A good lens for football/sports?

I am not very good with outside pics, and only shoot in auto mode. But I think this next season I want to be a bit better. Here in AZ we always have super bright days, but harsh sunlight (even early in the morning) and no shade. These are from last year on auto/sports setting (rebel) with a 75-300 lens. What settings would be better and is there a lens that would give better shots without being ultra expensive.

I think you did great in harsh sun! Wonderful shots! Crisp, clear, with no uneven lighting at all!
I also use a 75-300 Canon IS lens on my 30d. It works well for me. I tend to shoot in AV mode continuous shooting. (about 5 fps) I put it in the lowest F stop I can go, cause I like shallow DOF. I also am forced to shoot in harsh sunlight and one just makes the most of it, like you seem to be doing. I use a lot of backlighting and just take way too many pics. Here are some from Saturday I took.
Unfortunately, with sports one has little control of the lighting and where the subject is standing! Your pics seem awesome though, i don't know why you don't feel you are good at outside shots.










and this one I took with the wrong ISO and wrong WB:

I guess because I am shooting in an auto mode, I am not using the camera to the best of abilities. The pics coloring/lighting I think are fine (not much you can do with harsh light when they are playing in it), but most of the time the sharpness is nowhere near my indoor pics.

Sounds like you have a distinct expectation of what you want to achieve. If this is true, then Auto may not be the way to go for you. To see your "vision" realized you may need to use full manual, Shutter priority or Aperture priority. Is your lens IS? (image stabilzation) that may help with the sharpness. (or you could try a monopod/tripod. zoomed out at 300 your lowest ap may be a 6 so not as much light is getting into your lens so things may be a bit more blurry? I don't know....just trying to throw out things that may be affecting its sharpness.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge can help you.