Florida’s 3-0 start has Auburn staring at a painful what-if, and Paul Finebaum wasted no time pointing to the moment he believes the Tigers lost this one before they ever kicked off against the Gators.
Auburn’s 44-39 defensive collapse against Florida has plenty of obvious explanations on the surface: shaky quarterback play, offensive line issues and a defense that couldn’t handle Jadan Baugh and Duke Clark. But on Finebaum’s radio show, he traced the real damage back to Thanksgiving weekend, when Auburn passed on Jon Sumrall and went with Alex Golesh.
“I still like Alex Golesh a lot, but I blame athletic director John Cohen for this loss,” Finebaum said. “This game was lost Thanksgiving Weekend of 2025 when [Cohen's] massive ego got in the way of hiring Jon Sumrall.”
That weekend set up two different paths. Auburn hired Golesh after Hugh Freeze was fired, while Florida landed Sumrall, who had been on the edge of history at Tulane and was a few short steps from taking the Green Wave to their first College Football Playoff appearance. Sumrall also had a real Auburn connection, growing up just 244 miles away and having personal ties that made the fit feel close to home.
Still, Auburn went another direction. Golesh arrived with a strong background from Tennessee and then South Florida, where he turned consecutive losing seasons into multiple bowl trips. He signed with Auburn on Nov. 30, 2025, and the expectation is that he now has six years to build the kind of winning culture the Tigers have been chasing since Cam Newton’s days in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Sumrall, meanwhile, signed with Florida the same day. And the Gators have looked like a program moving in the right direction ever since.
They’re 3-0, ranked No. 21 and coming off a win over LSU, with No. 4 Ole Miss next on deck at Ben Hill Griffin.
Sumrall’s Auburn ties ran deeper than geography. The source of the story noted a picture of Pat Dye and Bear Bryant hunting rabbits in Moundville, and his wife was and still is enrolled at Auburn. But when the hiring process played out, Sumrall made his stance clear.
“They [Auburn] didn’t want me; I didn’t want them,” Sumrall said of the hiring process.
For Auburn, the result is a matchup with Vanderbilt coming up after the loss to Florida, while the Gators keep rolling under Sumrall. Pete Golding put it bluntly after seeing what Florida has become: “We can read on the press clippings and go back and watch the tape again and pat ourselves on the back, but Sumrall and Florida don’t give a s--- about any of that,” Golding said.
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Florida Suddenly Has A Receiver Problem In A Huge Ole Miss Game
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Stockton appears set to return in the third quarter, which is at least a relief for a Florida offense that cannot afford to keep losing bodies on the perimeter in a game this important. Eric Singleton Jr. and Vernell Brown III are also dealing with injuries that have affected their playtime, leaving Florida to piece together answers while trying to keep pace with an Ole Miss team that has already forced the Gators to adjust on the fly. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Gators, it is another reminder that this matchup is landing in a busy national spotlight, even as the broader conversation keeps circling back to ESPNs SEC footprint and the conferences long-running prominence on GameDay. The networks 10-year deal with the league, along with recent results and viewership, only adds more fuel to a discussion that seems to follow the SEC wherever the production trucks go. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas Fast Start Now Puts Two Big Gators Concerns Under Pressure
Floridas 3-0 start has done more than keep the Gators unbeaten and in the AP Top 25. It has also given the program a clearer picture of what is working early, with quarterback Aaron Philo, running back Jadan Baugh and a disruptive pass rush led by Jayden Woods and Emmanuel Oyebadejo helping set the tone through the first stretch of the season.
The challenge now is whether those early strengths can keep carrying the load once the schedule stiffens. The secondary has already shown some vulnerability against the pass, and the offensive line still has questions to answer before Florida runs into tougher opponents, which makes the next few weeks a chance to find out how much of this fast start can really hold up. [Read more 🡒]