If there hasn’t been a wake-up call for Alex Golesh that he’s now in the SEC, not the American Conference, it might come once he takes a second to look at Auburn’s schedule for the upcoming season.
As no surprise, the Tigers face a heavy gauntlet of talented teams in 2026, with road games at Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee, all of which will face Golesh and his staff in their first year in charge on the Plains. Add in visits to Jordan-Hare by LSU, Florida and Vanderbilt, plus the neutral-site game that opens the season against Baylor in Atlanta, and giving Auburn its first winning season in six years looks like a mighty task.
On3 recently ranked the hardest schedules for the 2026 college football season, and the Tigers’ slate comes in at No. 5, behind only Ohio State, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. In the top 10, there are only two schools outside of the SEC: the Buckeyes and Michigan. This comes as the SEC begins a nine-game conference schedule, adding yet another tough matchup to what is already a difficult season.
Alex Golesh and Auburn can start with a bang
Auburn does have an excellent chance to gain some momentum to start the season, with the neutral-site game against Baylor anything but neutral as far as fans in the stands. The Tigers then return to Jordan-Hare with a matchup against Southern Miss before hosting the Gators and new head coach Jon Sumrall, who was one of the favorites to become Auburn’s head coach this past offseason. Win those three games before Vanderbilt comes to town, and a 4-0 start looks extremely achievable.
Then comes the problem: at Knoxville, bye week, at Athens, home against Lane Kiffin’s LSU and then a trip to Oxford. If Golesh were to go 2-2 during that stretch, it would go a long way toward swaying fan support among those still on the fence about his hire.
Three winnable games come after that stretch – Arkansas, at Mississippi State and home against Samford – before Golesh is introduced to the Iron Bowl.
It’s yet another tough schedule for Auburn, but this is what Golesh, his staff and the Tigers signed up for.