![Florida head coach Jon Sumrall watches warm ups during first half of an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 12, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_530,y_32,w_1639,h_921/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/215/01m2g9z4fd204rgntpnt.jpg "Florida head coach Jon Sumrall watches warm ups during first half of an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 12, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Two weeks into Alex Golesh's first season as the head coach of Auburn football and the Tigers are undefeated, but the real test comes next weekend in the form of the Florida Gators.
The Auburn-Florida matchup has been a major talking point leading into the season as the two teams have drawn comparison with hiring new head coaches from a lower level conference, and both teams did go after John Sumrall, who ultimately became the Florida head coach.
There is also the fact that Golesh's USF team faced off against Florida last season and won, and now quite a few players from the USF squad are on the Plains. Many are hoping that last year's game will somehow give the Tigers a leg up, and some believe that the Florida players are out for revenge against current Auburn QB Byrum Brown and Alex Golesh.
According to Sumrall, the narrative about last season's USF-Florida game doesn't matter when it comes to the Auburn-Florida matchup.
"I don't know that that game has anything to do with this game. ... It's not a revenge game," Sumrall said, per Justin Hokanson on X. "It's Florida's players playing against Auburn's players."
Hokanson indicated Sumrall said he has talked about several players on Auburn's roster who were at USF last year in terms of being familiar with personnel, but other than that, it has not been a big deal.
The last time the Gators came to play at Jordan-Hare Stadium was in 2011, and the Tiugers won 17-6. The last matchup between the two teams was in Gainesville in 2019, and the Gators won 13-24.
Though Auburn didn't start the season with a cupcake game, the Florida game marks the SEC opener for the team and a true test of how Golesh's first-year squad is going to fare in the conference. So far this season, the Gators have taken on Florida Atlantic and won 66-21, and Campbell where they won 52-3.
The Gators' offense is led by former Georgia Tech quarterback Aaron Philo, and while they've put up impressive wins to start the season they will have a lot to prove entering conference play, as well.
It might not be a "revenge game" for the Florida Gators, but there are certainly those players from last season who will remember getting beaten by Brown and the receivers that transferred to the Plains. Hopefully another win over the Gators is in their futures.
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