Alex Golesh didn’t waste any time drawing a line in the sand ahead of Auburn’s first SEC game under his watch.
When asked whether he and Florida coach Jon Sumrall were friends, Golesh paused, repeated the setup, and delivered the kind of answer that lands with a thud.
“He said we were friends?” Golesh said, repeating the question before pausing for the money quote. “Not this week we’re not.”
That was the kind of sharp-edged response Auburn needed heading into a matchup that feels bigger than one September game. Florida comes in with Sumrall on the sideline, and the whole setup carries a little extra heat because of how the coaching carousel spun last fall. Had things broken differently, Sumrall could have been the man at Auburn this week, while Golesh would have been the one fighting for his job at Arkansas.
Instead, Golesh is in Auburn, Sumrall is at Florida, and an old SEC rivalry gets a fresh dose of tension.
Both programs have been stuck in the mud for a while. Florida is 14-26 in SEC play since 2021, while Auburn has been even worse at 11-29.
Neither team has finished with a winning conference record since COVID-adjusted 2020. But both are 2-0 under new leadership now, and both schools are trying to build something sturdier after moving on from bad hires.
Golesh, 42, and Sumrall, 44, fit the same mold: direct, hard-nosed, no-fluff coaches who look like they know exactly what they want their programs to be. And because both arrived from the American Conference at the same time, the comparisons were always going to come fast.
Sumrall only added to the intrigue by making it clear where his loyalties lie this week. He said he had effectively cut off any friends or family not pulling for Florida, even if they graduated from Auburn, because “Florida pays my mortgage.”
The Auburn connection around Sumrall is real enough. He went to Grissom High in Huntsville, won two Sun Belt championships at Troy, and even had people around him convinced he was headed to the Plains. Former Auburn quarterback Patrick Nix was among them.
“Quite honestly,” Nix told FloridaGators.com, “I thought he was about to get the Auburn job.”
That’s what makes this more than just a regular early-season SEC meeting. It’s also a quiet referendum on the choices both schools made.
Who picked the better coach? Who ended up with the better fit?
Golesh and Sumrall may eventually both succeed. They may both lift their programs back into the conference picture and turn this into a real rivalry again. The SEC could use one with a little bite.
And if this one is going to have any edge, Golesh made sure it starts now.
After the “not this week” jab, he was quick to praise Sumrall anyway. “Ton of respect for how he works.
Ton of respect for who he is. Does it the right way.
Competes like crazy.”
Then came the clean finish.
“This week? Don’t care.”
In Other News...
Auburns SEC Opener Exposed A Problem Tigers Cant Ignore
Auburns SEC opener against Florida offered an early look at where the Tigers stand, and it was not a flattering one. The 44-39 loss left Auburn 2-1 overall and 0-1 in league play, with the defense repeatedly struggling to get off the field and Florida finding answers in the kind of situations that usually decide close conference games.
The late rally kept the Tigers in it, but the offense was too uneven to fully cover for the problems on the other side of the ball. For head coach Alex Golesh, this was the first major SEC test, and Auburn came away with a clear reminder that competing in this league demands more consistency, especially when the margin for error is already so thin. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn's Comeback Chances Hinge On Fixing Two Costly Problems
Auburn heads into halftime trailing Florida 20-17 at home, and the margin reflects a first half that left the Tigers with too much to clean up on both sides of the ball. The game has already pointed to two areas that need attention quickly: keeping quarterback Byrum Brown in rhythm and tightening a run defense that has already had to deal with Florida backs Jaden Baugh and Duke Clark.
The secondary also has to do a better job of limiting explosive plays, because Florida has shown enough to keep Auburn under pressure even with the crowd behind it. If the Tigers are going to turn this into a comeback, they will need a more consistent defensive stretch in the second half, not just a few stops here and there. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Florida Captains Reveal Who Alex Golesh Trusts Most
Auburns SEC opener against Florida comes with a familiar leadership group at the front of the huddle. The Tigers have announced five captains for the game, and Byrum Brown and Elijah Melendez will serve in that role for the third straight week, joined by Jake Johnson, Cody Sigler and Alex McPherson. It is another clear sign of which players Alex Golesh is leaning on as the pressure rises.
The captaincy list also says plenty about how this team is being organized going into one of the seasons most important early tests. Repeating Brown and Melendez suggests continuity, while the addition of Johnson, Sigler and McPherson broadens the leadership base in a matchup where details tend to matter. For Auburn, the bigger question is whether that trust shows up on the field once the opener gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]