Gene Chizik spoke out against the finger-pointing directed at his former coaching staff. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Gene Chizik said his Auburn team “did it right” despite allegations of NCAA violations, specifically academic fraud, within the program while he was head coach. In his first interview since being fired as the Tigers’ headman after last season, Chizik spoke with Alabama’s WJOX radio on Monday and defended his tenure at the school.

A Roopstigo.com story earlier this month reported numerous instances of academic fraud, as well as impermissible financial benefits to players, under Chizik’s watch. On Monday, Auburn released a statement from AD Jay Jacobs refuting the Roopstigo report based on a lack of evidence found by an internal review of the program.

Chizik backed the university’s defense, saying his reputation has been on the line with these allegations:

“I’m here because I care about my reputation, I care about the integrity of who I am and what I do, and I’m simply giving out the facts, because I’m 100 percent confident that we did it right,” Chizik said.

The coach went on to deny the allegations that his coaching staff changed players’ grades:

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AD Jay Jacobs (center) said that Auburn’s internal review found no evidence of academic fraud. (Todd J. Van Emst/AP)

By Zac Ellis

Auburn has found no evidence of the academic fraud outlined in a story posted on Roopstigo.com earlier this month, the university announced Monday.

Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs presented a point-by-point rebuttal to the Roopstigo report on the school’s website. Jacobs said an internal review debunked the majority of the claims in author Selena Roberts’ story. Jacobs emphasized that the review by Auburn Athletics and Auburn University Internal Auditing found no evidence to support the most serious claim, which stated that academic fraud occurred prior to the 2011 BCS National Championship Game.

Auburn concluded the release with the hashtag #GetTheFacts.

Jacobs called Roberts’ story an “attack” and vowed to continue to protect Auburn.

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DeWayne Walker set the coaching carousel spinning once more with his late departure from New Mexico State. (AP)

Tommy Tuberville’s sitting by the phone* and Jimmy Sexton’s got that particular sparkle in his eye. It can mean only one thing: The coach firin’ season is upon us once more. We’ll be tracking the carousel of progress, right here, for as long as it takes to stop spinning. Raise a glass to times past, won’t you? * Well, not anymore, but never tell us we don’t have the gift of very specific prophecy through throwaway jokes.

New Mexico State [updated 02.01.2013]

• Who’s out: DeWayne Walker, who jumps to the NFL with less than two weeks remaining between now and Signing Day. And not even for a coordinating gig: Walker will coach defensive backs for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Walker released the following statement through the athletic department: “I really appreciate the opportunity that Dr. Boston and New Mexico State gave me to be a Division I head football coach. Unfortunately, I did not get the program as far as I would have liked from a wins and losses standpoint. But, we do have a better locker room, better kids and a better foundation for the program moving forward. There are a lot of people that I want to thank for their support and will be reaching out to those individuals in the coming days. They have helped me in moving the program forward. I am excited about starting a new chapter in my coaching career, as is my family. I wish New Mexico State great success in the future and wish everyone the best. Go Aggies!” • Who’s in: Doug Martin — the one who played at Kentucky, not the one who played at Boise State. Although if Martin The Younger is really so opposed to his excellent nickname, we’re gonna refer to Martin The Elder as coach Muscle Hamster instead. It’s been a whirlwind courtship for Martin and the Aggies: He was announced as offensive coordinator on January 17, temporarily promoted to interim head coach on January 24 and will be officially announced as DeWayne Walker’s successor on Monday, February 4. Martin’s previous head coaching experience consists of a seven-year stint at Kent State, from 2004-2010. Read More…

• Everybody got all that? In the past 24 hours of college football realignment news, we have seen East Carolina and Tulane jump from Conference USA to the Big East, the ACC file a lawsuit against Maryland over money owed given the Terps’ move to the Big Ten, Louisville abandon the Big East for the ACC and UConn’s president say “I think we really just have to focus on students and then everything will be OK.” And in the time it took us to painstakingly piece together the elaborate artist’s rendition of the remaining future conference jumps, the Virginian-Pilot is reporting that Conference USA will add Middle Tennessee State. YEEHAW.

• Things that are not realignment news. Our one preseason prediction that held fast all year was that every team would look sort of terrible at least once … Virginia cans its running backs coach … Gene Chizik will be a Mr. December to remember … and here is the only hypothetical realignment move we’d be in favor of at this exasperating point.

Just imagine Oregon’s mascot tackling one of these things. (AP)

• BEE CEE ESS. The latest BCS standings are here, and your freshly hatched BCS No. 1 is Kansas State; the post-Week 11 AP Poll is here, too, and Oregon is the new No. 1. Dan Wetzel explores an upside-down universe in which Notre Dame needs to catch a break.

• Bowling season draws nigh. A second FBS team has locked in a postseason bid, as BYU has accepted an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl. This season hasn’t gone as smoothly for the Cougars as they might have hoped, but there are certainly worse places to while away a few winter days than San Diego. Stewart Mandel updates SI.com’s bowl projections, this week featuring Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Missouri and SMU.

• The Marquess Wilson thing. Just so we’re all caught up, here’s what we know right now: Washington State suspended star receiver Marquess Wilson, who subsequently announced he was leaving the team and dropped accusations of abuse on his way out. Here’s a StoryStream from our friends at CougCenter, tracing the winding path of these developments. Here’s a Spokesman-Review interview with Dennis Simmons, Wilson’s position coach, on Wilson’s allegations. And here’s Washington State’s president asking for both an internal investigation and one from the Pac-12.

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• No. 24 Boise State 7, BYU 6. Hoowee, Thursday night’s game had just about everything — with the notable and unsettling exception of offense. The Cougars gained 200 net yards and turned the ball over five times. The Broncos outgained them by 61 yards but scored fewer than 10 points for just the second time in Chris Petersen’s tenure. By the time BYU benched Riley Nelson and sent freshman backup Taysom Hill in for a four-yard rushing touchdown, the first offensive score of the night, fewer than five minutes remained in the game. We can safely assume that Bronco Mendenhall’s ill-fated call of a two-point conversion attempt was a signal that he wanted this to be over just as badly as the rest of us, to whatever end.

If that was the night’s only offensive score, you ask, how did Boise State get seven points? FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN! The very BEST sort of Fat Guy Touchdowns are the ones involving nose tackles, and redshirt senior Mike Atkinson obliged a grateful nation by pawing a Nelson pass out of midair and lumbering 36 yards for six points. It was his first career interception and score. We are grateful to have witnessed it. [BOX | RECAP]

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Michael Dyer led Auburn in rushing in 2011 before transferring to Arkansas State. (AP)

An abbreviated list of areas in which running back Michael Dyer excels:

1. Running down a football field while holding a football and not getting caught. Dyer was Auburn’s leading rusher in 2011, averaging more than 100 yards per game all by his lonesome, and ranked No. 20 nationally in ground yardage.

2. Drawing disciplinary action from football coaches. Suspended for (sing along if you know the words) The Ever-Popular And Mysterious Violation Of Team Rules before Auburn’s Chick-fil-A Bowl game, Dyer transferred to Arkansas State, now the fiefdom of his old coordinator, Gus Malzahn. Denied an NCAA waiver to play this season, Dyer pledged to stick it out with the Red Wolves rather than opting for the 2013 NFL Draft.

Less than two weeks later, however, Dyer is adrift again after a violation of team rules that’s a little more concrete:

According to a Jonesboro Sun report written by Matt Roberson (subscription required), the dismissal is likely related to a March traffic stop in White County. Dyer was pulled over by an Arkansas State Trooper who found marijuana and a gun in his vehicle. [...] It is unclear who was in possession of the gun and marijuana, per the newspaper’s report. Trooper Royce Denney issued Dyer a speeding ticket and no charges were filed stemming from the discovery of the handgun or drugs. Per The Sun Denney is currently under investigation for his handling of the stop.

Please join us in regretting that Terry Bowden no longer reigns at nearby North Alabama, which would solve this problem to everyone’s satisfaction.

Gene Chizik leaned heavily on the “dangs” in discussing new SEC teams Texas A&M and Missouri. (AP)

HOOVER, Ala. — For as long as he’s been in the SEC, Gene Chizik has displayed an amazing skill for not only dealing in the most fluent coachspeakisms, but for dispensing them so quickly and seamlessly that the overall effect is one of sitting in front of a wave machine. A wave machine wearing a particularly dapper pinstriped suit.

From his opening statement on the second day of SEC Media Days, we recall only that Chizik opened by giving thanks for the public outpouring of support following the June shootings that claimed the lives of two former Auburn football players. Everything after that is just a soothing blur. Until!

“These are two dang good football teams with dang good football coaches.” In complimenting the two newest additions to the SEC, Chizik leaned hard on the “dangs.”  This may have been a coded swipe at Kevin Sumlin and his DAMNs. We cannot be sure, but it’s such a perfect example of that coded blessyourheart/backstab combo move that makes this conference great that we’re calling it anyway.

Police are investigating the University Heights shooting, which left three dead and three wounded. (Landov)

Two former Auburn football players, offensive lineman Ed Christian and running back Ladarious Phillips, were killed Saturday night at an off-campus pool party, victims of a mass shooting following a reported argument over a woman. Both were 20 years old. AU offensive lineman Eric Mack sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

In a Sunday afternoon press conference, Auburn police chief Tommy Dawson stated that any association between the shooting and the football program was entirely coincidental: “The only connection that the Auburn football team has to this is they are victims of a brutal shooting.”

Suspected shooter Desmonte Leonard of Montgomery has not been located by the police at the time of this writing. The FBI and U.S. Marshals are offering a combined $15,000 in rewards for information leading to Leonard’s capture and conviction.

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