Auburn fires Malzahn; defensive coordinator will take over for now

Auburn fired coach Gus Malzahn, who led the Tigers to the national championship game in his first season but could never replicate that success.

Athletic director Allen Greene announced the firing Sunday, a day after the Tigers finished the regular season with a 2410 victory over Mississippi State. Auburn is 6-4 in a pandemic-shortened season of all Southeastern Conference opponents, losing by double digits to highly ranked teams Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M.

They were also upset by a struggling South Carolina, which wound up firing coach Will Muschamp during the season.

“After evaluating the state of the Auburn football program, we’ve decided that it was time to make a change in leadership,” Greene said in a statement. “We appreciate everything that Gus did for the program over the last eight seasons. We will begin a search immediately for a coach that can help the Auburn program consistently compete at the highest level.”

Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will be interim coach. Auburn will owe Malzahn a $21.4 million buyout for the remaining four years of a seven-year, $49 million deal. The school must pay half of that within 30 days.

Malzahn went 68-35 in eight seasons and was 39-27 against SEC opponents. He led the Tigers to an SEC title in 2013, his first season, losing to Florida State in the national championship game.

Auburn said Greene recommended the firing to President Jay Gogue after conducting a “thorough analysis” of the program.

AP POLL SHAKEUP

The first top-10 shakeup in more than a month pushed Coastal Carolina to No. 9 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday.

Alabama was a unanimous No. 1, followed by Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson and Texas A&M as those teams held their spots for a sixth straight week.

Surprising losses by Florida and Miami shuffled the rest of the top 10. No. 6 Cincinnati and No. 7 Indiana each moved up one spot and No. 8 Iowa State jumped two.

Then come the unbeaten Chanticleers (11-0), the first Sun Belt Conference team to crack the AP’s top 10.

Georgia landed at No. 10 ahead of Florida at 11. The Gators dropped five spots after losing to LSU on Saturday night. Miami sank 10 spots to No. 19 after getting blown out by North Carolina. The Tar Heels moved up four spots to No. 16.

Alabama has been ranked in 211 consecutive polls, matching Florida

State (1989-2001) for the second-longest streak in poll history. The Crimson Tide will likely move into second all by itself after the Southeastern Conference championship game next week. To pass Nebraska’s record of 348 consecutive poll appearances from 1981-2002, Alabama will need about eight more seasons in the Top 25.

LATE SATURDAY

No. 14 BYU 28, San

●

Diego State 14: Zach Wilson threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns to lead the host Cougars (10-1), who shut out the Aztecs (4-4) over the final three quarters.

No. 16 Southern Cali

●

fornia 43, UCLA 38: Kedon Slovis threw an 8yard touchdown to AmonRa St. Brown with 16 seconds left and the host Trojans (5-0) overcame an 18-point, third-quarter deficit to beat the Bruins. The Trojans won the

Pac-12 South title earlier in the day when Utah beat Colorado. Dorian Thompson-Robinson was 30 of 36 for 364 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions for UCLA

(3-3).

Utah 38, No. 21 Col

●

orado 21: Ty Jordan scored twice, including a win-sealing 66-yard burst, and the Utes’ (2-2) revamped defense forced three turnovers to help rally past host Colorado in the snow to thwart the Buffaloes’ (4-1) Pac-12 title hopes.