Florida’s SEC opener and Alabama’s shootout win headline East Coast college football finals

The East Coast college football close produced three verified finals and one game still in progress at the reporting boundary. Florida edged Auburn 44-39 in a revived SEC rivalry, Alabama outlasted Florida State 50-36, and Notre Dame beat Michigan State 27-10. Ole Miss beat LSU 32-24 in the completed top-10 rivalry game. Read the individual LSU-Ole Miss recap.

Florida-Auburn was the afternoon’s closest SEC game. Jadan Baugh rushed for 162 yards and three touchdowns, giving Florida the down-to-down answer it needed while Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns. The Tigers stayed within one score, but Florida kept finishing drives. Read the individual Florida-Auburn recap.

Alabama’s 50-36 win over Florida State became a quarterback and turnover story. Keelon Russell threw three touchdown passes for 320 yards, while Ashton Daniels threw for 377 yards and two scores but was intercepted three times. Florida State’s offense created a shootout; Alabama’s extra possessions created the margin. Read the Alabama-Florida State recap.

Notre Dame controlled Michigan State 27-10 behind Nolan James Jr.’s 121 rushing yards and a touchdown. CJ Carr completed 18 of 24 passes for 234 yards, and the Irish defense intercepted Alessio Milivojevic twice. Read the Notre Dame-Michigan State recap.

The four pending games from the afternoon checkpoint are now reconciled individually. Florida-Auburn, Alabama-Florida State and Michigan State-Notre Dame were final and covered above. LSU-Ole Miss finished with Ole Miss ahead 32-24; the completed game is covered in the individual LSU-Ole Miss recap.

Official ESPN event packets support all four finals. X and YouTube lanes were checked for each game. Alabama, Florida and LSU-Ole Miss have official ESPN event video source cards; Notre Dame had no verified event-specific X/YouTube item, and no unrelated media was forced.