Hugh Freeze made one final walk off the field on Saturday night following the loss to Kentucky, as the student section loudly chanted ‘Fire Freeze.’’ The students got their wish, Auburn has fired its head coach, according to multiple sources. 

The embarrassing loss to Kentucky, where Auburn scored just three points in the 10-3 loss, was the final straw for Freeze. He left the athletic department and boosters with no other option, as the Tigers fell to 1-5 in the SEC.

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will serve as the Tigers’ interim head coach, as Auburn travels to Vanderbilt on Saturday, before playing Mercer and Alabama to close out the 2025 season. 

Auburn will owe Hugh Freeze roughly $15.5 million for the remaining years on his contract, according to sources. There were no negotiations regarding the buyout. 

For a coach that promised big things for the Auburn program, Freeze ended up sounding like a used-car salesman over the past four years on the Plains. After every loss, for some reason, he’d keep coming back to the “We’re close” phrase that would send Auburn fans into a full-blown frenzy. 

In the end, the offensive guru has put Auburn in a worse position than when it started. Most would think the Bryan Harsin era was bad, but the Tigers have been stuck in neutral for years, with hope fading after every loss suffered in excruciating fashion. 

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze reacts on the sidelines after his team scored a touchdown against Arkansas during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)

DEION SANDERS BLOCKS PLAYERS INTERVIEWS AFTER COLORADO’S LATEST BLOWOUT DEFEAT

Whether it was the Georgia game, or the close loss to Missouri, the 2025 season has been a disaster. And when the fans turn on you, it’s over. So, one would question why it took John Cohen so long to make a decision. Did the administration actually think a win over Arkansas was going to turn things around? 

No, it just bought them more time to make a decision that should’ve been taken care of two weeks ago. 

If you thought about heading to Nashville next weekend to play Vanderbilt against the unofficial ‘Governor’ of Auburn in Diego Pavia was a smart move, I’d imagine fans are relieved to know that the decision was made in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Time To Join Coaching Carousel. Who Could Tigers Hunt? 

This entire situation was beyond repair, and no amount of NIL funding was going to fix it. Auburn boosters had given enough, with a return on investment non-existent.

Now, Auburn joins the likes of LSU, Florida and Arkansas in looking for a new head coach. There will be plenty of questions centered around which job is better, but the Tigers are realistically third on that list right now. 

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops talks with Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze before an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Auburn, Alabama. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

The support is there, along with plenty of influential ‘money folks’ ready to throw NIL funding at the next head coach to keep players from leaving, along with finding quick-fixes in the transfer portal. There was no way Auburn could wait until the end of the season to make this move. Sure, fans will continue showing up, and you can bet the Tigers will have a strong showing at Vanderbilt next week in terms of fan support. 

But, Freeze looked like a coach who was lost for words, knowing that it was the final time he’d be sitting at a podium with the Auburn logo flanking him. 

Now, we wait to see where the Tigers turn next, and they have plenty of company across college football.

For the first time in years, the Southern Section and City Section football playoffs will start with a hint of uncertainty as to which team finishes as champion in the highest divisions.

Since 2016, every Southern Section Division 1 championship game has been won by St. John Bosco or Mater Dei. This season, Mater Dei has losses to Corona Centennial and Santa Margarita. St. John Bosco’s invincibility was punctured with a 35-31 regular-season finale loss to Mater Dei.

“We have to pick ourselves up. We’re still a good football team,” St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said.

Then there’s Sierra Canyon, which is 10-0, has the best defense anywhere with five shutouts and still gets ranked No. 4 by a computer that decides Southern Section playoff pairings. Do you think the Trailblazers have something to prove?

“We’re kind of the new kids on the block,” coach Jon Ellinghouse said. “We’ve gained some valuable experience. We have a team that belongs on the stage.”

Sierra Canyon is opening the playoffs in two weeks, hosting Santa Margarita as part of an eight-team Division 1 bracket released on Sunday. St. John Bosco is seeded No. 1, Corona Centennial No. 2, Mater Dei No. 3. The championship game is set for Friday, Nov. 28, at the Rose Bowl.

Sierra Canyon will be facing a gauntlet of Trinity League teams, something it has prepared for in the last two seasons by playing Trinity teams in nonleague and playoff games. That Santa Margarita matchup features perhaps the two best defenses in the Southland and six of the players in the game are USC commits.

Don’t forget the best quarterback in Southern California comes from No. 6-seeded Mission Viejo. Ohio State commit Luke Fahey passed for a school-record 569 yards this past week against Los Alamitos. And the Diablos have wins over Santa Margarita and San Diego Lincoln as part of a 9-1 record but injury problems on defense will make it a tough task to get by defending champion Mater Dei.

And Centennial coach Matt Logan, who has passed the 300-win plateau, has his team ready for the big games ahead with an offense that has scored 59 and 60 points, respectively, the past two weeks. His team plays Servite at home, a team it beat 42-14 in August. St. John Bosco hosts Orange Lutheran, a team it beat 48-0.

In the City Section, Birmingham will take a 54-game unbeaten streak against City opponents into the Open Division playoffs as the No. 2 seed, but Carson is the No. 1 seed after winning the Marine League and making weekly improvement behind junior quarterback Chris Fields III.

There’s lots of intriguing City Section story lines. Palisades is 10-0 after its campus was shut down because of the Palisades fire, with coach Dylen Smith having to scramble to form a team without a weight room or home field and players losing homes. The team has won a series of close games with a dynamic passing attack featuring quarterback Jack Thomas, who has 42 touchdown passes.

Crenshaw won the Coliseum League title even though its veteran coach, Robert Garrett, has been on administrative leave all season. He has 298 career victories. Interim coach Terrance Whitehead will send his team against San Pedro.

The 11-time City champion Colts will open against King/Drew, which lost to Crenshaw in the Coliseum League title decider but wanted to play in the Open Division. Be careful what you wish for.

Birmingham coach Jim Rose is so busy coaching his team and the school’s flag football team in next week’s Division II playoffs that he’s teaching everyone how to multi-task. Last week, after the flag team won a game, they wanted to stop the bus at Chick-fil-A.

“No, the boys have practice,” Rose said.

It’s been a strange season with more than 40 transfer players declared ineligible for two years for violating CIF rule 202, which bans providing false information to the Southern Section on transfer paperwork. This past week, Norco forfeited six victories when an investigation found a violation of CIF rule 510, which bans undue influence with prior contact before enrolling several players. San Juan Hills forfeited nine games but received an at-large berth to the Division 2 playoffs. Long Beach Poly, which had six players declared ineligible, decided not to enter the playoffs despite finishing second in the Moore League.

Then, on Saturday, JSerra announced it is parting ways with third-year coach Victor Santa Cruz following an 0-5 Trinity League record. JSerra’s season is over after not receiving an at-large berth.

It’s been a season of unusual happenings, so prepare for a postseason of the same.

Toronto Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. channeled a Canadian sports hero prior to Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Guerrero was spotted walking into the Rogers Center with the jersey of Canadian women’s hockey star Marie-Philip Poulin. The slugging first baseman appeared to be locked in as he walked into the stadium to prepare for the biggest game of his career.

Poulin has four Olympic gold medals to her name. She helped Team Canada to wins in 2010, 2014 and 2022. Canada won a silver medal in 2018. She also has four gold medals in the world championships. She currently plays in the Professional Women’s Hockey League for the Montreal Victoire.

She reacted on her Instagram Stories to Guerrero’s nod.

“Wow,” she wrote with a tearful emoji. “Let’s go Blue Jays!”

DODGERS VS. BLUE JAYS WORLD SERIES GAME 7: STARTERS, LINEUPS, HOW TO WATCH

Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) hits a double against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning in Game 6 of baseball’s World Series in Toronto on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025.  (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

It’s do or die for the Blue Jays and the Dodgers on Saturday night. The game begins at 8 p.m. ET and can be seen on FOX. Max Scherzer will start for Toronto and Shohei Ohtani will be on the bump for the Dodgers.

Guerrero is batting .412 in the postseason with eight home runs and 15 RBI. He leads postseason competitors in RBI and is tied with Ohtani in home runs.

Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) walks back to the dugout after being stranded on base during the sixth inning in Game 6 of baseball’s World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Toronto on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025.  (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Toronto has not won a World Series since 1993. The Dodgers are the defending champions.

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