Dampier up and down on the injury list. The strategy is to make the opponent unsure whether the guy will play or not and thus having to prepare for two signal callers. Apparently, Whittingham has been employing this tact all year long. The Big 12 has done nothing in the way of punishment. The SEC fines a school $25,000 for a first violation of the availability report and $100,000 for a third. When earlier this month Southern Cal used a player in a game who had an “out” status, the Big Ten tendered a wrist-slapper of $5,000. The ACC and Big 12 do not appear to have any guidelines to such rule breaking.
• The ACC fined Clemson $10,000 and issued a public reprimand for coach Dabo Swinney following his comments criticizing the officiating in Saturday’s loss to Duke.
• NC State and SMU were each fined $50,000 by ACC for their stupid fans rushing the field after Saturday’s wins.

KOACHES KORNER

• Coaching changes:
  • Arkansas
  • Auburn
  • Colorado State
  • Florida
  • Kent State – filled
  • LSU
  • Oklahoma State
  • Oregon State
  • Penn State
  • Stanford
  • Virginia Tech
  • UAB
  • UCLA

• Kent State has removed the interim tag from Mark Carney and made him the full-time coach. He was promoted from OC to interim coach after embroiled coach Kenni Burns was fired for misuse of a credit card and other infractions – not to mention his 1-23 record as head coach. Carney has the Golden Flashes at 3-5 so far this season.
• Rhett Lashlee signed a two-year extension with SMU that takes him through the 2032 season. But that doesn’t mean diddly-squat. If someone manages to pull an a upset and snag Lane Kiffin, OM will go after Lashee. TBH, Auburn should go after him.
• Nebraska’s Matt Rhule was also extended through 2023, raising his buyout from $5 million to $15 million. Seems odd for a guy who has a career record of 2-24 against ranked teams as a college coach, with Nebraska’s current record under him being 0-8 against ranked opponents.
• Following Michigan State’s sixth straight defeat, folks are getting a little regretful up in East Lansing about their coach. Jonathan Smith dipped out on Oregon State just as the S.S. Beaver was about to go under in 2023. Last season for Sparty, his first, Smith’s team went 5-7 with assurances that it was a “rebuilding year”. In Year 2, MSU has beaten a MAC team, an FCS, and 1-8 Boston College in double overtime at home. Since then, it has been nothing but L’s with Penn State, Iowa, and Maryland remaining. Talented junior QB Aidan Chiles transferred with Smith from the OSU to the Rust Belt and on Saturday he was rewarded with a benching in favor of a redshirt freshman. Minnesota went on to win that game in OT. Look for Chiles to hop into the Transfer Portal once it opens.
• The NCAA has approved Jacksonville State’s hiring of Jeremy Pruitt as a “limited non-coaching analyst”. Fellow Nick Saban disciple Charles Kelly is head coach at JSU. These two have never been on a staff together, but they are both Alabama natives and have a lot of familiarity with each other from various coaching gigs in the same circles.
• This whole disaster with Bill Belichick at UNC and how more people are coming over to the side that maybe he was not such a great coach because he had Tom Brady on his teams, might be looping Bill O’Brien into that discussion. BOB built his reputation on his years with the Brady-led Patriots. But since then, it has been nothing but mediocrity at every stop. Boston College is on track to a historically bad campaign as they finish with SMU, Georgia Tech, and at Syracuse.
• South Carolina decided to stop putting off the inevitable and fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula. The Gamecocks are average 294.1 ypg (131st in the nation) and 19.7 ppg (119th). This might be the end of the road for the former Alabama coach and quarterback. The golf course awaits.

• There has been talk of Deion Sanders stepping aside at Colorado (temporarily or permanently) based on his diminishing abilities to handle the rigors of the job due to nagging health concerns. But it may just be that he sucks as a coach without his sons and Travis Hunter on his teams. Arizona handed the Buffs their 6th loss of the season to the tune of 52-17. Sanders didn’t allow any of his players to talk after the game.

• FIRED: How did Hugh Freeze survive until after church on Sunday? It must have been daylight savings time that put the Aubie administrators behind. If it was me, I would have driven Freeze out to the local airport and fired him on the tarmac. What a disastrous chapter this has been in the annals of Auburn football. We are pretty sure that he was hired ONLY because he once upon a time beat Alabama a decade ago. After arriving on the faux plains of west Georgia, Freeze could do no better than his predecessor, Bryan Harsin, who the fine folks in Lee County tried to falsely frame for an elicit relationship with a female student. Freeze went 6-16 in the SEC over his three seasons and 15-19 overall. Now, he can take his $15.4 million buyout and transition into being a full-time sh*tty golfer. Sketchy-ass defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin (aka DJDKAK) will serve as Auburn’s interim head coach.
• Why did Urban Meyer cross the road? Because he was the only one who knew the correct way to get to the other side.
• Fat F*** Phil Fulmer says he eats balanced diet – with 12 donuts in each hand.

TEEVEE

Well, well. Whadda ya know about that, Big Ten??

THIS WEEK

Below is just a sampling highlight of games of interest this week. If you REALLY MUST know about the BIG Nevada-Utah State Battle Royale showdown, click here.

Tuesday, November 4

UMass at Akron 6pm/7pm CBSSN – MACtacular
Miami (OH) at Ohio 6pm/7pm ESPN2 – MACulicious

Wednesday, November 5

Kent State at Ball State 6pm/7pm ESPNU – MACadoodledoo
Northern Illinois at Toledo 6pm/7pm ESPN2 – MACaroon

Thursday, November 6

UTSA at South Florida 6:30/7:30 ESPNU
Georgia Southern at App State 6:30/7:30 ESPN2 – Little known fact: these two teams have a major rivalry called the “Deeper Than Hate” rivalry. There will be blood.

Friday, November 7

Houston at Center Florida 7pm/8pm FS1 – How’s Scott Frost working out for ya?
Northwestern at Southern Cal 8pm/9pm FOX
** Tulane at Memphis 8pm/9pm ESPN – Major implications in the Participation Trophy standings.

Saturday, November 8

SEC

Georgia at Mississippi State 11am/noon SECN – Dog Fight! Mike Vick on line 1.
The Citadel at Ole Miss noon/1pm ESPN+ – Bleh.
Texas A&M at Missouri 2:30/3:30 ABC
Auburn at Vanderbilt 3pm/4pm SECN – Popcorn!
Florida at Kentucky 6:30/7:30 SECN – A UK win and a cupcake next week will put them at 5-5 with @Vandy and @‘Ville left. Upset one of them and Mark Stoops saves his job for another year. Right?

* Arky, Okie (THANKS, SANKEY!), SC, Tenn, and Tejas are all off.

National – Potential CFP Eliminators

BYU at Texas Tech 11am/noon ABC
Oregon at Iowa 2:30/3:30 CBS
Navy at Notre Dame 6:30/7:30 NBC – GO NAVY!!!!

“What Hath Night To Do With Sleep?” ~ John Milton

San Diego Maradona State at Hawaii 10pm/11pm Spectrum Sports

#ALABAMA

• DB Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. was arrested on several charges during the team’s bye weekend. The UA sophomore from Gadsden was booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail at noon Saturday. He is charged with three counts of reckless endangerment, one count of attempting to elude and speeding, according to jail records. He has been suspended indefinitely from the team. Dre Jr. has seen time in all eight games so far this season – mostly special teams. He has 2 solo tackles, 7 assists, 1 TFL, 1 PBU and 1 forced fumble.
• During the SEC coaches teleconference last Wednesday, Kalen DeBoer reported that he expects WRs Isaiah Horton and Lotzeir Brooks “to be ready to go for LSU.”
• DeBoer also gave a positive update on injured LB Qua Russaw.”He’s doing really good. On a timeline that we’d hoped, maybe even a little ahead.” His return down the stretch would be huge, but it might just be for depth or a breather for Yhonzae Pierre who has been playing incredible and might have Wally Pipp’d him.
• If he keeps performing as he has of late, it sounds like Jaeden Roberts might be starting at right guard from here on out.
• The Alabama-Oklahoma game will be a 2:30/3:30 kick and once again air on ABC. It is the ninth time in ten 2025 games that a Crimson Tide game is aired on the network (La-Monroe was on SECN). This one is Homecoming for Alabama.

GAME 9: Saturday, November 8, 2025

Alabama Crimson Tide (7-1) at LSU Tigers (5-3)

Tuscaloosa, AL ~ 6:30/7:30 ABC

• Editorial: Losing three games to Top 10 teams might not discourage a team. But firing the head coach in mid-season is a sure sign that the administration and fans have lost faith. So, how does this LSU team respond? Is it Quit Mode or an Us-Against-The-World mentality? Either way, the Crimson Tide better not come into this game lightly.
• LSU Coach: Interim coach is Frank Wilson who was promoted from RB coach.
• LSU 2025: Things started out swell for the Purple Tigers when they won at Clempson to open the season. They moved to 4-0 but struggled to score. A 5-point loss at Ole Miss was briefly consoled by a win at South Carolina. But that was followed by a loss at Vandy and a blowout defeat at home to Texas A&M. I suppose there is no coming back from that as Brian Kelly was kicked to the curb.
• Series: Alabama is 57-27-5 all-time against them Bayou Bengals. Bama’s last home loss versus LSU in T-town was in 2019 against Joe Burrow and the eventual National Champs. Bama has won 12 of the last 14 meetings in any venue.
• Pre-Game Concert: Country singer Dasha (“Austin“)
• Honoring: The Honorary Captains are LB Cornelius “Biscuit” Bennett and RB Bobby Humphrey.
• Weather: It should be a beautiful fall day in T-town with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s, dropping to 50 as the sun sinks in the west.
• TV Announcers: Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy (sorry) and Molly McGrath (you’re welcome).
• Radio: Chris Stewart, Tyler Watts, Corey Reamer on Alabama Radio.
• Vegas: The FanDuel point spread has gone from Alabama as a 11.5 point favorite to a 9.5 fave. JUMP ON IT! Over/Under is 49.5.

If you want some more entertaining reading, check out the replies to this Tweet from Auburn Football announcing the final score.