Auburn’s season preview starts with a familiar exercise: trying to make sense of a roster that has been turned over again, then asking it to survive an SEC schedule that wastes no time applying pressure. With Alex Golesh now in charge, the Tigers are being handed a fresh reset - and a forecast that leans toward progress, even if the path is messy.
The opener on Sept. 5 against Baylor in Atlanta is where the first real judgment call lands. Auburn beat the Bears 38-24 in Waco last season, but that result wound up looking more like a false signal than a sign of things to come.
Baylor, too, had a disappointing year and nearly put coach Dave Aranda on the chopping block. This time around, it shapes up as a true toss-up, with Baylor featuring former five-star Florida quarterback DJ Lagway and Auburn debuting Byrum Brown at quarterback.
The pick: Auburn.
A week later, Southern Miss comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 12, and that feels like the kind of game Golesh should handle in his first home opener. The Golden Eagles were 7-6 last season before Charles Huff left for Memphis, and Blake Anderson now takes over a team picked in the bottom half of its Sun Belt division. The pick: Auburn.
The first three-game stretch ends Sept. 19 against Florida, and this one carries plenty of baggage. Florida brings back a good chunk of production, but it also lost to South Florida - the same program that sent a big piece of that production to Auburn along with Golesh.
Both schools have new head coaches, and Florida’s Jon Sumrall was a candidate at Auburn. Add former Auburn receiver Eric Singleton transferring to the Gators, and there’s no shortage of storylines.
Florida opens with FAU and Campbell before coming to Jordan-Hare at night, which only adds to the intrigue. The pick: Auburn.
Then comes Sept. 26 against Vanderbilt, and the easiest way to frame it is this: Diego Pavia is gone, and that alone changes the feel of the matchup. Vanderbilt has had a couple of good years, but that hasn’t erased a long history of frustration.
Senior Blaze Berlowitz beat five-star freshman Jared Curtis for the starting job in preseason, though there’s still not enough there to trust the Commodores. The pick: Auburn.
The first setback arrives Oct. 3 at Tennessee. It’s another SEC game, another new quarterback, and by then the fresh faces should be settling in - with five-star freshman Faizon Brandon expected to be the guy.
Golesh’s old Tennessee ties make this one a little more personal, since his last stop before becoming a head coach was as the Vols’ offensive coordinator. Tennessee has questions on defense, but the edge here goes to the home field.
The pick: Tennessee.
Oct. 17 brings the trip to Georgia, and the long losing streak in this rivalry is projected to keep rolling. Auburn’s best shot came last October before everything unraveled after a controversial officiating moment, but this Georgia team is simply too established at this point.
The Bulldogs are described as a national title contender, while Auburn is still working through the early stages of Golesh’s rebuild. The pick: Georgia.
The month keeps grinding on Oct. 24 with LSU visiting Auburn. This one is framed as a dangerous spot because Lane Kiffin teams have a habit of dropping games nobody expects, and there’s some temptation to take Auburn if preseason expectations are too high on Year 1 of the Kiffin experience.
But the safer call is LSU, especially with October already looking brutal for Auburn. The pick: LSU.
On Oct. 31, Auburn heads to Mississippi to close out that rough month.
The Rebels enter with a potential Heisman frontrunner and a team that came a few minutes from reaching the national title game. It’s also a chance to see how Pete Golding handles things without the lift of a pre-playoff coaching change.
The note here is simple: Mississippi looks further along than Auburn, and playing in Oxford makes the decision easier.
November opens with a needed reset on Nov. 7 against Arkansas. The Razorbacks are picked near the bottom of the SEC, morale doesn’t sound great in Fayetteville, and Auburn cannot afford to miss on a chance like this. The Tigers need it, and the pick is Auburn.
The following week, Nov. 14 at Mississippi State, offers another favorable swing. Mississippi State went 1-8 in SEC play last year, and its lone conference win came against Arkansas in a 38-35 finish.
The defense was especially bad, which is part of why DC Coleman Hutzler was fired; he’s now Auburn’s linebacker coach. Auburn has much better personnel in that room, and the pick is Auburn.
Nov. 21 against Samford is the one that comes with no suspense. Auburn has to handle the FCS opponent and avoid any letdown before the Iron Bowl. The pick is Auburn.
That leaves Nov. 28 at Alabama, where the forecast turns against the Tigers. Last year’s bold Auburn pick came with the game in Tuscaloosa, but this fall the setting is different and so is the expectation.
Auburn has not won in Tuscaloosa since 2010 and has rarely been close since. Alabama may not be exactly where it wants to be, but the Crimson Tide still have the balance to take care of Auburn at home.
Golesh might have something interesting ready for his first Iron Bowl, but not enough to flip the result. The pick is Alabama.
Put it all together, and the projection lands at 7-5. That would send Auburn back to a bowl game and buy Golesh more time, more practices, and more chances to shape the program in his image. The toughest stretch is obvious, especially that October run, but there is a path here for Auburn to take a real step forward.
In Other News...
Auburn Fans Have One New Reason To Worry About Alex Golesh
Alex Goleshs first summer at Auburn is already producing the kind of attention that can make a fan base uneasy. He recently put on a Victory Day celebration with participants from the Auburn EAGLES program and Lee County Special Olympics, an event that drew praise for the way it connected the program to the community. It also got noticed well beyond the Plains, including in Columbus, Ohio, where Goleshs background has kept him on the radar for years.
For Auburn fans, the bigger concern is less about one feel-good event than the profile Golesh is building around the country. His name is starting to surface in conversations about rising coaching candidates, and the idea of future opportunities at Ohio State is the kind of thing that naturally makes people in Auburn pay closer attention. Nothing official is in play right now, but the interest around Golesh is only growing, and that is usually how these stories start to take on a life of their own. [Read more 🡒]
Memphis Is Mourning A Tigers Trailblazer Who Shaped Program History
Charles Henry Kippy Brown, who became the first Black quarterback at Memphis State and later built a long coaching resume in college and the NFL, has died at 71. For Auburn fans, his name still carries a familiar sting from 1975, when he helped lead Memphis to an upset over the Tigers in a game that became part of his lasting legacy, one that stretched far beyond his playing days.
Brown went on to coach at multiple college stops and with several NFL teams, finishing his career with a Super Bowl title in Seattle. He was honored along the way with induction into the Memphis M Club Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, recognition that reflected both his place in Memphis history and the broader impact he had on the sport. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Alex Golesh Era Starts With One Immediate Test
Alex Goleshs first year at Auburn comes with almost no easing-in period, because his debut as head coach arrives right away against Baylor in the season opener. Auburn hired Golesh on Nov. 30 after a 5-7 finish and moved on from Hugh Freeze, setting up a new era that will be judged from the first kickoff. The matchup also carries plenty of roster intrigue, with key transfers reshaping both sides as the Tigers and Bears adjust to new faces in prominent spots.
For Auburn, the opener is more than a clean start on the schedule. Quarterback Byrum Brown is in the mix for the Tigers after transferring in, while Baylor brings in DJ Lagway at quarterback and Bryson Washington has gone the other direction to Auburn at running back. Those connections add another layer to an already revealing first game for Golesh, one that will offer an early look at how quickly Auburns new staff and transfer-driven roster can come together. [Read more 🡒]