• Make no mistake: We will take your coach from you. From the three standard Big Questions surrounding Tommy Tuberville's exit from Auburn -- What's the Buyout?, What was the Process? and What's Next? -- come three modestly surprising answers: Tubs' buyout is $5.1 million, not $6 mil; he leaves on better terms with the power brokers than he usually worked under; and though Mississippi State might be interested, Tuberville would be a natural behind the mike, as the newest addition to ESPN's fired coach purgatory, for example.

As far as his successor, goes though, there is no shortage of chutzpah -- get a load of perhaps the most ambitious wish list in coaching search history:

AuburnSports.com has identified several prominent candidates for the Auburn job including Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach and Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson.

The Birmingham News comes out with essentially the same list, minus Johnson and adding Louisiana Tech boss Derek Dooley (son of the Georgia legend) and, yes, Bobby Petrino. I guess when you fire a coach with Tuberville's record, you'd better be shooting for the stars. Two of those names (Muschamp and Fisher, the two highest-paid coordinators in the country) are very recently locked up in lucrative coach-in-waiting deals at their own mega-schools; presumably, they're off the table both ethically and contractually. Another, Johnson, is just one year into a tenure that, from early returns, will be wildly successful at Georgia Tech, and aside from the defensive line has virtually his entire team returning in 2009, including Josh Nesbitt and Jonathan Dwyer. Petrino is not only a longshot and a slap in the face after his ordeal with Auburn in 2003, but apparently has a clause in his contract at Arkansas that prevents him from going to another SEC West school; he'd probably also like to avoid adding to his reputation as an opportunistic climber.

The only name that makes any sense there is Leach, who likely has already been contacted about the job and, if his unlikely dalliance with Washington is any indication, is quite open to leaving the Passing Pirate's Paradise he's built in Lubbock. That talk of an extension at Texas Tech seems to have been a little premature.

Tuberville's exit has already cost the Tigers at least two commitments: Cornerback David Conner from Mississippi powerhouse South Panola backed out as soon as he heard the news, and defensive lineman Terrance Coleman -- nephew of current Tiger DE Antonio Coleman -- quickly followed suit. The next boss had better come fast and be ready to steady a tumultuous, leaky ship.

• Speaking of the Cap'n ... If Auburn is into Leach, it had better get on its horse: Rumor in Seattle is Leach will be back for a second interview at Washington sometime very soon. With Jim Mora, Chip Kelly, Chris Petersen, Brian Kelly and now apparently Pat Hill off the table for the Huskies, Leach becomes the frontrunner at UW, and one of only two names (with USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian) that seems to have any traction at all.

• It seems your work is average at best. Welcome to the team! Oklahoma State has never been known for defense, but that didn't prevent OSU defensive coordinator Tim Beckman from landing the head coaching job at Toledo. Beckman is from Ohio and was Urban Meyer's defensive coordinator at Bowling Green. The two units he coordinated at Oklahoma State finished 101st and 85th nationally in total defense, below average even by Big 12 standards. He probably won't coach in the Cowboys' bowl game.

In other mid-major coaching news, Utah defensive coordinator Gary Anderson is probably set to be announced as the new head coach at Utah State today. Good thing DeWayne Walker won't be seeking it, then.

• A personal note: It is on. So my alma mater, which began its first season under a new coach a desperate 2-6 through eight games with consecutive losses to Marshall, UTEP, Boise State, Rice and Memphis, rallied to win its last four and was rewarded for finishing .500 Tuesday with a bid to the New Orleans Bowl, sponsored by the fine courier service R+L Carriers. Huzzah, etc.

Southern Miss takes crappy bowl games for granted (including three trips to the not-so-crappy Liberty as conference champion, the Eagles will play in their 11th bowl in 12 years), and usually I wouldn't even bring up a token, watered-down, nothing game you wouldn't even watch on a random Tuesday night. Except that the likely Sun Belt champion/New Orleans Bowl opponent, Troy, is talking awfully tough for, you know, a team from the Sun Belt:

"When you think about it, that’s the only downfall about New Orleans," safety Tavares Williams said. "The trip is great, but we’d play a Conference USA team that we feel like we could dominate. They don’t send their No. 1 or No. 2 team to New Orleans. We get one of the mid (fifth or sixth place) teams that really can’t compete with us, but they’re just in a bigger conference.

"It would be nice to play a team that people would think are better than us."

Very, very rarely do I find it necessary -- or even possible -- to defend the honor of Conference USA, but, ahem:

Record of Sun Belt teams vs. C-USA teams in 2008: 1-7
Average score: C-USA Team 42, Sun Belt Team 24
Total non-conference record of C-USA teams in 2008: 18-30 (.375)
Total non-conference record of Sun Belt teams in 2008: 8-27 (.229)
Record of current Sun Belt teams vs. C-USA since 1996 (when C-USA formed): 13-49 (.210)
Southern Miss record vs. Sun Belt teams in 2008: 2-0
Southern Miss record vs. Sun Belt teams since 1996: 7-0
Southern Miss average score vs. Sun Belt since 1996: USM 32, Sun Belt 14

Very lackluster Eagle teams have played Sun Belt champions in the New Orleans Bowl twice in the last four years and dispatched both of them easily. For the first two months of the season, this was a horrible Eagle team, and I suspect Williams is right that Troy will be favored, based on its first half effort at LSU. But any kind of Trojan win -- dominant or otherwise -- will be just another in a series of abject humiliations for Southern Miss as far as I'm concerned. USM's string of winning seasons is on the line, and if it can't extend that number to 16 in a row against a team from the Sun Belt, any team from the Sun Belt, it doesn't deserve the streak and shouldn't be in a bowl game at all.

Quickly ... If you missed it, UL-Lafayette became bowl-eligible with a 42-28 win over Middle Tennessee Wednesday night. ... Looking back with the inventor of instant replay, 45 years later. ... Rice will be at home for a date in the Houston Bowl. ... West Virginia will wear its road jerseys and is trying to encourage a White Out to honor Pat White in the senior's final home game against South Florida. ... Maybe Georgia fans should leave Willie Martinez alone. ... Derrick Thomas' son is a fairly big time prospect. ... Now that he has a little job security, Pete Carroll honestly assesses his performance in 2001, his first year at USC. And finally, some fireworks during UCLA week. ... And Alcorn State might want to work on its communication skills at its next round of professional development.