Last weekend marked the end of the college football season for many programs, and for some of the more disappointing of those programs, it also marked an opportunity to start anew. In sports, there’s one way to rebuild that’s easier than any other: get a new coach. And this method proved irresistible to athletic directors all around the country. A rundown of the moving and shaking, after the jump.

The worst season for Auburn since 1952 got even more painful Saturday night, as the Tigers went down at home to Texas A&M, 63-21. Auburn is now 1-7, is considering switching to a freshman quarterback, and its coach is on the hot seat. Even the War Eagle isn’t entirely sure he wants to see them play. [SBNation]

We’re not sure what event this locker room video was taken from (it looks like a celebrity softball game of some kind) but we do know that its contents — Charles Barkley regaling a roomful of people about meeting an 18-year-old Dirk Nowitzki — are fantastic.

After witnessing young Dirk drop 52 points on Scottie Pippen (who, at that time, was considered the best lockdown defender in the world) during an exhibition game in Germany, Chuck approached the baby 7-footer and asked him, simply, who the hell he was. Then, Charles began the full-court (and completely against-the-rules) process of recruiting him to Auburn, apparently getting Nike involved and promising Dirk “anything he wanted” if he went to Barkley’s alma mater. Alas, Dirk in Navy Blue and Burnt Orange was not to be, and the next year, he’d be drafted by Milwaukee (and summarily traded to Dallas). The rest is history. [Reddit]

The unthinkable happened in Florida on Monday: someone got punched in the eye at a Whataburger.

New Auburn offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler’s been a football coach for over a decade. He knows what he’s talking about. Yet apparently, he still needs to remind himself which sport he coaches.

Today, LSU has beaten Auburn just about every way a team can beat another team. As of this writing, the score is 45-10, and honestly, that score might make the game sound closer than it is. But especially indicative of LSU’s total control is the play you’ll see after the jump.

Clemson got itself a big win today, overcoming an early 21-7 deficit to take down Auburn, 38-24. For Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, the game represented another step in overcoming Clemson’s reputation as a talented but generally-underachieving squad. He was excited about it. Video after the jump.

As documented all around the web (this site included), Auburn eagle mascot Spirit had a bit of trouble on Saturday, crashing into a window before completing its customary pregame flight. The collision put a fright into the crowd for a second, but Spirit went on to complete the flight and looked pretty much like his normal self. Some remained dismayed, however: Lindsay Pollard-Post of PETA, an organization that is nothing if not opportunistic, sent a letter to the Montgomery Advertiser advocating for the discontinuation of the eagle mascot. We don’t like her chances.

“Auburn’s long held tradition of their live mascot flying around the stadium hit a slight snag before the Mississippi State game. Spirit, one of the Tigers 3 live eagle mascots, hit the glass in his pre-game flight. He appeared shaken, but completed his dive to the 50-yard line being cheered on by 85 thousand cheering ‘War Eagle!’.” Yes, there’s video. And yes, it’s hilarious.

You might not think a game that produced a 41-34 score would have featured football’s biggest hit of the weekend, but the above (illegal) shot on Auburn’s Emory Blake by Mississippi State safety Nickoe Whitley fits the bill, we think.