Auburn’s first loss under Alex Golesh brought a blunt Monday message, but not a panicked one.
After the Tigers fell 44-39 to Florida in their SEC opener at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Golesh didn’t hide from the issues. Auburn’s offensive line had trouble keeping its quarterback clean and getting the offense into a rhythm, and the defense - supposed to be one of the program’s strengths - had no answers for the Gators.
"The synopsis would be not good enough in any way," Golesh said Monday, Sept. 21, summarizing the contest. His first words at the podium put it into another perspective: "The sun did come up."
Now Auburn turns to Vanderbilt on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 3:15 p.m. CT on SECN, and the question hanging over the week is whether this has become a must-win game. The Tigers are coming off an SEC loss, and their next six games bring a brutal run: five ranked opponents and four road trips.
Golesh, though, wasn’t interested in dressing it up that way.
"If you look at it as a must-win, what changes?" Golesh asked.
"Do we prepare harder? Do we practice longer?
Do we practice differently? We're in a foundational part of our program, where the process piece of it is so critical to how we do every single little thing."
Auburn opened as an 8.5-point favorite against a Vanderbilt team that is playing its first SEC game since longtime quarterback Diego Pavia’s eligibility expired after last season. The Commodores needed a botched play with seconds left to escape NC State last weekend, so they arrive with questions of their own.
But the schedule ahead for Auburn is what really gives this stretch its weight. The Tigers’ first half of the next six games includes road trips to Tennessee and Georgia, then a return home for Lane Kiffin’s LSU team. The second half brings trips to Ole Miss and Mississippi State, with Arkansas coming to Jordan-Hare in between.
ESPN’s FPI only has Auburn favored in that Arkansas game. In the rest of the stretch, Auburn’s chances of winning any individual matchup are no better than 40% according to FPI. Golesh said that kind of long-view math isn’t where his focus sits right now.
"The biggest piece of why I've lived this way for a really long time and have worked really hard to get this team to live this way - where all you worry about is right now, today," Golesh said. "When you start thinking like that (must-win), that's when you press or get overly emotional."
He made the point more than once. Asked again about the pressure of the moment, Golesh said, "They all feel like it," referring to the next game.
He also said Auburn’s recent history isn’t on the players. Then he closed the subject with this: "When you take a job like Auburn, they all feel like must-wins, because they are all games that you expect to win."
In Other News...
Auburns Florida Loss Just Reignited A Bigger Debate Over John Cohen
Auburns loss to Florida did more than deepen the frustration around another SEC setback. It also pulled John Cohen back into the center of the conversation about where the program is headed, with Paul Finebaum pointing directly at the athletic director and tying the defeat to Auburns broader football troubles. The backdrop is familiar by now: since Cohen arrived in October 2022, the Tigers have been trying to climb out of a rough stretch, and the results have not matched the expectations that come with the job.
What makes the latest round of criticism sting is how close Auburn reportedly came to landing Jon Sumrall in December, before the deal fell apart amid a swirl of rumors. For fans already looking at the Tigers 6-19 mark in SEC play and 18-21 overall under Cohens watch, that near-miss has become more than just a footnote. It has turned into part of the larger debate over whether Auburns biggest problem is on the field, or in the decisions being made above it. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Florida Loss Looks Worse Once You See What Broke Down
Auburns loss to Florida was bad enough on the scoreboard, but the deeper look makes it sting even more. The Tigers scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and still came up short in a 44-39 game, a reminder that the late rally could not erase how much ground they lost earlier with the defense unable to get stops and the offense forced to fight through pressure all day.
The numbers behind the performance point to a breakdown on both sides of the ball. Auburn missed 24 tackles, and the offense had trouble finding rhythm when the passing game was under duress and the rushing attack could not consistently move the chains. The snap counts and Pro Football Focus grades only sharpen the picture, and they leave plenty for Auburn to sort through as it tries to turn a frustrating loss into something more usable going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Has A Defensive Problem Golesh Did Not See Coming
Auburns SEC opener against Florida left the Tigers searching for answers on a side of the ball that has usually been a point of pride. Instead, Alex Golesh said he did not see the emotional, unsettled defensive performance coming, as Florida rolled up 44 points and 495 yards in a game that exposed issues Auburn rarely wants to carry into conference play.
DJ Durkin said the defense was too amped up, and it showed in the basics, from missed tackles to shaky communication. Auburn now has to reset quickly before Vanderbilt comes to town, because the next SEC matchup is less about explaining what went wrong in Gainesville and more about proving the problems can be cleaned up fast. [Read more 🡒]