A lot happens on college football Saturdays. It’s hard to keep up with everything.
So this season, in an attempt to bring everybody up to speed — while taking a chance to provide you with some takes in the process — I’m going to rattle off over-arching thoughts from the previous weekend. I’ll also do my best to spring thoughts forward, not just tell you what already happened.
Let’s keep it going with the latest edition of Unfiltered Takes.
1. Hugh Freeze: Auburn’s 10-3 loss to Kentucky basically summed up the entire Hugh Freeze experience on The Plains. Tough defense good enough to win any SEC game? Check. Offense rough enough to watch it could make your eyes bleed? Check. Quarterback shuffle? Check. Though you have to give Freeze credit for elevating the talent on Auburn’s roster — he did — the product on the field hasn’t even been in the galaxy of what is acceptable at Auburn, regardless of how often you heard Freeze tell you he thinks the Tigers are “close” in the last month. Auburn fired him on Sunday.
2. Patience: Freeze wanted patience. After the Kentucky game, he was asked what he’d say to people who felt he was no longer fit for the job. Freeze said this: “I wish I could ask for patience, but that’s not really something people want to give in this day and time. I understand that. I just know we’re so dang close and if we had a few things go our way earlier in the year, we’re looking at a whole different deal. But it didn’t and that’s life. And that’s the game of football and it teaches us a lot of great things and a lot of tough things. We’ll get up and go get ready for the next one.”
3. Auburn’s offensive struggles: Freeze, though, had plenty of time to improve this program and, like I stated above, had improved the talent. It must have been maddening for the Tigers to throw Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr. out there on offense every week and not be able to get a first down. That’s the most confusing thing about this whole deal, too. Freeze’s top qualification for the job was being an offensive guru, someone who could get every ounce of production possible out of his talent. He did it at Ole Miss and he did it at Liberty. This time, no matter who he threw out there at quarterback, it wasn’t working. He brought three new quarterbacks in during the offseason. The results were the same, and Auburn didn’t want to see those results again for the rest of this season and perhaps beyond.
4. Auburn hot board: The name that jumps out is Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, who came into the season with two conference championships and one conference championship game appearance in three full years as a head coach. He’s viewed as one of the top Group of Six coaches in the country, sporting a 38-10 record as an FBS head coach. For the full hot board, check out Pete Nakos’ list here.
5. James Franklin and Auburn? This actually seems like a good marriage to me. Though it’s all speculation, Auburn would love to have the results that led to Franklin’s firing at Penn State. James Franklin is convinced he could win a national championship still and will be fueled every day to prove it. In the meantime, if he can get Auburn to consistently win nine or 10 games every year, even if he hits the same brick wall he hit in State College, Auburn will be a healthier and more functional place down the road. We always view coaching hires as the people who are going to take a program to its ceiling, but sometimes programs are two hires away. Maybe Franklin is the guy you bring in to rebuild things?
6. Coveted coaches: Did you guys notice many of the sweetheart coaching candidates that were supposed to be hunted to backfill these big open jobs lost this weekend? Houston’s Willie Fritz, Sumrall, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, Syracuse’s Fran Brown and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel all lost in week 10. Now I understand that we’re not evaluating whether a coaching candidate is still viable after the results of one game, but it seems like an interesting trend to track. Are coaches — and their teams — negatively distracted when they see names pop up on hot boards?
7. Lane Kiffin: Credit to Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin. Though he is clearly the most coveted coach out in the market right now, the Rebels keep winning. It would be easy to envision how Ole Miss could get thrown off its very promising season as everyone worries about Kiffin’s next move, but he has remained grounded and focused on this year’s team. That, to me, is precisely what I’d want in my head coach — a person who is committed to his employer and players.
8. Who is taking these jobs? Every program with an open spot at the head coach position wants to hit a home run. And there are so many jobs open right now, including Penn State, Florida, LSU and now Auburn. Because there are more jobs than slam dunk candidates, you see most of the same names on all of the hot boards. All of those coaches will get gobbled up, but some big-time programs will hire relatively unknown commodities for jobs with national title aspirations. That may work out better for the teams who take that leap of faith, but there will be a lot of confused fan bases in the next six months when their program hires a coach they’ve never heard of.
9. Ohio State: Ohio State beat up on Penn State in what was supposed to be one of the Buckeyes’ two toughest games of the season. Texas hasn’t been as good as we thought it would be this year. Neither has Penn State, which is less than a month removed from firing its coach. That has given Ohio State doubters plenty of ammo to attack its resume while ignoring the product Ryan Day has put on the field every week. The weak schedule isn’t helping Ohio State’s resume, sure, but there is no question the Buckeyes should be viewed as the favorite to win the national title right now, right? And if not Ohio State, who should be? There is something to be said about blowing everyone out while also possessing one of the deepest and talented rosters in college football. You can ask this question in good faith: Does Ohio State have the five best overall players in college football on one roster? Maybe the answer is no, but that isn’t a crazy question. That should be enough to earn universal respect.
10. Julian Sayin: In Ohio State’s 38-10 win over Penn State, Julian Sayin threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns. He had more touchdown passes than incompletions. In that game, he officially morphed from being a young quarterback who is finding his way into one of the best quarterbacks in the country. His composure — even in the face of pressure — is astounding for his age. His accuracy will make your jaw drop. He doesn’t make big mistakes. He’s someone who now belongs in the Heisman race, which is legitimately scary for people who don’t want to see Ohio State repeat as national champions.
11. Texas: Texas has spent the entire season being mocked, especially because quarterback Arch Manning wasn’t living up to the insane hype. But the Longhorns, who deserved to be questioned, have continued to find ways to keep winning. They have won four games in a row now, most recently beating Vanderbilt — an Associated Press Top-10 team — on Saturday. Texas is 7-2 and still only has one loss in the SEC. It’s a game at Georgia in two weeks that is actually going to be one of the biggest games of the year. Is Texas starting to earn back the public’s trust? Starting thinking about this now: If Texas beats Georgia, it may make the CFP even if it loses to Texas A&M at the end of the year.
12. Arch Manning: Here are Manning’s last four games: 4-0 with two top-10 wins, 243 yards passing per game, 65 percent completions, eight touchdowns and one interception. The country may have checked out once they assumed he was an epic flop built up only because of his last name, but he is starting to come into his own. Granted, two of those four games were against SEC cellar-dwellers, but the Longhorns have a week to heal up — which includes getting All-American safety Michael Taaffee back — before heading to Athens. Look out for the Longhorns.
13. Brent Venables: Oklahoma went to Tennessee on Saturday night and won to extend its record 7-2. Brent Venables, who came into the season on the hot seat, has officially done enough to keep his job. Obviously, if the Sooners implode entirely down the stretch and finish 7-5, things could get uncomfortable, but I don’t see that happening. Oklahoma’s year-over-year growth is evident to everyone with eyes, and the head coach deserves credit for that. Also, Oklahoma has perhaps the toughest schedule in the country, so if it goes 2-1 down the stretch — which includes games against Alabama, LSU and Missouri — its resume will likely have a case for a CFP spot.
14. Was it a catch? At the end of Georgia’s win over Florida on Saturday night, there was a call that many feel changed the game. Florida receiver J. Michael Sturdivant broke behind Georgia’s defense, was wide open and had to lay out for an underthrown deep ball for quarterback DJ Lagway. The call was ruled incomplete on the field. During the review, it appeared that Sturdivant got his arms under the ball, leading everyone to assume the call would be overturned. It wasn’t. And guess what? It was the right call. However, I am with many of you — I think it was a catch — the video evidence wasn’t inconclusive, which is what is necessary to change a call. Sturdivant’s arms were open and there was no way to definitively tell if the nose of the football had touched the ground. Had it been ruled a catch, the call would have stood. You need 100 percent certainty when overturning a call. That video, like it or not, didn’t provide that inconclusive evidence.
15. Miami: It’s a shame what has happened to Miami. A month ago, the Hurricanes felt like one of the three favorites to win the national title. Even after a tough loss to Louisville, they felt pretty good about their path to the CFP. But Saturday, Miami lost at SMU and the game featured all of the awful things that have haunted it during the Mario Cristobal era — bad turnovers, in-game management questions and playing down to its opponent. Miami has too many good players on its team not to separate itself from the pack in the ACC, and it’s fair to start questioning whether Cristobal is the guy to get them over the top. I think the discussion of firing him is insane — he has turned that program around in his time there — but it’s going to get to a point where Miami fans start reacting to him like Penn State fans did Franklin. They are appreciative of what he has done for the program, but soon they will demand more and become enraged when they don’t get it. Miami was too good this season for this result.
16. The ACC: The best thing that could happen to the ACC is if Clemson, Miami and Florida State are all awesome at the same time. In September, all three of those teams were ranked in the top 15 and it looked like the ACC could be a two-bid league in 2025. What has happened to Miami, Clemson and Florida State the last six weeks is the ACC’s nightmare. Clemson, which lost to Duke on Saturday, was a preseason national title contender. Miami felt like one three weeks ago. And Florida State began the year by beating up on Alabama. Though Miami could still conceivably make the CFP, they have all been a massive disappointment in 2025.
17. The ACC race: Virginia, yes, Virginia stands alone in first place in the ACC. Five other programs sit with one loss in conference play — Georgia Tech, Pitt, Louisville, SMU and Duke. Determining who wins this conference is going to be a nightmare, especially because many of them don’t even play each other. If the CFP Committee acts the way it did a year ago in rewarding the conference title game loser with a spot in the CFP, this league could potentially get two teams in. But for now? It seems this will be a one-bid league.
18. Notre Dame: Notre Dame won its sixth consecutive game Saturday, beating Boston College 25-10. It was maybe the ugliest game the Irish have played this year, but they won a clunker. Notre Dame, though, is going to continue to be an interesting fixture in the CFP discussion as long as it keeps winning. The issue? Miami is now sitting at 10-2, and the Hurricanes hold the head-to-head win over the Irish. Could Miami block out Notre Dame in the CFP if it somehow finishes 10-2? For a while, Notre Dame was rooting for Miami to keep winning, so its loss looked better. Now the Irish should hope Miami loses another one.
19. Nebraska: On Thursday, Matt Rhule signed a two-year contract extension with Nebraska as unofficial interest from Penn State was swirling in the air. That may not sit well with some Cornhuskers fans after they lost to USC on Saturday night, but I’d be sleeping well if I were a Nebraska fan. Of course, Dylan Raiola unfortunately suffered a leg injury that will have him lost for the season in the middle of the game. And yes, USC was a team the Huskers could have beaten. But if you zoom out, that Nebraska team on the field Saturday night was so much better than the ones that were taking the field four years ago. Grasp onto that and be hopeful for the future.
20. The Big 12: I don’t see a world where the Big 12 is a two-bid league in the CFP at the end of the year, which makes Saturday’s game against Texas Tech and BYU so massive, especially after Cincinnati and Houston both lost Saturday. The Big 12 is weird and I’m sure we’ll get some more unexpected results, but whoever wins the Tech-BYU game is going to head into the following week as the clear favorite to win the conference and advance to the CFP.
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