In his rankings of every College Football program, from No. 1 to No. 138 in the FBS, USA Today's Paul Myerberg ranked the Auburn Tigers at No. 61. That ranking sits AU ahead of only the Kentucky Wildcats (No. 94) and the Arkansas Razorbacks (No. 109) in the SEC.
And it puts the Tigers behind the USF Bulls, which, of course, was Auburn's first-year head coach Alex Golesh's old team. USF hired Brian Hartline to replace Golesh, and signed Florida State Seminoles transfer Luke Kromenhoek and LSU Tigers transfer Michael Van Buren Jr. to compete for Byrum Brown's old starting QB job.
That's a choice from Myerberg. One that indicates minimal confidence in Golesh and perhaps an irrational level of it in Hartline, who Ohio State Buckeyes fans are happy to see replaced as offensive coordinator in Columbus.
USF praying on Alex Golesh's downfall at Auburn in 2026
Golesh's recent comments about not being able to win a championship with the Bulls and choosing the Tigers because he has confidence the ceiling is a championship seem to be the direct target with this ranking.
“I felt like you could win a national title here ... at South Florida, I think you and everybody else knows you never were going to get there," Golesh famously said in an interview with USA Today's Blake Toppmeyer.
Golesh is now experiencing the anti-Auburn bias from the national media that any football or head men's basketball coach in the seat feels. After five years of disappointment, no one wants to be the fool who got got again, so his Tigers won't be a popular pick to win much in 2026.
To say USF will be better, though, and rank the Bulls one spot higher feels intentional. USF fans will celebrate this, and more likely than not, celebrate 100 times harder if Auburn actually ends up with a worse record than the Bulls this fall.
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