Auburn is heading into its bye week at 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, and Alex Golesh isn’t pretending there’s a shortcut waiting on the other side.
Asked Monday what it will take to get the Tigers back on the right side of the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” with Georgia, Golesh didn’t dress it up.
“A lot of work,” Golesh said prior to a speaking engagement at Mobile’s 68 Ventures Bowl 1 st & 10 Club. “A lot of work.”
That’s the reality facing Auburn after a 24-14 loss at Tennessee this past Saturday. Georgia has been the problem in this matchup for a while now, winning nine straight and 18 of the last 21 against the Tigers.
The Bulldogs also took a 20-10 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium last season. Auburn’s last victory over Kirby Smart’s team came in 2017, which also happens to be the last time the Tigers reached the SEC championship game.
Now comes another meeting with Georgia, this one in Athens, and Golesh knows exactly what that means for a program trying to steady itself. The Bulldogs have turned their side of the rivalry into a wall, and Auburn is trying to climb it.
For Golesh, the answer isn’t just about one Saturday, even if beating Georgia on its own field would send a message.
“I think recruiting so much right now is relationships,” Golesh said. “It’s taking a long time to build relationships with these guys.
I don’t know if one game has an outcome. It certainly would help (to) say, ‘man, like we beat those guys.’
“Kirby’s done an incredible job over the years of establishing who they are and what they are. And so when you go into those battles, and we’ve gone into those battles - every single one of those is ‘gloves off’ and you know you’re recruiting against one of the very best.“
And I don’t know if one game defines that or not. I think more so developing relationships and building those and selling yourself and the identity that you’re building.”
The challenge is made tougher by what Georgia looks like right now. The Bulldogs are unbeaten and ranked No. 2 nationally, and they head into Saturday night’s game with No.
6 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Even without the toughest schedule in the country, Georgia has handled its SEC games with ease, beating Arkansas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt by an average of 27 points.
Golesh has seen this version of Georgia before. During his time as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022, he went up against Bulldogs teams that ended up winning national championships, and he said this group carries a lot of the same traits.
“Well, they are incredibly physical, incredibly detailed,” Golesh said. “I think you watch a team in Georgia that knows what their identity is on both sides of the ball.
They haven’t changed much.“ I go back to last time I game-planned against Georgia, was 2022.
Very similar schematically. Do it at a high, high level defensively.
Big, physical, can run. And that’s at all three levels.
“Offensively, you flip it and you’ve got a veteran quarterback that’s been there, done that again. I think they know their identity.
They’ve recruited to that identity for years. And that’s the battle you’re fighting, is a team that knows who they are, a team that knows if they have deficiencies what those deficiencies are, and there aren’t very many.
“And we’re a team that’s figuring that out as we go. So that’s the challenge is can you create enough plays on both sides of the ball to make sure that you’re in it in the fourth quarter.”
Auburn and Georgia will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Sanford Stadium in Athens. The game will air on ABC, ESPN or the SEC Network.
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Auburn has jumped into one of the earliest recruiting races on its calendar, extending a scholarship offer to Jeremiah Tillman, a four-star edge rusher and linebacker in the 2029 class. The offer puts the Tigers in the mix with a prospect already drawing attention from programs such as Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, and it gives Auburn another chance to sell what has long been one of its calling cards on defense.
Tillman already has a visit to Auburn lined up for Oct. 24, a date that should offer the staff a chance to make a strong impression in person. He has shown interest in Auburns defensive culture and atmosphere, which is exactly the kind of feedback the Tigers want to hear as they try to stay competitive in a battle that figures to only get bigger from here. [Read more 🡒]
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Auburn heads into its bye week with a lot to sort through after taking a second loss to Tennessee, but there was at least one encouraging sign to carry forward. Center Cole Best pointed to the teams unity and its refusal to quit even as the game turned difficult, and Auburn did show some improvement in the run game during the second half. For a team still trying to settle into the grind of SEC competition, those are the kinds of small but meaningful details that can keep a locker room from splintering.
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