FanHouse TheSecIsBatcakes

As we reported yesterday, Iowa State head coach Gene Chizik interviewed this week for Auburn's head coaching vacancy.

There's a little more to report now; apparently, he's headed back to the Loveliest Village on the Plains, as he will be Auburn's next football coach. Des Moines TV station KCCI confirmed that Chizik got on a commercial flight to Memphis, and Auburn has sent a plane to Memphis.

Chizik leaves the Largest Village in Story County after two seasons with a 5-19 record. Auburn just finished a 5-7 season. Do the math; the season that got Tommy Tuberville fired had as many wins as Chizik's entire career.

As you might expect, many in Alabama are questioning the wisdom of hiring a coach fresh off a 10-game losing streak. As you might not expect, some in Iowa are questioning the same thing. There are now two athletic directors burning new ulcers in their stomachs. Auburn's Jay Jacobs knows he's got one heck of a selling job in front of him if he doesn't want to see the booster money dry up like a Slim Jim left in the back window of a '93 Corsica. But his problems are nothing compared to ISU's Jamie Pollard.

While everybody else was wondering if Will Muschamp was actually going to be Auburn's next head coach, there has been a development involving another former Auburn defensive coordinator. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard has confirmed that Cyclone head coach Gene Chizik has had talks with Auburn, and apparently they weren't talking about the weather.

Chizik just finished his second season in Ames, where has has now compiled a 5-19 record. This year's Cyclone team beat only a single I-A squad all year and didn't win at all after the first Saturday in September.

And he interviewed at Auburn? Apparently so. Was it the the 27-point win over South Dakota State that caught their attention, or was it the two-point loss to Kansas?

Truthfully, Iowa State might be the crappiest job in any BCS conference. The in-state talent pool is thinner than an Olsen twin and has to be shared with Iowa. The only way to win is by doing serious shots of Jucomeister. Fortunately, junior college football in Iowa is excellent, but still. The odds are seriously stacked against any coach wearing the cardinal and gold, which just proves what a genius Dan McCarney really was. Is there any meat to this?

Its been a most unusual post-championship season for LSU having surrendered 50+ points twice this season and dropping one in overtime at home to Alabama. However, they're not the story tonight as No. 1 Alabama moves a week closer to fulfilling the program's grand ambitions after beating LSU in overtime 27-21.

Alabama can partly thank LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee who tossed a trio of interceptions to safety Reshad Johnson, one of them returned for a touchdown. Critically, the final one was in the end zone in overtime surrendering the ball to Alabama who promptly punched the ball into the end zone on a John Parker Wilson sneak.

Jilted LSU fans (Jealous-U as mocked in a hilarious ESPN College GameDay sign) thirsted for the blood of former coach Nick Saban, but revenge was not to be had even as the Tigers blocked a Leigh Tiffin field goal at the end of regulation that would have won the game just a bit earlier for Alabama.

We give him a seven on the artistic score, but an ugly five on technical merit. That tackle was way too high ... go for the legs, man!

Pretty self-explanatory stuff here, but yet so bafflingly weird. For reasons unknown, an official in last night's incredibly tense and tight game between South Carolina and LSU appeared to tackle South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia.

Garcia was scrambling from the pocket and the official had turned to watch him, then went into some sort of strange stance before lunging into him with his right arm, knocking Garcia down and ending the play. Both actors appeared to shrug the moment off, but honestly what was that official thinking?

Video after the jump.

It's pretty rare to see a coordinator get fired halfway through the year. It's even more rare to see a coordinator fired halfway through his first year, but it's happened today. Auburn has called an early end to the Tony Franklin experiment, cutting their offensive coordinator loose after only six games.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, of course. Franklin is one of the spread offense's most renowned gurus, and it was just a few short months ago that AU fans were bidding the price of his book into the ionosphere. Apparently, they just wanted to throw it at him.

Admittedly, if you've seen Auburn's offense this season ... oh, who am I kidding? Nobody's seen Auburn's offense this season, and that's the problem. Besides, it's not like it's completely unprecedented for Auburn to try to get rid of a coach who is still, technically, trying to finish the season.

Even given the legendary impatience of Auburn boosters (well, one in particular), this is a shocking and frankly dumbfounding move on their part. Who's pulling the strings here? Was Tommy Tuberville so convinced that Franklin was taking his team in the wrong direction that he just had to make a change now? Did Auburn's athletic director or president tell Tubby "either Franklin goes, or you do"? Should we round up the usual suspect?

Were they even running Tony Franklin's offense?

And how hard are they laughing in Tuscaloosa right now?

I suppose this is just another example of day-to-day life in America's Toughest Football Conference, but crikey. It's bad enough that coaches don't even get a full recruiting cycle to prove themselves any more. With this move today, Auburn has created a cancer which will only spread throughout the college football universe. All you hustling assistant coaches out there who dream of working your way up the ranks with a coordinator's job at a BCS school, just keep this in mind: You have six games to prove yourself. Auburn says so.

But did they even whack the right person in the first place? FanHouse's Brian Cook says "Not so fast, my friend."