The Auburn Tigers wanted to hire Jon Sumrall before circling back to Alex Golesh. The Florida Gators had to settle for Sumrall after Lane Kiffin chose the LSU Tigers in the most shocking backstab to the Ole Miss Rebels that College Football has ever seen.
CBS Sports' Carter Bahns sees Sumrall's Gators having a tougher time in 2026 than Golesh's Tigers, mainly because of a three-game stretch, the Texas Longhorns in Austin, the Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta, and the Oklahoma Sooners in the "Swamp," that could singehandedly eliminate Florida from the 2026/2027 College Football Playoff field.
"The three-game stretch of Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma is as difficult as it gets. At least Florida has a bye week between the final two games in that run. Sumrall faces his largest challenges in the middle of the schedule and has some nice runway at the beginning and end, which could allow him to both start and finish strong as he works to get Florida back into conference championship contention. Pushing for a league title is probably not in the cards in 2026, but if everything clicks, this schedule gives the Gators a shot to place themselves on or near the CFP bubble," Bahns wrote.
Auburn may be Florida's make-or-break game in the Jon Sumrall era
It's still too early to tell much about the 2026 season just yet, but it's important to note that a Week 3 matchup with Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium will be the first true test in Sumrall's Gators tenure. Losing that game will have fed-up Florida fans calling him "Sun Belt Billy 2.0." Obviously, so would dropping an unfathomable in-state matchup to the FAU Owls in Week 1 or to the FCS Campbell Camels in Week 2.
The Tigers' reputation is in a bad way with casual fans. It's been a while since Auburn played a bowl game of substance. Golesh's USF Bulls tenure will be used against him more than his Tennessee Volunteers offensive coordinator stint will be used to support his narrative. And that's just the casual narrative, since last year's American Conference was on par with the ACC and the Big 12. Frankly, it was on par with the bottom tier of the SEC and Big Ten, too. The talent on Golesh's USF team was able to beat, coincidentally, UF last year. Just saying, the Longhorns' overwhelming talent wasn't.
Lose on the Plains in Week 3, and Sumrall will face overwhelming mockery for not taking the job at his wife's alma mater. If the Gators enter the Texas-UGA-OU stretch with a loss already in tow, the pressure will be sky-high and immediate for the first-year head coach down in Gainesville.