Auburn fired football coach Hugh Freeze after a 15-19 record over parts of three seasons.
Auburn is expected to seek an offensive-minded coach to replace Freeze.
Potential candidates include South Florida’s Alex Golesh, Georgia Tech’s Brent Key, and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee.

Auburn fired football coach Hugh Freeze on Sunday one day after a 10-3 loss to Kentucky dropped the Tigers to 4-5 this season and 15-19 since Freeze returned to the SEC in 2023.

The partnership between the Tigers and the former Mississippi and Liberty coach seemed almost foolproof thanks in no small part to his SEC experience. Having won in Oxford, the thinking went, Freeze would do the same with Auburn, only on an even bigger scale. Not quite.

At no point in his tenure did the Tigers resemble the best team in the state, let alone the SEC. Despite his track record on offense, Auburn failed to score more than 17 points in five of six SEC games this season and scored more than 31 points in regulation in conference play just twice over his three seasons.

Look for Auburn’s next coach to have a background on offense to keep pace with Kalen DeBoer, Lane Kiffin, Josh Heupel and the top programs in the SEC. Here are the early names to watch:

Alex Golesh, South Florida

Golesh spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Tennessee before getting hired at South Florida, where he posted back-to-back seven-win seasons before putting the Bulls on the national map with a win this September against Florida. That he has only three years of experience as a head coach, all in the Group of Five, is a drawback the Auburn decision-makers would have to weigh to bring in one of the fastest-rising names in the profession.

Brent Key, Georgia Tech

Key is in an enviable situation at Georgia Tech, with immense job security, deep ties to the program and on-field success the program hasn’t matched in nearly 50 years. In other words, the former Tech offensive lineman may not be going anywhere. But Key did spend three years at Alabama on Nick Saban’s staff, so he knows the state, and would bring a high degree of professionalism at a crucial moment for the program.

Rhett Lashlee, SMU

While Lashlee is a stronger contender for the opening at Arkansas, his long connection with former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn might be an asset given how Malzahn is looked at more fondly after Bryan Harsin and Freeze flopped in his wake. Lashlee is a young, offense-minded coach, like Golesh, but with Power Four experience and a College Football Playoff berth on his resumé. He signed an extension with the Mustangs last week, but that might not dissuade the Tigers if they decide he is the guy.

Manny Diaz, Duke

His defensive background makes Diaz a wild card in this search and a strong second-tier option if Auburn misses on a few of the trendier names in the mix. Diaz has spent five seasons as a Power Four head coach in addition to his lengthy run of success as a defensive coordinator across the Bowl Subdivision. The work he’s done so far at Duke should make Diaz a legitimate candidate, though he’s more likely to land somewhere outside of the SEC if he does leave the Blue Devils.

Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Dillingham could be pulled away from Tempe for the right opportunity. That spot might be Auburn, where he’s still remembered for his one year as offensive coordinator in 2019 — the Tigers averaged 33.2 points per game and haven’t sniffed that number in the years since. Like Lashlee, he has a direct link to Malzahn and a secondary connection through Malzahn disciple Mike Norvell, who hired Dillingham to his first full-time position as an assistant at Memphis in 2017. Dillingham later served as offensive coordinator at Florida State and Oregon before landing his current job at his alma mater.

Dan Mullen, UNLV

Mullen might not find a better reentry point to the SEC unless he waits for the Mississippi State job to reopen, though that wouldn’t be until after next season at the earliest. He’s off to a good start in his first season at UNLV, and Auburn would have to overlook how Mullen was unable to achieve liftoff during his tenure at Florida. But he’s deeply experienced, knows exactly how the SEC operates and might be the highest-floor candidate on the Tigers’ early list.

Jon Sumrall, Tulane

Sumrall is going to be a head coach in the SEC, and probably as soon as the 2026 season. While Kentucky is seen as the likeliest destination should Mark Stoops retire, Sumrall would take a hard look at the Tigers’ deeper pool of resources and quicker path toward College Football Playoff contention. While he played for Kentucky and coached there from 2019-21, Sumrall is smart enough to realize Auburn is a much better position overall.

James Franklin

Disgruntled Auburn fans might point to Franklin’s poor record against ranked teams, the fact he never truly developed an elite quarterback or offense and the way the Nittany Lions disintegrated in his final season. These are valid points. Then again, Franklin won 24 games over three years at Vanderbilt. If he can deliver a coherent plan for how to maximize Auburn’s NIL offerings, Franklin would be a smash-hit hire for a program that needs a steady hand.

Urban Meyer

If you can hire Meyer — if you can sell it, stomach it, grin and bear it — then you should. The drawbacks are obvious; so are the results. Meyer has shown no legitimate interest in getting back into coaching and left the profession several years before NIL and the House settlement transformed the sport. But it can’t hurt Auburn to make a phone call.

Keep up with the latest news and analysis from college football’s top two conferences: Check out our Big Ten Hub and our SEC Hub to get school-by-school coverage from across the USA TODAY Network.

Auburn football has fired football coach Hugh Freeze following Saturday’s 10-3 loss to Kentucky, a game in which disgruntled Tigers fans booed the third-year Tigers coach and chanted ‘Fire Hugh’ as he walked off the field.

Freeze ends his tenure with the Tigers with a 15-19 record in his two-plus seasons. The team has lost its last five of its last six games after opening the season with an impressive road win against Baylor and followed it up with defeats of Ball State and South Alabama, both Group of Five opponents.

However, the Tigers have won just one of their six SEC games, dropping a close contest at Oklahoma before losses against Texas A&M and Georgia. In the loss to Missouri, Auburn led in the fourth quarter before allowing a late score by the Tigers. Auburn’s only win in conference play was vs. Arkansas (another team with an interim coach in Bobby Petrino, who is winless in the SEC).

Auburn’s decision to part ways with Freeze is another significant opening to the coaching carousel that has gotten off to a fast start in the 2025 season. Some of the bigger jobs to open up just this season include Penn State, Florida and LSU, who have fired James Franklin, Billy Napier and Brian Kelly, respectively.

“I have informed Coach Freeze of my decision to make a change in leadership with the Auburn Football program,’ Auburn athletics director John Cohen said in a news release. ‘Coach Freeze is a man of integrity, and we are appreciative of his investment in Auburn and his relentless work over the last three years in bolstering our roster. Our expectations for Auburn football are to annually compete for championships and the search for the next leader of Auburn Football begins immediately.”

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season, per Auburn’s news release. Here’s what to know about why Auburn parted ways with Freeze after three seasons of leading the program:

Why did Auburn fire Hugh Freeze?

Freeze was seen as a positive hire for Auburn, not only for his past success at Mississippi and his 34-15 record in four seasons at Liberty, but also because he was one of a select few coaches to have beaten Alabama’s Nick Saban more than once (he won consecutive games in 2014 and 2015 against the Crimson Tide).

However, the Tigers never found their footing under Freeze.

The Tigers have regressed each season of his tenure after he led them to a 6-7 season in 2023, including a loss in the Music City Bowl. The Tigers followed that with a 5-7 season in 2024 and, through 10 weeks this year, a 4-5 record in 2025.

With games left against Vanderbilt, Mercer and Alabama, the Tigers need to close the season with a 2-1 record over their last three games to avoid missing a bowl for the third time in four seasons.

Auburn’s last winning season came in 2020 under Gus Malzahn, who led the team to a 6-4 start. Auburn fired him after the regular season, and interim coach Kevin Steele led the Tigers in their Citrus Bowl loss. Malzahn was fired after eight seasons despite a 68-35 record and 3-5 mark against Saban in the Iron Bowl.

Hugh Freeze buyout

Auburn will owe Freeze a buyout of roughly $15.4 million if he is fired without cause, according to a copy of Freeze’s contract, obtained by the USA TODAY Network. The university owes him 75% of the remaining payments of his contract, which was set to run through Jan. 31, 2029.

The first monthly installment is due and payable on the first regularly scheduled university payroll date following his firing. Per his contract, there is no mitigation requirement by Freeze, and Auburn would not have any right to offset any such payments.

Hugh Freeze record at Auburn

Freeze ends his Auburn tenure with a 15-19 overall record, 6-16 record in SEC play, 0-1 bowl record and, perhaps most notably, an 0-2 record in the Iron Bowl. Below is a year-by-year rundown of Freeze’s record at Auburn, including conference results and, if applicable, bowl results:

2023: 6-7 (3-5 SEC) (Music City Bowl loss)
2024: 5-7 (2-6 SEC)
2025: 4-5 (1-5 SEC)

Keep up with the latest news and analysis from college football’s top two conferences: Check out our Big Ten Hub and our SEC Hub to get school-by-school coverage from across the USA TODAY Network.

The Washington Commanders finally pivoted from the franchise’s longtime racist nickname in 2020, landing on their new identity in 2022 after playing two seasons as the Washington Football Team. But on Sunday, they’re going to look an awful lot like the dominant squads from the Joe Gibbs glory years.

Washington will debut its new ‘Super Bowl Era’ throwbacks on ‘Sunday Night Football’ against the Seattle Seahawks, who will also don a classic look.

Marketed as ‘Fit for Old D.C.’ − a nod to the team’s fight song, which urges the team to ‘fight for Old D.C.’ − when the new/old uniforms were announced over the summer, the Commanders are set to wear what is basically the same look the team had while reaching four Super Bowls between the 1982 and ’91 seasons, winning the Lombardi Trophy three times during that span.

The burgundy pants, white jersey and burgundy helmet with three stripes down the center will certainly evoke memories of Gibbs, John Riggins, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and many others. What’s missing will be the team’s former Native American head logo, replaced by the Commanders’ ‘W’ sigil.

“We are excited to celebrate Washington’s incredible history with these iconic, Super Bowl Era uniforms this season,” team president Mark Clouse said in a statement in July.

“Ever since Josh Harris and our ownership group acquired the team back in 2023, they’ve placed great value in finding ways to connect the past and present and honor those that made the burgundy and gold what it is today. These uniforms recognize the most successful era of our franchise – one that reflects a culture of excellence and encompasses many historical moments and special memories amongst our fanbase. Our coaches, players and the entire organization could not be more excited to celebrate our team’s legacy while creating new memories in these uniforms this season.”

The team’s other recent alternate features black jerseys and pants with the club’s signature burgundy and gold serving as trim, including for the District of Columbia’s flag (normally red and white) featured on the sleeve. The black helmet is also distinctive, with the gold “W” on the forehead and stars and bars of the D.C. flag in gold at the back. Each player’s jersey number was placed on the side of the helmet where the primary insignia usually goes.

While some embraced this darker version, other fans have complained the black motif made the club look too similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Washington most recently wore them during its Week 6 loss to the Chicago Bears.

The new alternate becomes the franchise’s eighth different uniform (not including various jersey-pants combinations) since 2020, when the murder of George Floyd compelled the team to drop its former nickname, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as an “insulting and contemptuous term for an American Indian.” Prior to 2020, many Native American groups and others had lobbied the team to scrap the name, but former owner Daniel Snyder told USA TODAY Sports in 2013 that, “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER – you can use caps.’However Snyder, a highly controversial and widely despised figure for nearly the entirety of his 24-year stint as owner, ultimately relented before selling the team under pressure to a group led by Harris two years ago for more than $6 billion.

Local reception to the Commanders nickname, which is meant to tie in with the region’s vast military community, has been lukewarm, many fans still wearing gear with the former logo or even the interim WFT garb instead. But the arrival of quarterback Jayden Daniels and head coach Dan Quinn in 2024 began a long-needed revitalization of the brand and organization, which will host the 2027 NFL draft on the National Mall.

When will the Commanders wear their throwbacks?

Nov. 2 vs. the Seattle Seahawks

Nov. 30 vs. the Denver Broncos

Dec. 25 vs. the Dallas Cowboys

Will Commanders’ throwbacks become Washington’s permanent uniform?

A broader reboot of the Commanders’ uniforms has been rumored, but it won’t happen soon. Special circumstances aside, the NFL requires teams to stick with uniform overhauls for five seasons − meaning the Commanders’ current look will likely remain through at least the 2026 campaign.

Harris definitively stated earlier this year that the club’s former name − many fans (and President Trump) prefer it even if it is a slur − won’t return. Quinn sparked a brief sensation last year by wearing a T-shirt featuring the contemporary W logo sprouting a feather similar to the one on the old emblem.

But Commanders will remain the nickname.

‘Now, in this building, the Commanders means something. It’s about players who love football, are great at football, hit hard, are mentally tough and great teammates,’ Harris said in February. ‘It’s really meaningful. That name is growing in meaning.

‘As far as rebranding and bringing our past – which obviously I grew up with, and all the Super Bowl championships – and our future together, you’re going to see us move back toward honoring our past and bringing it together with our future.’

What uniforms are the Seahawks wearing vs. Commanders?

In one of the better uniform pairings in a season full of them, Seattle is wearing blue throwback jerseys with silver pants and helmets − adorned with the franchise’s original logo − that it basically sported from 1983 to 2001.

The Jacksonville Jaguars kicker booted a 68-yard field goal just before halftime against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 2, breaking the record for the longest converted attempt in NFL history.

Little broke former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s record of 66 yards, which was set in September 2021 against the Detroit Lions.

Little had displayed his extended range this preseason, when he converted a 70-yard attempt against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Given that the kick came in an exhibition setting, it did not count toward the record.

A sixth-round pick in 2024 out of Arkansas, Little has struggled at times throughout his second pro season. Entering Sunday, he had hit on just 10 of his 14 field-goal attempts for the season.

Longest field goals in NFL history

1. 68 yards – Cam Little, Jacksonville Jaguars, 2025

2. 66 yards – Justin Tucker, Baltimore Ravens, 2021

3t. 65 yards – Brandon Aubrey, Dallas Cowboys, 2024; Chase McLaughlin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2025

5t. 64 yards – Brandon Aubrey, Dallas Cowboys, 2025; Matt Prater, Denver Broncos, 2013

Somewhere, Hingle McCringleberry is certainly outraged.

Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle celebrated his second touchdown against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field with a few pumps − but only two, which, uh, by rule, should be copacetic.

Not so.

Dowdle was flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, which has been emphasized league-wide throughout this season, and Carolina kicker Ryan Fitzgerald missed the subsequently impacted extra-point try.

Dowdle’s score gave the Panthers a 13-6 lead, though his infraction made it easier on the Pack − they tied the game 13-13 shortly thereafter. However Fitzgerald saved Dowdle an embarrassing plane ride home by winning the game at the gun with a 49-yard field goal.

There is actually no two-pump rule that Dowdle violated, though popular culture might have fooled viewers − and apparently the sixth-year running back − into thinking as much, Dowdle holding up two fingers to officials as he left the field after being penalized.

“From my understanding and everything I’ve learned, we go over stuff like this every week in the meeting room. I definitely think you’re supposed to get two pumps,’ Dowdle said following the game. ‘Hopefully, I don’t get a fine.”

He helped make up for the gaffe with a 19-yard run on the final drive that got Fitzgerald into position for the decisive kick.

McCringleberry, a fictional football player portrayed by comedian Keegan-Michael Key, violated the two-pump rule during a famous ‘Key & Peele’ skit that mocked over-legislated NFL celebrations.

Dowdle learned the hard way Sunday that two pumps may be two too many nowadays.

“I missed it. I am not going to touch on that,’ Panthers quarterback Bryce Young said.

‘We won, so I am grateful for that.”

The upper portion of the US LBM Coaches Poll didn’t change much after the weekend’s results. There are, however, some significant developments in the back half of the top 10.

The teams ranked No. 1 through No. 7 stay put this week, with Big Ten leaders Ohio State and Indiana continuing to lead the field. The Buckeyes received 60 of 64 first-place votes after a smothering of Penn State, while the Hoosiers claimed a No.-1 vote after rolling past Maryland. Texas A&M, off this week, hangs on to the No. 3 spot with the remaining three first-place nods. Alabama, Georgia, Oregon and Mississippi also retain their positions.

Brigham Young moves up a couple of places to No.8, with fellow Big 12 representative Texas Tech also back in the top 10 at No. 9. Those two are set to square off next week. No. 10 Notre Dame continues its slow climb back from a 0-2 start. The Fighting Irish are up two spots after its sixth win in row.

TOP 25: Complete US LBM Coaches Poll after Week 10

Virginia now leads the ACC contingent in the poll at No. 11 after surviving its long road trip to California. A couple other league members playing away from home weren’t as fortunate. Georgia Tech falls six places to No. 14 after its first loss of the campaign at North Carolina State, and Miami (Fla.) dropped a second league contest to SMU to tumble nine positions to No. 18. Oklahoma and Texas each move up six places to No. 12 and 13 respectively after taking down ranked SEC opponents.

Southern California rejoins the poll at No. 21, and Iowa moves in at No. 24 on the eve of an important home date with Oregon. Cincinnati holds on at No. 25 after a rough night at No. 19 Utah.

Houston and Navy are the week’s dropouts.

This story was updated to change a video.

Former Cincinnati Bengals tight end and broadcaster Bob Trumpy has died at the age of 80.
Trumpy was an original member of the Bengals, scoring the franchise’s first touchdown and earning four Pro Bowl selections.
After his playing career, he became a successful broadcaster for NBC Sports and Westwood One, calling four Super Bowls.

Former Cincinnati Bengals tight end Bob Trumpy, who went on to an even greater second career as a broadcaster, has died at the age of 80.

Trumpy was an original member of the Bengals, scoring the first touchdown in franchise history. He was a 12th round draft pick in 1968, but his receiving skills powered him to a four Pro Bowl selections and nearly 300 receptions by the time his playing career ended in 1977.

From there, he began hosting a sports talk show in Cincinnati, kicking off a 30-year broadcasting career in radio and television. He joined NBC Sports and rose to the network’s No. 1 NFL announcing team, calling four Super Bowls, as well as three Ryder Cups and three Olympics from 1978 to 1997. He later called NFL Sunday Night Football on radio for Westwood One from 2000 and 2007.

‘I’ve known Bob since we started here and he had an extraordinary career as both a player and a broadcaster,’ Bengals president Mike Brown said in a statement.

‘He was an exceptional and rare tight end who could get downfield and split zone coverages. Speed was his hallmark. He was as fast as any wide receiver and was a deep threat. That was rare for a tight end then and it’s rare now. As a broadcaster, he made his mark both locally and nationally, and excelled at sports other than football in a career that was as successful as what he accomplished on the field. He did it all very well and I regret his passing.’

In 2014, Trumpy capped his broadcasting career by receiving the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio & Television Award for ‘longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.’

The Atlantic Coast Conference has issued a public reprimand of Dabo Swinney for his postgame comments on the officiating in Clemson football’s loss to Duke on Saturday, Nov. 1.

The Tigers were additionally given a $10,000 fine by the ACC for Swinney’s comments in ‘direct violation’ of the ACC Sportsmanship policy, according to the conference’s news release. The fine is to be paid to the ACC’s Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.

The punishment comes less than 24 hours after Swinney called out the officials in his postgame conference for giving Clemson a defensive pass interference penalty on fourth-and-10 on Duke’s final drive of the game that led to an eventual game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion.

The penalty was assessed to Avieon Terrell on an incomplete pass from Duke quarterback Darian Mensah to wide receiver Que’Sean Brown with 49 seconds remaining in the game. As noted by the Greenville News’ Derrian Carter, Swinney believed a flag should’ve been thrown for offensive pass interference on Duke instead of defensive pass interference on Clemson.

‘It shouldn’t come down to that. We had plenty of opportunity to win the game, but that’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in my entire coaching career. Ever,’ Swinney said of the penalty on Nov. 1.

Here’s a clip of the play:

Up next for Swinney and Clemson will be a Week 11 home game against Florida State at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Memorial Stadium, where the Tigers will look to win back-to-back games against the Seminoles.

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Tennessee women’s basketball player Ruby Whitehorn has been dismissed from the team by coach Kim Caldwell after her second brush with the law in three months.

‘It is my responsibility to protect the high standards of this historic program,’ Caldwell said in a statement released by Tennessee on Sunday, Nov. 2. ‘In light of recent events, Ruby has been unable to reflect those standards, and I have made the difficult decision to dismiss her from our team. I love Ruby and will always be rooting for her, but my priority is to uphold the respected reputation of the Lady Vols.’

Whitehorn was charged with a misdemeanor for simple possession after a traffic stop at 4:31 a.m. on Oct. 30. The police said they confiscated 5.59 grams of marijuana. Whitehorn was stopped hours after scoring 18 points in Tennessee’s 148-48 exhibition win over Columbus State on Oct. 29.

Whitehorn was previously suspended from the Tennessee women’s basketball team after an arrest in early August on two felony charges of aggravated burglary and domestic assault. Whitehorn later pleaded guilty during a preliminary hearing on Sept. 5 to misdemeanors of vandalism and aggravated criminal trespass that will expunge the convictions from her record if she meets the requirements of the deal. She was reinstated by Caldwell the week of Sept. 8.

Whitehorn transferred to Tennessee from Clemson prior to the 2024-25 season and averaged 11.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists on their run to the Sweet 16 last season.

No. 9 Tennessee opens the season against No. 8 NC State in a neutral-site game on Nov. 4 (4 p.m. ET, ESPN2) at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The Toronto Blue Jays lost Games 6 and 7 at home after holding a 3-2 series lead.
Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman gave up a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7.
Both games ended with the Blue Jays hitting into double plays with runners in scoring position.

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays absorbed a 24-hour gut punch that may never again be experienced in World Series history. And the emotional reaction was proportional.

Have you ever seen a franchise player with tears in his eyes before departing the dugout, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. did? Or a salty, 36-year-old pitcher like Chris Bassitt stumble over his words and compose himself when pondering whether he’d be back in 2026?

Or Mad Max Scherzer, always on tilt, but in the wee moments of Nov. 2 reduced to just one word he said described the emotional state of the team.

‘Gutted,’ he said.

It’s understandable.

The Blue Jays took a 3-2 Series lead back to Rogers Centre, two chances to close out a Los Angeles Dodgers team that was supposed to be indomitable but, by this stage, was clearly vulnerable. And goodness, a championship was there for the taking.

Instead, two sudden endings, one stunning relief failure and a pair of late home runs catapulted the Dodgers to victories in Games 6 and 7, the 3-1 and 5-4 results boosting them to Major League Baseball’s first repeat championships in 25 years.

Both games ended with the Dodgers skipping giddily, disbelievingly off the field, like they made off with a bag of jewels just before the gendarmes caught on to their heist.

That’s certainly how the Blue Jays felt.

After all, they had the tying runs in scoring position in Game 6 and the Series-winning run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth. And the tying run 90 feet away and Series-winning run at first base in the bottom of the 11th one night later, Game 7 and a championship wavering in the balance.

Both nights, they hit into game-ending double plays.

In Game 7, they were two outs from their first World Series championship since 1993, nursing a 4-3 ninth-inning lead when Miguel Rojas – he of the seven homers in 2025, the one extra-base hit in 51 career postseason at-bats – clubbed a hanging slider from closer Jeff Hoffman over the Blue Jays bullpen in left field, the ball caught by a fan who immediately realized how depressing this moment was for the 44,713 on hand.

To say nothing of the 26 Blue Jays who saw a title snatched from them two nights in a row. Yet in Game 7, unlike the baserunning gaffe committed by Addison Barger that ended Game 6, the culprit was more direct.

The last Blue Jays championship was won when Joe Carter turned around World Series Game 6 with a walk-off three-run homer off Philadelphia Phillies reliever Mitch Williams, a failure that followed Wild Thing around the rest of his career.

Hoffman seemed to grasp the ramifications of his gopher ball.

‘I cost everybody in here a World Series ring,’ he told reporters. ‘It was supposed to end differently.’

Instead, a river of champagne was replaced by a reservoir of tears. Ernie Clement, who set a postseason record with 30 hits and nearly hit a walk-off, Series-ending grand slam only for Andy Pages to haul the ball in at the wall, told reporters he cried for an hour after the game.

He was still welled up after all that.

‘I thought I was done with the tears,’ Clement said. ‘I just could not wait to come to the field every day. I just love these guys so much. It’s all I care about.

‘We gave it everything we had. When you fall short but you can say you left it all out there, there’s something to be proud of there.”

Indeed, the Blue Jays landed haymaker after haymaker on the Dodgers, who emerged impressed with their opponent. Blue Jays manager John Schneider bristled profanely one last time at the characterization that this was a ‘David vs. Goliath’ battle.

True. But they certainly bore some of the blame, stranding 14 runners in Game 7 and getting one hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Now, on to a tenuous future.

Scherzer, their Game 7 starter, Bassitt and late-season acquisition Shane Bieber can become free agents. Yet the biggest question mark is shortstop Bo Bichette, who probably played his way into a nine-figure contract with an excellent season followed by a gallant World Series performance (eight hits in 23 at-bats, .923 OPS) after he sat out seven weeks with a knee sprain that kept him out of the first two rounds of the playoffs.

The young core of Guerrero and emerging apparent stars such as Clement and Addison Barger and playoff ace Trey Yesavage augur very good things for the future. Yet when they report to Dunedin, Florida in just three months for spring training, the residue from this World Series conclusion may linger.

‘We’re a team. Win and lose as a team,’ says Scherzer. ‘Everyone in here is gutted. Just disbelief.’