What a way for Les Miles to end his LSU career. Les Miles produced the most Les Miles finish ever Saturday night -- that's saying something -- and it's going to finally cost him his job.
Because let's be honest: It's over from here on out. The only question is the expiration date. Twelve years of mostly good fortune with clock mismanagement came home to roost as LSU (2-2) botched the waning seconds of a loss to Auburn, which won without scoring a touchdown.
LSU squandered precious time as seconds ticked off. The Tigers didn't have a receiver set, resulting in a penalty. LSU didn't snap the ball in time before the clock expired, wiping out the winning touchdown pass.
College football in September is Miles and Gus Malzahn both celebrating on the same field a win they each desperately needed. That's a fitting way to end this first month.
Remember when Charlie Strong was lifted on his players' shoulders after beating Notre Dame in Week 1? That feels like ages ago -- Texas and Notre Dame are 2-3 since that game -- and should serve as a healthy reminder of this college football truism: Championships aren't won in September, they're only lost.
Booed off the field at halftime down 21-3, Butch Jones directed the Tennessee band to a rendition of Rocky Top after a huge 38-28 victory against Florida. A loss would have caused fans to question the direction of the program. Now, it's a triumph that could serve as a springboard to greater moments in 2016.
When Florida -- not Tennessee for once -- suffered a meltdown to end the Gators' 11-game winning streak in the series, Jones sprinted onto the field while screaming and pumping his fists. He survived September. He was one of the fortunate coaches.
Ask Brian Kelly, Clay Helton, Bob Stoops, Mark Helfrich, Jimbo Fisher, Hugh Freeze, Jim Mora Jr. and Miles how badly they want a September do-over. Three preseason top-10 teams already have at least two losses (Oklahoma, Notre Dame and LSU), and another one (Florida State) lost by 43 points. A total of seven preseason top 25 teams already have at least two defeats (Oklahoma, LSU, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, USC, Oregon and UCLA).
Kelly and Helton each are 1-3, meaning there might be Sun Bowl implications when preseason No. 10 Notre Dame and preseason No. 20 USC meet on Nov. 26. This is only the second time in the past 50 years Notre Dame and USC each suffered three losses in September.
Duke, a 21-point underdog after losses to Wake Forest and Northwestern, went into South Bend, Indiana, and beat Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish defense has allowed 134 points -- the most in school history through four games. It's enough to cause Kelly to wonder out loud whether the Irish truly are fighting.
"There's no passion for it," Kelly told reporters. "It looks like it's hard to play. Like we're pulling teeth. You're playing football for Notre Dame. It looks like it's work. Last I checked, they were getting a scholarship to play this game. There's no fun, there's no enjoyment, there's no energy."
After throwing his players under the bus, Kelly did point the finger at himself, too. "I must be doing a poor job. I've got to do a better job of finding out what those things are that are putting our football team in that position."
At Oregon, Helfrich leaves September with the same concerns about his defense despite Brady Hoke as the new defensive coordinator. Colorado -- Colorado! -- won in Eugene. The Ducks lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2007. They're 2-2 in September for the second successive year, something that hadn't happened since 2004.
USC started 1-3 for the first time since 2001 and has lost six of its past seven games against Power Five opponents. After rallying to beat USC, Utah now has as many Pac-12 wins as the Trojans since 2014. While it's still early, it's not out of the question to wonder whether Helton will be a one-year coach since Lynn Swann, USC's new athletic director, did not hire him.
Paging Tom Herman to USC? Or might LSU call first?
Auburn 18, LSU 13 feels like Mark Richt's ugly loss to Florida last year. It's the moment everyone finally realizes it's time for a clean break without too many hard feelings for a very successful coach.
Miles survived a coup last year and has meant a lot to the Baton Rouge community. The hope was LSU would finally produce a competent passing game. Instead, former Purdue quarterback Danny Etling threw 27 passes for only 118 yards on Saturday. Some of his passes looked like they were intended for Auburn defensive backs.
This was a year LSU needed to compete for a playoff spot without squandering special running back Leonard Fournette. Now the Tigers lost two games in September despite only allowing one touchdown in those defeats.
"You can't start a play in less than two seconds," Miles said of the crazy Auburn finish.
Maybe not. But you can put the nail in the coffin of a long, winding journey in that amount of time.
What we learned this week
1. Tennessee is the SEC East leader: It can't be overstated how monumental the Vols' comeback was against Florida. Tennessee still has flaws. The reshuffling offensive line has issues, and the defense is banged up. But if Joshua Dobbs can throw the ball the way he did in the second half, Tennessee will be a tough out. Dobbs started the game 1 of 8 for 12 yards. He then went 15 of 24 for 307 yards and four touchdowns.
Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop essentially got hired to beat Florida, and it paid off. The Vols defense ultimately won the game, holding the Gators to 100 yards in the second half after they racked up 302 yards before halftime.
Georgia got exposed in a 45-14 beatdown by Ole Miss, which finally held onto a large lead after blown September games to Florida State and Alabama. Florida now has a loss. Tennessee must still survive at Georgia, at Texas A&M and home vs. Alabama over the next three weeks. But there's now tangible evidence Tennessee is ready to take the next step to become a real SEC East contender.
2. Wisconsin is much better than expected: Quick: Name the first team this season with two top-10 wins. That would be Wisconsin, which made a major statement by routing Michigan State 30-6 on the road with a stingy defense and efficiency by freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook in his first start. Along with the victory against LSU, the Badgers have two top-10 victories in one season for the first time since 1964. (Yeah, LSU isn't a top-10 team, but that's what the polls said at the time.)
Wisconsin's defense hasn't missed a beat since losing defensive coordinator Dave Aranda to LSU. Justin Wilcox's unit has allowed only three touchdowns in four games. The Badgers forced four turnovers against Michigan State, which suffered its worst Big Ten loss since 2010 and most lopsided home defeat since 2009.
Sure, it could turn out both LSU and Michigan State simply aren't that good. The road gets even tougher over a five-week stretch for Wisconsin. Still to come: at Michigan, vs. Ohio State, at Iowa, vs. Nebraska. But Paul Chryst and his staff deserve a lot of credit for Wisconsin's 4-0 start. Given the unbeaten starts by Wisconsin and Nebraska, maybe the Big Ten West is balancing out a little compared to the East.
3. Stanford still owns UCLA: Poor UCLA. The Bruins finally toughened themselves up physically and mentally to challenge Stanford, and the Cardinal still extended their series winning streak to nine games. This wasn't like the embarrassing beatdowns of past years.
Stanford didn't score a touchdown until the waning seconds of its 22-13 victory. While trailing late, David Shaw strangely burned 39 seconds to run the clock down, took a timeout and elected to punt on fourth-and-1. The odd decision still paid off. Ryan Burns connected with JJ Arcega-Whiteside for the winning touchdown on a fantastic throw-and-catch. That was the first career catch for Arcega-Whiteside, who had never played until Saturday.
The Bruins finally got rid of seeing Kevin Hogan and another Stanford quarterback rose to the occasion late. UCLA still hasn't beaten a top-10 team since 2010. The Bruins, which have losses to Texas A&M and Stanford, can take some comfort that they might be the best 2-2 team in America.
4. Gus Malzahn is no longer calling plays: With Auburn's offense struggling, Malzahn made a fascinating decision to keep your eyes on. He turned over play-calling duties entirely to offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. "I've been really leaning toward that for two weeks now," Malzahn said. "I need to be the head coach, and that's what I'm going to be."
But why now? Malzahn entered the season saying he needed to be more involved as a coach and less of a CEO. After one month, that has changed? AL.com columnist Kevin Scarbinsky wrote the decision "may have been a powerful suggestion from an activist booster with the potential end game of bringing in Art Briles at the end of the season" as offensive coordinator.
The theory: Either Lashlee improves the offense and stays or Malzahn separates himself from the offense to stay as coach by adding his friend Briles. Former Auburn offensive coordinator Jack Crowe, who is still heavily connected within the program, broke the news of Lashlee calling plays and cryptically tweeted: "Desperation. Assistant coaches not pawns. Scapegoating is failure of leadership." It's never a dull moment when Auburn is losing.
Score of the day
Western Illinois 28, Northern Illinois 23. Remember when Northern Illinois was the darling of college football a couple years ago? The Huskies have been the best MAC program for years, but they've now lost seven consecutive games dating to last season and the heat might turn up on coach Rod Carey. Northern Illinois fell behind 28-7 after three quarters to an FCS team. That's not a good look.
Stat of the day
Five FBS teams haven't trailed in a game all season, according to ESPN Stats & Info: Memphis, Miami (FL), San Diego State, Boise State and Louisville. I suspect Louisville will fall off this list next week and trail at some point at Clemson. But Lamar Jackson keeps rolling. He has 1,301 passing yards, 510 rushing yards and 25 total touchdowns in 11 quarters played this season.
What was he thinking?
In honor of Miles' latest clock management cluster, let us revisit two similar gaffes. Here was Miles' failure in a loss to Ole Miss in 2009, and here was Miles incredibly botching the clock and beating Auburn in 2007. Clock management won't be the same in the SEC without you, Les.
Quote of the week
"The duck is pulling that truck, baby." -- Tennessee coach Butch Jones on CBS after the Vols snapped their 11-game losing streak to Florida
Gators cornerback Quincy Wilson guaranteed a victory this week because "nobody has ever seen a duck pull a truck. Florida Gators are going to win, simple as that."
