Hope springs eternal for the Auburn Tigers to finally make the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history in 2026. There are reasons on the Plains, and at the sport's core, that could facilitate a massive turnaround.
First, the obvious: Alex Golesh is a massive upgrade at the head coach position over either of his predecessors. Golesh is a superior recruiter to Bryan Harsin because he actually makes introductions to high school coaches, and he's a harder worker than Hugh Freeze when it comes to building an offensive game plan. Thus far, he's been able to bring in his guys, which is typically the hallmark of a successful transition for a coach to a new home.
Beyond the internal improvements, the CFP selection committee's 12-team field could open the door for the field to expand to 16 teams in 2026 and beyond.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips fired the opening salvo in a major push from the sport's power broker for the field to expand after he lobbied for the Miami Hurricanes to make it over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this past Sunday.
Phillips even brought up a non-controversy from last year's selection and made it one. Only Alabama Crimson Tide fans thought they deserved to make the 2024/2025 field, but their exclusion for the SMU Mustangs, which made the CFP in their first year in the ACC, was brought up.
“There’s such heartache at that cutline right now,” Phillips said. “And, what I would say is, my barometer about what’s enough and what’s not enough is — if you’re leaving teams out of the Playoff that could win a national championship, then you don’t have the right number. We experienced it two seasons ago with Florida State, the only undefeated team to not make the Playoff at 13-0. And that’s when it was at four.
"Last year, one of our schools was in a similar situation, SMU and Alabama. SMU was in and Alabama was out. But all of the schools, right now, at the cutline deserve to be in.”
However we get there, it's ideal that the CFP field is expanding. SEC schools are facing meat grinder schedules, so three losses shouldn't be the end of the line.
It looks like in 2026 and beyond, it won't be. That should help AU finally make a CFP field.