{"id":257756,"date":"2025-11-02T14:45:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/257756\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T14:45:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T14:45:23","slug":"hugh-freezes-hot-seat-plus-loads-of-college-football-playoff-positioning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/257756\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugh Freeze\u2019s hot seat, plus loads of College Football Playoff positioning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Until Saturday Newsletter \ud83c\udfc8\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s college football newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

A weekend that looked like it\u2019d be light on intrigue ended up having a ton going on, because as noted, that\u2019s how it always works. We\u2019re about to hustle through a whole bunch of it, but the result that might end up being the most important actually came from an unwatchable slog between two losing teams.<\/p>\n

Superlatives<\/p>\n

Hot Seat Coach of the Week:\u00a0Auburn\u2019s Hugh Freeze\u00a0lost to previously-winless-in-the-SEC Kentucky, 10-3 at home. That\u2019s 53 fewer points than Tennessee scored on the Wildcats last week. Remember Freeze is by trade a coach of offenses.<\/p>\n

He is now 6-15 in SEC games during this tenure, moving into the realm where his firing could feasibly come at any time. Getting chased out of his job by the also-hot-seated Mark Stoops would be quite a closing act.<\/p>\n

The coaching carousel is already\u00a0far busier than usual<\/a>\u00a0at this time of year; now imagine a hopping-mad Auburn barreling into\u00a0this overcrowded market<\/a>. Oh, and the 4-5 Tigers still have to play Freeze nemesis Diego Pavia in Nashville, plus No. 4 Alabama. His third straight seven-loss season is likely.\u00a0As for three chilled seats, in addition to Stoops\u2019:<\/p>\n

Mississippi State\u2019s Jeff Lebby got his first SEC win in 13 tries, 38-35 at Arkansas. (Bobby Petrino is now 0-4 as an interim, and the swashbuckler\u2019s comeback storyline feels like forever ago.)
\nNC State\u2019s eternally 8-4-ish Dave Doeren might have lost the fanbase in his 13th year there, but a 48-36 win\u00a0against No. 8 (and previously unbeaten) Georgia Tech<\/a> reclaimed some hearts and minds. Pack QB CJ Bailey is so much fun.
\n\u201cFSU\u2019s 42-7 blowout win means the two most powerful people at FSU won\u2019t have to answer\u00a0the $55 million question<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 whether to fire Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell \u2014 for at least another week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manning of the Week:\u00a0After splitting the first nine weeks of this award with Missouri WR Josh and Mississippi State DB Jahron,\u00a0Texas QB Arch\u00a0all but clinched Manning of the Year honors with\u00a0by far his best day<\/a>\u00a0as a starter. His 328 yards and three TDs nearly matched Heisman contender Pavia\u2019s aerial numbers as the No. 20 Longhorns held on to beat No. 9 Vanderbilt 34-31. Seeing as Arch\u2019s famous uncles went 7-0 against Vandy, perhaps the Dores had been his missing ingredient. Start believing in Texas, says Stewart Mandel\u00a0in his Final Thoughts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Best Win Over a Manning-Affiliated School: No. 18 Oklahoma 33, No. 14 Tennessee 27.\u00a0The Sooners survived a trip to Knoxville,\u00a0a de facto Playoff elimination game<\/a>. Peyton watched from a suite as his Vols coughed up three turnovers, leading to 12 Sooner points. OU\u2019s embattled running game came through, and now they have a bye before visiting Alabama.<\/p>\n

Second-best Saturday Night by a Los Angeles Team: No. 23 USC 21, Nebraska 17.\u00a0The 6-2 Trojans got one of their biggest wins of the Lincoln Riley era, as Nebraska\u2019s already-iffy offense couldn\u2019t do anything after Dylan Raiola\u00a0exited with an ankle injury<\/a>. USC QB Jayden Maiava made plays when he had to, and so did his defense, for a change. (The Trojans watched\u00a0the Dodgers win<\/a>\u00a0in extra innings via phones in the equipment room, I am told.)<\/p>\n

Most Concerning Bullpen: Three of No. 12 Notre Dame\u2019s kickers\u00a0missed one kick each<\/a>, including two extra points, in a 25-10 win over 1-8 Boston College. So many kickers! Get a couple more, then line up for penalty kicks. (Reminder the Irish lost to Texas A&M in Week 2 because of\u00a0a botched extra point<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Mario Cristobal Game Management of the Week:\u00a0The No. 10 Miami Hurricanes had 25 seconds left in regulation at SMU, with the ball at their own 25 and a time out. Kicker Carter Davis was 4-for-5 on the year from beyond 40 yards, with a long make of 53. But Cristobal had Carson Beck kneel to set up overtime, which seemed like the coach\u2019s latest late-game error. Then again, his decision not to trust Beck was vindicated\u00a0when the expensive portal QB threw an interception in overtime, setting up\u00a0SMU\u2019s walk-off 26-20 victory\u00a0to eliminate the Canes from serious contention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Roughly 750th Different Heisman Favorite of the Year:\u00a0BetMGM\u2019s latest odds leader,\u00a0Julian Sayin, had quite a day<\/a>\u00a0for No. 1 Ohio State in the 38-14 win over 3-5 Penn State, throwing more touchdowns (four) than incompletions (three). This came after Nick Saban\u00a0jokingly scolded himself<\/a>\u00a0for not fielding Sayin during\u00a0their weeks-long overlap<\/a>\u00a0in 2023\u2019s postseason at Alabama. Overall, Sayin has a shot to be\u00a0the first qualifying QB<\/a>\u00a0at any NCAA level to ever complete 80 percent of his throws for a season.<\/p>\n

Game with the Most Disputable Catch: No. 5 Georgia 24, Florida 20.\u00a0The Gators trailed by that score with three minutes to play, when DJ Lagway chucked a deep ball to a wide-open J. Michael Sturdivant. As he lunged, the ball\u00a0landed on his forearms<\/a>. The official called it a trap. Despite copious replays suggesting Sturdivant had it, football requires the same standard to overturn a call that the judiciary requires to convict someone of a felony, and the Dawgs closed out\u00a0yet another comeback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Backup QB Legacy Game: Arizona State\u2019s Jeff Sims.\u00a0The sixth-year, third-school senior was Georgia Tech\u2019s starter in 2020. He figured to end his career as a backup. But a\u00a0season-ending injury to Sam Leavitt<\/a>\u00a0put Sims behind center against Iowa State, and he pulled off both an 88-yard touchdown run and 140 other rushing yards in a 24-19 upset win by the 6-3 Sun Devils. The game of his life. Kudos.<\/p>\n

Meekest Fading: Colorado, which lost its homecoming game to a mediocre Arizona 52-17 a week after losing 53-7 to Utah. The Buffaloes are 3-6 (1-5 in the Big 12), but had played Georgia Tech and BYU tough earlier in the year. Suddenly, they\u00a0have become the team<\/a>\u00a0that Deion Sanders\u2019 haters always wanted them to be.<\/p>\n

Box Score Jump Scare of the Week: Fresno State 30, Boise State 7.\u00a0Broncos QB Maddux Madsen got hurt early, but sheesh. Could Boise\u00a0not\u00a0win the Mountain West in its last year before moving to the new Pac-12? Also, will this 6-3 team be involved in a single close game all season? Closest result\u00a0on the schedule<\/a>\u00a0was by 12 points.<\/p>\n

Pac-12 Half-championship of the Year: Oregon State 10, Washington State 7. The Beavers, entering at 1-7 and with an interim coach, won as underdogs at home. The teams meet again in Pullman in Week 14, when Wazzu will try to split the conference title.<\/p>\n

This Week in Indiana Being the Opposite of What It Used to Be:\u00a0For a long time, the Hoosiers were a team whose early 3-0 leads made everyone say, \u201cHaha, take a photo of the scoreboard before this turns into a 63-3 loss.\u201d (Indiana coach Lee Corso once did this himself during a game against Ohio State,\u00a0according to legends<\/a>.) Now the No. 2 Hoosiers have become the bear being poked. Yesterday, when four-win Maryland took a 3-0 lead at home, it felt ripe for LOL-this-won\u2019t-last screenshots. Indeed, the final: 55-10, Indiana.<\/p>\n

Saddest Combination of Officiating and Performance: Duke 46, Clemson 45.\u00a0The Blue Devils won at Memorial Stadium for the first time since 1980. Clemson\u2019s defense was shambolic, except when it got a fourth-down stop that should have ended the game. A\u00a0bad pass interference call<\/a>\u00a0extended it, and Duke took advantage. Preseason No. 4 Clemson is 3-5,\u00a0Dabo Swinney is irate<\/a>\u00a0and the conference\u2019s officials are, as ever, undefeated.<\/p>\n

Most Holiday Spirit:\u00a0For the third time in Jim Mora\u2019s four years at UConn, the Huskies became bowl eligible before most of America even realized they were in the running. Such is life as a 2020s independent. Among the others hitting six wins: New Mexico for the first time since 2016 and Kennesaw State in its first year of full FBS membership. \ud83e\udd89\u261d\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Most Suspiciously Normal Outcome: North Carolina 27, Syracuse 10\u00a0is the kind of result most of us would usually scan past on the scoreboard. But after the Bill Belichick saga had included three blowout losses and two gut-wrenchers, the 3-5 Heels\u00a0doing something both decent and normal<\/a>\u00a0felt landmark.<\/p>\n

FCS Attention-grabber of the Week:\u00a0A Thursday meeting between first-year head coaches who have combined for seven Pro Bowls.\u00a0DeSean Jackson\u2019s Delaware State beat Michael Vick\u2019s Norfolk State\u00a027-20,\u00a0drawing national eyeballs<\/a>. While Vick\u2019s 1-8 Spartans have a long way to go, Jackson\u2019s 6-3 Hornets are in range of a MEAC title after two straight one-win seasons before his arrival.<\/p>\n

Societal Overhaul of the Week:\u00a0Elsewhere in FCS, No. 2 Tarleton State, No. 4 South Dakota State, No. 6 UC Davis, No. 8 North Dakota, No. 14 Lamar and No. 19 Northern Arizona all\u00a0lost to unranked teams<\/a>. (No. 1 North Dakota State won a ranked game, of course.)
\nPositioning: Five most important conference title races<\/p>\n

With Playoff rankings debuting on Tuesday, and now that we\u2019re in the regular season\u2019s final month (time flies!), let\u2019s quickly reassess the most prominent FBS championship hunts by sprinting through\u00a0the standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ACC\u00a0could be pretty tidy despite\u00a0being upside down<\/a>. No. 15 Virginia\u2019s conference record is 5-0 (since that loss to NC State was a non-con game), while Pitt-Georgia Tech and Louisville-SMU are set to thin the number of ACC teams with one conference loss each. Duke is also there, the only one in this bunch still to face Virginia.
\nThe Big 12 has a clear leader, undefeated No. 10 BYU, after No. 17 Cincinnati got rocked 45-14 late last night by the surging (but two-loss) No. 24 Utah. Also yesterday, No. 22 Houston squandered a good chance by losing 45-35 to 3-6 West Virginia. Next week, BYU at No. 13 Texas Tech could be a conference championship preview.
\nIn\u00a0the Big Ten, the drama is the battle for a potential fourth Playoff bid alongside Ohio State, Indiana and No. 6 Oregon. If No. 21 Michigan finally loses to the Buckeyes (in Ann Arbor), the upcoming Iowa-USC winner could have the best case \u2014 though that team would surely also need to beat the Ducks, a chance both will get. Washington is also 6-2 and also gets Oregon.
\nNo. 3 Texas A&M looks the nicest in\u00a0the SEC, but Bama is also undefeated in conference, with a tiebreaker edge over Georgia. In two weeks, UGA-Texas will give somebody a second SEC loss. Also, the Dawgs have a tiebreaker of their own over No. 7 Ole Miss. As far as the Playoff goes, Oklahoma, Missouri and Vanderbilt remain two-loss hopefuls. (Maybe even three-loss<\/a>, in OU\u2019s case.)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the best title race of all is the American\u2019s, which almost certainly\u00a0doubles as the Group of 5\u2019s Playoff chase\u00a0(with all due respect to 7-1 JMU and 7-1 San Diego State).\u00a0Yesterday, 8-1 North Texas\u00a0handed Navy its first loss<\/a>\u00a031-17, meaning six of these 14 teams have one league loss each. Tulane joined that pile by suffering an upset to UTSA on Thursday. USF still lingers in there, 5-3 (3-1) East Carolina is in the mix and No. 25 Memphis is 8-1 overall.<\/p>\n

There are all sorts of messy tiebreakers afoot among these American contenders. (If you call it the AAC, you will receive a Stone Cold stunner from Scrappy, North Texas\u2019 eagle mascot.) As of this moment,\u00a0UNT is in our Playoff projection<\/a>, two years after Eric Morris started 5-7 in Denton.<\/p>\n

Quick Snaps<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc2f The big\u00a0what-went-wrong-at-LSU story<\/a>\u00a0by Bruce Feldman, Ralph Russo and Christopher Kamrani. Multiple claims that Brian Kelly was so distant, he didn\u2019t care to learn players\u2019 names.<\/p>\n

Interim Tigers AD Verge Ausberry\u00a0has \u201cfull authority\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to hire Kelly\u2019s replacement, the kind of thing you have to specify, when it comes to LSU.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd2b Loads of\u00a0coaching-carousel nuggets<\/a>. Next target for Penn State: Duke\u2019s Manny Diaz, Louisville\u2019s Jeff Brohm or Vanderbilt\u2019s Clark Lea?<\/p>\n

\ud83e\ude73 Kirk Herbstreit is griping about football\u00a0players wearing their pants at shorts length<\/a>. I thought this was America.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf39 \u201cUCLA has \u2018long been negotiating\u2019 behind closed doors to move its home football games from the Rose Bowl to SoFi Stadium, despite a lease that runs until 2044,\u00a0a lawsuit dated Wednesday alleges<\/a>.\u00a0The suit was filed by the city of Pasadena and the Rose Bowl Operating Company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mementos<\/p>\n

For the second week in a row, my favorite visual was a crowd shot.\u00a0This Nebraska fan\u00a0comprehended the true meaning of horror as USC scored a critical touchdown in Lincoln, ultimately the difference in the Huskers\u2019 blackout game:<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Robby Kalland (@rkalland.bsky.social<\/a>) November 1, 2025 at 10:02 PM<\/a><\/p>\n

Been there, man. Say hello at untilsaturday@theathletic.com if you like, and happy November to you all.<\/p>\n

Love Until Saturday? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Until Saturday Newsletter \ud83c\udfc8\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,594,596,85],"class_list":["post-257756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}