College football season returns on Saturday
College football season begins anew this weekend. Over two hundred thousand Alabamians will be traveling on the roads this weekend to watch their favorite college teams play and to tailgate with their friends and families before and after the games. Head football coach Nick Saban returns to the University of Alabama for yet another season, and the Tide is once again ranked high in the college football rankings. Bama had a respectable 11 and 2 finish in 2022 but were left out of the college football playoffs. The Tide watched the playoffs on TV last year as the Georgia Bulldogs repeated as national champions. Saban returns, but the Tide has a new offensive and defensive coordinator. Saban is also looking for a quarterback. Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young is now the starting quarterback for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Saban has not named a starter at the position, with four quarterbacks competing for playing time. Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, Tyler Buchner, and freshman Dylan Lonergan have all flashed at points in camp, but according to Saban, none of them have played so well that they have made him give them the job. Most observers seem to think that last year’s backup – Milroe, will be the starter, but for how long? Buchner has more experience, and he worked with the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame last year, before transferring to Tuscaloosa. Simpson and Lonergan both appear to have a high ceiling with more raw talent but would be riskier choices. The Tide’s season kicks off in Tuscaloosa on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night when the Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders visit. Hugh Freeze is the new head coach of the Auburn Tigers. Auburn finished a disappointing 5 and 7 last year with Brian Harsin being released as head coach in the middle of just his second season on the plains. Auburn was decimated in the two years after Coach Gus Malzahn was fired, with dozens of players leaving the program through the transfer portal and Harsin’s recruiting classes being less impressive than what the Tigers’ fans were used to. Freeze went heavy into the transfer portal to quickly replenish Auburn’s depth chart with upperclassmen transfers from other programs. Freeze has named Payton Thorne as the starting quarterback, with Thorne having beat out Robby Ashford in fall camp. Auburn’s season kicks off in Auburn on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with the University of Massachusetts coming to visit. Trent Dilfer is the new head coach at the UAB Blazers. Dilfer won his first game with the Blazers on Thursday night with a 35 to 6 win over North Carolina A&T. UAB quarterback Jacob Zeno was nearly perfect, completing 34 of his 37 pass attempts for 247 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. 13 different Blazers caught passes, and 9 Blazers has running carries for 177 yards on the ground. The Blazers defense held NCAT to just 16 yards through the air and 157 yards on the ground. Troy University also starts their season at home on Saturday with Stephen F. Austin at 6:00 p.m. Jon Sumrall returns as the Trojans head coach. With 12 wins last year, Troy had the most wins in its history since moving up in division. Gunnar Watson is the starting quarterback. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Auburn officially introduces Hugh Freeze as head coach
A day after announcing that Auburn University has hired Liberty Coach Hugh Freeze to be the 31st head football coach in the history of the program, the University held a formal press conference in Auburn to officially introduce Coach Freeze to the program’s alumnae and supporters. During the press conference, Freeze announced that he had hired interim Auburn head football Coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams as associate head coach and that Cadillac would be staying with the program. “To me, it was a direct reflection of Cadillac and his leadership and how he led the staff and those staff,” Freeze said, praising Williams for his performance as interim coach. “I knew I had to have Cadillac on my side to help me drive the culture of Auburn football.” “It has always been my desire to remain at Auburn,” Williams said in a statement. “Last night, I was able to meet with Coach Freeze where shared his core values and vision for the football program and young men he will be coaching. He is a man of faith, and we share many of the same values when it comes to coaching. I am excited about his vision and plan for getting Auburn back to its winning ways, including winning championships!” “Coach Freeze asked me to stay on and join his staff as Associate Head Coach,” Williams said. “I accepted the position and am excited about working with him and learning from him. I ask that the Auburn Family join me in supporting Coach Freeze and getting Auburn football back on the winning track!” Auburn originally offered this job to current Ole Miss head football Coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin turned the job down, opting to stay at Ole Miss, where he reportedly signed a $9 million extension on Tuesday. Many in the fan base had wanted the University to hire Williams as head coach. When Kiffin did not take the position, it went to Freeze. Reportedly Kiffin and Freeze were the only people considered for the job by new Auburn Athletics Director John Cohen, a former coach and athletics director who previously worked at Mississippi State. The hiring of Freeze has been met with skepticism by many and outright hostility by some. The Alabama Media Group’s Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist John Archibald wrote, “The university, after all, ignored a few things to hire him as football coach today. It overlooked his NCAA issues and the “pattern of personal misconduct” found by his old employer, Ole Miss. It overlooked 12 calls he made to escort services on Ole Miss phones and the claims of three women who say he acted inappropriately as a high school coach. It overlooked the way he reportedly reached out unsolicited to a sexual assault survivor to defend his own bosses at Liberty University.” Joseph Acosta wrote, “They can say that he’s a known winner and that this is a “win at all costs” move, which quite frankly is bullshit. He has a below .500 record in SEC competition at .475, including the wins that were vacated. For comparison, HOUSTON NUTT has a .491 record in SEC competition. Gus Malzahn, who Auburn fired in 2020 and is paying $21.5 million, has won more games in his career than Hugh Freeze.” Hugh Freeze had initial success as head coach at Ole Miss, including one ten-win season, but ultimately most of his wins at the school had to be vacated after the NCAA found that the football program under Freeze had committed a number of recruiting violations. Ole Miss then fired Freeze after the school learned that he had made a dozen phone calls to a Florida escort service on his University paid for phone. Freeze denied a media report that Auburn has required that he turn over control of his social media accounts to the University. Many Auburn fans, particularly on social media boards, have expressed skepticism about Freeze’s integrity. “Integrity is not always getting it right, or none of us would have it,” Freeze said. “It’s really when you don’t get it right what do you do, and you look at the end of the day of the film of your game, the film of your practice, the film of your life, the film of your decisions, and they don’t lie. And you have to own that at the end of the day, and guess what? Sometimes there are consequences when you don’t get it exactly right. We fumbled the ball eight times. You probably are not going to win. There is a consequence to that. You made a really poor decision. There may be a consequence to that, and that is Ok. It’s not great, and there may be consequences. You must accept those consequences, make the necessary changes, and get up the next day and play the next play.” “I see this as one of the top ten football programs in America, and I believe that,” Freeze told reporters. “We need you,” Freeze continued. “We need the fans. We need the Auburn family. We need the staff. We need the players. We need everyone in this building that is involved in our program to buy in to our core values to drive this train to get it where everyone wants to be. It is all of us that must pull together – the Auburn family.” A repentant Freeze asked that the Auburn family just give him a chance. “I don’t know anybody in this room who does not deserve a second chance,” Freeze explained. “I think everybody deserves a second chance, and I think we have fought to earn people’s trust back…Please give me a chance to earn your trust.” Auburn has reportedly hired a public relations firm to handle the blowback from this controversial hiring. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Allen Greene out as Auburn’s Athletics Director
On Friday, it was announced that Auburn University and Athletics Director Allen Greene have mutually agreed to part ways after the two sides failed to come to an agreement on extending Greene’s contract, which expires in January. “The decision to step away from Auburn Athletics is not an easy one, but it is the right time for me to begin the next step in my professional journey,” Greene said in a statement. “I am very proud of the work that we have done together to move our athletics program forward. Christy and I want to thank the Auburn Family for allowing us to be a part of something truly unique, and I wish Auburn nothing but the best in the years ahead. I’m confident we leave Auburn Athletics stronger than when we arrived.” Greene is the first Black Athletics Director in Auburn history, and all of Auburn’s athletics programs have enjoyed stellar success under Greene’s tenure – all of them except football. The football program’s struggles have led to much discord between the powerful boosters at Auburn University and Greene. “Allen arrived on The Plains with vision, passion, and experience to elevate Auburn Athletics to the next level,” Auburn President Chris Roberts said in a statement. “In the brief time that I have worked alongside Allen as President, he has proven to be an asset to Auburn, enhancing our athletics programs and facilities, and has been dedicated to our student-athletes, to integrity, and to our University. We’re grateful for his commitment and contributions to Auburn over the past four and a half years, and we wish Allen, Christy, and their children all the best as they embark on a new chapter in their lives.” Greene’s last day on the job will be Wednesday. Marcy Girton, currently Auburn Athletics Chief Operating Officer, will take over as interim AD while Roberts and the Board of Trustees begin a formal search for Greene’s replacement. Greene was hired by then Auburn President Steven Leath. Leath also made the controversial decision to renew head football coach Gus Malzahn’s contract. Greene inherited Malzahn and the bitter discontent of powerful Auburn boosters and trustees. Leath was fired not long after that and former Auburn University President Jay Gogue came out of retirement to take his place. The decision to fire Malzahn in the middle of his contract cost the school $21.45 million. The “unrealistic expectations” at Auburn made the coaching search to find Malzahn’s replacement very difficult. After a number of high-profile candidates publicly announced they were not interested in the job, the coaching search came down to two candidates. The powerful boosters and their allies on the Board of Trustees wanted former Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele to get the job. Greene said no to that and instead hired Boise State Head Coach Brian Harsin. Harsin’s tenure was troubled from the beginning. Seventeen players left the program through the transfer portal, and the 2020/2021 recruiting season was Auburn’s worst in decades. The 2021 football season started respectably well at six and two. The lack of depth and a number of key injuries left Auburn fans disappointed as the team lost their last five games to finish 6 and 7. More players left the program through the transfer portal, and Harsin fired a number of assistant coaches. An investigation was launched into the football program, but ultimately President Gogue decided to keep Harsin. Harsin stayed, but the football recruiting has been criticized both by the boosters and in national publications for its recent performance on the recruiting trail. Auburn also made the mistake of committing $92 million to a new football facility. The 233,400 square foot football-only facility was supposed to wow recruits with the best football facilities on the planet; but changes to the NCAA’s name, image, and likeness rules means that other universities are able to simply pay players to commit to their school coming out of high school or through the transfer portal. Other SEC schools are among the leaders in NIL money payouts. Meanwhile, Auburn’s boosters are absorbing $113 million in payout for a building that now seems unnecessary and the Malzahn buyout. The boosters were not supportive of Harsin to begin with, and the new AD is likely to want to choose his own coach. All of this is aligning, so if Auburn football does not have a good season in 2022, it is very possible that Coach Harsin could follow the man that hired him out the door at the end of this season. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Tide’s Nick Saban tests positive for virus, will miss Iron Bowl
The Iron Bowl will be without its biggest star. Nick Saban, the coach at No. 1 Alabama, tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday as the Crimson Tide prepares for its annual showdown with No. 22 Auburn. Since he was experiencing mild symptoms, it appears there won’t be a false positive reprieve for Saban like there was last month before another huge game against Georgia. “He has very mild symptoms, so this test will not be categorized as a potential false positive,” team physician Dr. Jimmy Robinson and head trainer Jeff Allen said in a joint statement. “He will follow all appropriate guidelines and isolate at home.” The Crimson Tide is set to face its biggest rival Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium without the 69-year-old, six-time national champion coach. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, a former head coach at USC and Washington, will oversee preparations and lead the team on game day. Saban said he has had a runny nose, but no major symptoms. When he tested positive ahead of the game with Georgia, he didn’t have any symptoms. Saban ended up being cleared to coach in that game after subsequent tests leading up to the game came back negative. This time appears different. “It was a PCR test which was different than the false positive that I had before,” Saban said on the Southeastern Conference coaches’ teleconference. “I don’t really have any cardinal signs of the virus right now. I don’t have a fever, no loss of taste or smell, no fatigue, no muscle aches. … I’m the only person in the whole organization who tested positive this round.” Saban will still run meetings and monitor practice via Zoom at home like he did ahead of the Georgia game. Sarkisian will still call offensive plays during the game, but Saban said other details were still to be ironed out. “Last time I did this for three days, I absolutely did everything from home that I did in the office,” Saban said. “I just did it on Zoom.” Saban said he has no idea how he got the virus, and it wasn’t immediately clear if anybody else within the program will be affected because of close contact. Saban believes that’s unlikely “based on how we manage things internally in the building.” “I’m around nobody. I mean, I go home and I go to the office,” Saban said. “I have no idea. Now, there are some people in and out of our house on occasion, but I have no idea how this happened. We really practice social tracing, social distancing, all the things that we need to do to be safe. “We’re always six feet apart in meetings,” he said. “We have staff meetings in large rooms. Everyone is required and we all wear masks. Players all wear masks in meetings.” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn figures facing Alabama without Saban on the opposite sideline will be the latest bizarre aspect to “a really weird year.” “I hope his symptoms are not severe or anything. Hope he makes a speedy recovery,” Malzahn said. “It’s going to be a really weird deal playing the Iron Bowl without Nick being there. Just another sign of a very unusual season.” Saban is one SEC regular-season victory away from tying ex-Florida and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier for second in the history of the conference. Spurrier’s 131 SEC wins trail only Alabama legend Bear Bryant (159). While Alabama was hopeful the Tide will still be able to play on Saturday, two more Top 25 teams called off games this weekend: No. 7 Cincinnati won’t play at Temple because both teams are dealing with COVID-19 issues and No. 14 Oklahoma postponed its game at West Virginia due to recent positive tests and contact tracing. That game is now scheduled for Dec. 12. The American Athletic Conference said the Cincinnati-Temple game could not be made up on Dec. 5, even though both teams have an open date, because league protocols “would not allow for a sufficient number of players to be available for competition on that day.” The unbeaten and conference-leading Bearcats’ next game is scheduled for Dec. 12 at No. 24 Tulsa, which had its Saturday game against Houston postponed because the Cougars have been hit by the virus. Tulsa is also unbeaten in conference play and with a victory next week against Navy it would clinch a spot in the AAC championship — against Cincinnati. With Thursday’s Colorado State game at Air Force also called off, 13 games this week have been postponed or canceled across major college football. That raises the total for this month alone to 56 games directly impacted by COVID-19 issues for at least one of the teams. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama, SEC trying to climb back to college football summit
Alabama and the Southeastern Conference are trying to climb back atop the college football mountain. The SEC was toppled— at least temporarily — from that summit by the Atlantic Coast Conference last season. A powerhouse Crimson Tide team has a much shorter climb back after a down-to-the-last-breath loss to the ACC’s Clemson in the national championship game . ‘Bama has won 17 consecutive SEC games by an average of 21 points but coach Nick Saban insists “there’s a lot of parity in our league.” Despite Saban’s perspective, there’s no debating that the battle for No. 2 has been more heated than the competition for the top spot the past few seasons. Exhibit A: Alabama’s 54-16 win over Florida in the last SEC championship game. Alabama remains the decisive favorite to win a fourth consecutive SEC title despite losing four first-round NFL draft picks. No team has won the league four times in a row — or three for that matter before the Tide’s run — since Steve Spurrier and Florida dominated from 1993-96. The first test might just be Alabama’s biggest of the regular season. The Tide opens with another ACC power, Florida State, in Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “All the guys that did play in that (Clemson) game are really hungry to get back out there and play and show the world that we are one of the top teams in the nation,” ‘Bama receiver Calvin Ridley said. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, the SEC offensive player of the year, gives Saban a returning starter at quarterback for the first time since 2013. He heads a group of promising young passers including Georgia’s Jacob Eason, Mississippi’s Shea Patterson and South Carolina’s Jake Bentley. Not to mention transfers Jarrett Stidham at Auburn and Malik Zaire at Florida . In the SEC West, teams like LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn are trying to play catch up to the Tide. Georgia, Florida and Tennessee are among the East Division teams hoping to close the gap with their West counterparts, who have held an eight-year monopoly on SEC titles . The Gators have won the East crown in each of coach Jim McElwain‘s first two seasons but are aiming higher. “Getting that taste of nine wins, we now want to get more than that,” Florida defensive back Duke Dawson said. THE FAVORITES East: Georgia. Kirby Smart‘s second team has a strong backfield with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, and Eason has a year of seasoning. LB Roquan Smith is among 10 returning defensive starters. West: Alabama. Like Eason, Hurts has big-time backs — plus star receiver Ridley — to target. The defense has seven NFL draft picks to replace but also returning standouts like defensive backs Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison and tackle Da’Ron Payne. TOP PLAYERS Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB, Alabama. Versatile defender could play either safety or cornerback. Derrius Guice, RB, LSU. Leonard Fournette‘s backfield mate has center stage to himself. Hurts. The Tide is expecting him to be a better passer after an impressive freshman season somewhat marred by late-season struggles, especially in the playoffs. Arden Key, LB, LSU. Had 12 sacks last season. Missed spring practice for unspecified personal reasons. Christian Kirk, WR/RS, Texas A&M. Led the nation with three punt returns for touchdowns. His 83 catches topped the SEC, producing 928 yards and nine touchdowns. Frank Ragnow, C, Arkansas. Hasn’t allowed a sack the past two seasons and has started 26 straight games. NEW FACES Ex-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron is back in the SEC West at LSU. His former program is trying to regroup from the July 20 resignation of Hugh Freeze while in the final stretch of an NCAA investigation. Interim coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Luke is leading the Rebels. Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has been a much talked-about hire. ON THE HOT SEAT Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin is trying to avoid another November slump after three straight 8-5 seasons. Auburn’s Gus Malzahn hasn’t beaten top rivals Georgia and Alabama in three seasons. Getting warmish: Arkansas’ Bret Bielema and Tennessee’s Butch Jones. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
