Quarterback Aaron Philo celebrates with teammates after his touchdown run in the win over Campbell. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
Training Wheels Off: Florida At Auburn Is Here
Monday, September 14, 2026 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Once Gators coach Jon Sumrall and Auburn's Alex Golesh settled into their new jobs over the winter, many pundits pointed toward Sept. 19 as a pivotal day for both.
That was the day the training wheels would come off.
Florida at Auburn in the Southeastern Conference opener for both first-year coaches.
That day has arrived.
Florida and Auburn enter Saturday's matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium under similar circumstances, both 2-0 and full of early-season promise. Still, a sense of mystery remains around both teams.
Sumrall has reset the culture at UF. Golesh has done the same on the Plains. Now, they get their first SEC test, and late Saturday night, either Sumrall or Golesh will have his first signature win in the league.
"We have a real challenge on our hands,'' Sumrall said Monday.
Florida opened the season with lopsided home wins over FAU and Campbell. Auburn edged Baylor in its season opener, and hammered Southern Miss on Saturday.
But neither program is ranked or considered an SEC championship contender based on the small sample size. While rewriting their narratives will take more time, the winner will at least turn a page toward a possibly brighter future after losing seasons a year ago.
For the Gators to come home with their first win at Auburn since 1999 – they have only played there three times since, and last in 2011 – they must be better than they were in the second half of Saturday's 52-3 win over Campbell. Florida led 45-3 at halftime, but seven penalties and sloppy execution in the final 30 minutes turned up the urgency.
Sumrall said afterward that he felt uneasy about where the Gators were heading to Auburn.
The players heard his concerns.
"We take that personally. I mean, that means we need to have a big week of preparation," junior linebacker Myles Graham said. "We need to be very intentional with every single thing we do so we go into that game more confident than last week."
Sumrall's primary concerns centered on the team's maturity level and its ability to grasp the moment. Instead of continuing to punish the Camels, the Gators appeared to lose focus and commit mistakes that good teams don't make.
He didn't expect perfection, but consistent competence is mandatory in the SEC.
"By no means are we a finished product," Sumrall said. "We proved a lot in the second half of how much room we still have to grow. It just wasn't up to the standard that we have. And, there's no knock on it. There's a maturation process, and everybody's developmental timeline is different. But the urgency has to be better in how we play."
Sumrall and Golesh are no strangers. They faced off in 2024 when Sumrall's Tulane team crushed Golesh's USF squad 45-10 in New Orleans. The Green Wave rolled up 528 yards and held the Bulls to 201.
Meanwhile, many UF players are familiar with Golesh and Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown. A season ago at The Swamp, USF upset the Gators, 18-16, on a field goal by Nico Gramatica as time expired. Brown played a starring role, passing for 263 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 66, including three straight runs in the final minute to set up Gramatica's chip shot.
"He was a strong quarterback,'' Graham said. "He got a lot of leaky yardage when he was running, made some big throws. So, the importance of keeping him in the pocket, yeah, that's big time."
Brown, who followed Golesh to Auburn, is 44 of 64 for 485 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in his first two games as the Tigers' starting quarterback. He has added 115 yards rushing. Former USF receiver Keshaun Singleton, who had a 66-yard touchdown reception against the Gators last season, has 10 catches for 131 yards.
Auburn is ranked eighth in the SEC in total offense (501.0 yards per game), three spots behind the fifth-ranked Gators (569.0). Defensively, Auburn is 14th (328.0), and Florida is 12th (301.0). Gators linebacker Myles Graham, No. 5, knows the challenge of facing former USF quarterback Byrum Brown, now at Auburn. (Photo: Dylan Cannella/UAA Communications)
Golesh, who took over a USF program that had won four games the previous three seasons, went 23-15 in his three seasons in Tampa and led the Bulls to a pair of bowl wins. He seeks another quick rebuild in Auburn, with the Gators the biggest hurdle so far.
"These guys, offensively, present a bunch of challenges," Golesh said Monday. "The quarterback is playing well. What [offensive coordinator] Buster [Faulkner] has done with the offense, and what he's always done, is find creative ways — one, to run the football and run it at a high clip, and then two, be able to push the ball all over the place."
Gators quarterback Aaron Philo is off to a good start, completing 32 of 42 passes for 501 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. And junior running back Jadan Baugh has three consecutive 100-yard games dating to last season.
For Philo, the opportunity to go on the road and play in a hostile environment is another challenge to embrace.
"In loud environments like that, you got to be louder to the offensive line, and I have to get a little closer to them so you can make sure they hear,'' Philo said. "Communication is going to be key. At the end of the day, football is football. You try not to make it bigger than it is, but obviously they're gonna have a great environment."
In the aftermath of the Campbell win, the Gators have reset the way they did when Sumrall took over. They know how they finished the Camels was not ideal.
One of the team's leaders, Graham, has no misconceptions about what awaits at Auburn. The Gators have an opportunity to make a statement in front of a sold-out crowd that wants them to fail.
"We have to flip that switch,'' he said. "We got to take the next step. It's for all the marbles now. It counts for real. This is everything. We want to win the conference. We want to be the best that we can be. This is everything we want."
