Auburn Tigers

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement Monday less than six months after finishing the Tigers' best season in program history with another trip to the Final Four. Pearl's 38-year-old son Steven Pearl, who has been on his father's coaching staff for all 11 seasons at Auburn, will take over as coach. And, about a run for the U.S. Senate?

College football in Alabama is celebrated in the context of two major powerhouse programs. That’s Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers. With incredible success over more than a century of competition each, it’s a no-brainer. But hundreds of collegiate athletes take the field for dozens of other programs within the state’s borders, often never getting the chance to put their skill and passion up against some of the very best from Tuscaloosa or the Plains. Here’s another highly anticipated game this weekend.

Auburn is claiming four additional football national titles and will call itself a nine-time champion moving forward. The Tigers, for decades, boasted titles in 1957 and 2010. They also claimed the 1913, 1983 and 1993 seasons as meeting national championship qualifications. Now, though, athletic director John Cohen is adding titles from 1910, 1914, 1958 and 2004 to the program’s resume. It’s laudable by some and laughable by others.

Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer told reporters at SEC Media Days how he was hyper focused on the season opener against Florida State in Tallahassee. The AP poll may give a clue on how that concern may be justified. The AP Top 25 college football poll preseason rankings are now. Texas took the number one spot for the first time in an opening poll, narrowly edging out Penn State by just five points in the closest preseason vote since 1998.

A last-minute interception by Alabama defensive back Zabien Brown put the final nail in the coffin for Auburn in the annual Iron Bowl game against the Crimson Tide. Now, Alabama fans may spend the next couple of days on pins and needles to see if weekend losses by Ohio State and Miami will make a difference for the Tide’s remote hopes for a playoff slot.

It would be easy for Texas A&M to overlook slumping Auburn. The Tigers must win their final two games to avoid a fourth straight losing season, but they’re only 2 1/2-point underdogs, according to the BetMGM Sportsbook. The Aggies enter the game among league teams in the mix for the playoffs and the SEC Championship Game.

A caged tiger was wheeled onto the Tiger Stadium field for the first time in nearly a decade before kickoff of Saturday night’s game between No. 14 LSU and No. 11 Alabama. The moment fulfilled the wishes of Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who had the tiger transported to Baton Rouge from Florida for the occasion.

The Auburn Tigers open the season with high expectations, especially with the return of All-Southeastern Conference big man Johni Broome. The Tigers rank 11th in the preseason AP Top 25 and are picked to finish second in the SEC.

The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs host the struggling Auburn Tigers in the Deep South’s oldest rivalry on Saturday. The Tigers have lost seven in a row to UGA. The matchup comes after Alabama held off the Bulldogs in a 41-34 thriller, snapping their streak of 42 consecutive victories during the regular season.

The Auburn Tigers opened with five straight home games and high hopes of showing progress under second-year coach Hugh Freeze. They limped away from Jordan-Hare Stadium with a mistake-riddled 2-3 start and the Tigers’ biggest challenge yet awaiting: A visit to No. 5 Georgia.