AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze has been diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer, the university announced Friday.
According to a statement released by the school, the 55-year-old Freeze is expected to make a full recovery and will continue his normal duties and responsibilities as coach of the Tigers while undergoing treatment.
“Thankfully, it was detected early, and his doctors have advised that it is very treatable and curable,” the statement read. “Coach Freeze is incredibly appreciative of our medical professionals and has asked that we use his experience as a reminder of the importance of prioritizing and scheduling annual health screenings.”
Freeze is 11-14 in two seasons at Auburn, including 5-11 in Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers begin spring practices March 25, and they will be looking for improvement after finishing 5-7 last season to fall short of a bowl invitation.
Texas raises season ticket prices
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas will be raising football season ticket prices by $13 per game next season as the program, already one of the richest in the nation, tries to meet rising costs.
Athletic director Chris Del Conte announced the price increase this week in his annual campus town hall, where he detailed the program’s expected finances upon final approval of a landmark $2.8 billion lawsuit settlement that lays the foundation for athletes to receive money directly from their schools.
Texas will have nearly $30 million in new costs and close to 200 new scholarships across all sports, Del Conte said. The ticket price increase will help cover some of that. The increased scholarships will cost about $9.2 million, and the school plans to pay $20.5 million annually to its athletes.
“We plan to get to the full limit,” Del Conte said. “We’re doing that because we want to maintain Texas as the best athletic department in the country.”
Texas was the only program to qualify for the College Football Playoff each of the past two seasons. The Longhorns lost in the semifinals both years, but the CFP was a 12-team bracket this past season — Texas won a home game and a bowl game before falling to eventual national champion Ohio State — after being a four-team event for its first decade.
Texas reported $332 million in operating revenue and $325 million operating expenses in the 2024 fiscal year, the first time a public school in NCAA Division I had topped the $300 million mark in both categories, according to USA Today.
Rule proposed to combat fake injuries
The NCAA committee that handles football rules announced Friday it would propose that a team be charged with a timeout if one of its players falls to the ground on the field because of an apparent injury after the ball is spotted for the next play.
Feigning injuries, sometimes at the coach’s instruction, has become a tactic defenses use to slow down fast-tempo offenses, or an attempt by offenses to avoid a delay-of-game penalty or get an extra timeout.
The committee’s proposal stops short of one submitted by the American Football Coaches Association that would have required a player who goes down and receives medical attention to sit out the rest of that possession. Currently, the player must go out for one play before returning to the game.
Under the committee’s proposal, if the injured player’s team does not have any timeouts remaining, a 5-yard penalty for delay of game would be assessed.
All proposed rule changes must be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to discuss football rules April 16.
Faking injuries has received attention from the rules committee in recent years. Since 2021, a school or conference is allowed to request a postgame video review headed by the national coordinator of officials, Steve Shaw, regarding questionable actions involving injuries. If it’s determined a player faked an injury to manipulate the rules, the offending team’s conference is notified for possible disciplinary action.
Shaw said the committee didn’t want to require players to sit out the remainder of a possession because if the player is truly hurt, it is best for him to get evaluated on the field rather than try to play through injury.
“As we look at the video on these plays, they’re typically not happening at the end of the play. There’s some time lag. Many of these injuries were presenting after the ball was spotted,” Shaw said. “If we could eliminate all of those, we think that would clean it up.”
The committee also proposed that if a game reaches a third overtime, each team will have one timeout the rest of the game. Currently, teams are allotted one timeout for each overtime period.
The rationale is that at the start of the third overtime, with teams alternating running 2-point plays, the game shouldn’t be stopped for timeouts when there are only two plays per extra period.
Additionally, the committee recommended that when the decision on instant replay is announced, the referees say only that the call on the field is “upheld” or “overturned.” The terms “confirmed” and “stands” would not be used. Shaw said the committee believed too much time was spent during reviews trying to decide whether a call should be “confirmed” or “stands.”
In a proposal with a clear link to a single game last season, the committee recommended that after the two-minute timeout in either half, if the defense commits a foul with 12 or more players on the field and they participate in the play, the officials would administer a 5-yard penalty. The offensive team would have the option to reset the game clock back to the time at the start of the play. If the 12th player is attempting to leave the field and has no influence on the play, the defensive team would be penalized 5 yards with no adjustment to the game clock.
The proposal formalizes the committee’s in-season guidance in October after Oregon coach Dan Lanning acknowledged his team induced an illegal substitution penalty late in the 32-31 regular-season win over Ohio State.
Just before Ohio State snapped the ball, an Oregon defensive back walked onto the field, giving the Ducks an extra defender. The Buckeyes failed to complete a pass against Oregon’s 12-man defense on the next play, and the Ducks were flagged for an illegal substitution penalty. Ohio State gained 5 yards on the penalty but lost four seconds off the clock because the penalty was deemed a live-ball foul.
In other proposals:
— If any player on a kick return team makes a “T” signal during the kick, the play would be whistled dead.
— To address “disconcerting signals,” no player could call defensive signals that simulate the sound or cadence of the offensive signals. The defensive terms “move” and “stem” would be reserved for players on that side of the ball and could not be used by the offense.
— Coach-to-player communication will be allowed in the Football Championship Subdivision, the lower tier of Division I. It is already permitted in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
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