Auburn showdown carries high stakes for Gators’ Sumrall in SEC debut
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GAINESVILLE — By Jon Sumrall’s calculation, SEC games count twice.
Florida’s first two games against FAU and Campbell? Not so much.
“I tell our team all the time when you turn to conference play, you’re counting your overall record and your conference record,” Sumrall said. “The ones the last two weeks counted overall.”
But Sumrall might be short-changing Saturday’s trip to Auburn.
Callling a Week 3 game pivotal is not hyperbole. For a first-year coach and a once-proud program trying to prove it’s headed in the right direction, escaping Jordan-Hare Stadium with a victory could change the complexion of an entire season.
It would be a table-setter, a catalyst and a statement.
For the 44-year-old Sumrall, who grew up three-and-a-half hours north in Huntsville, it would be a memorable SEC debut on the road.
The schedule beyond Saturday explains why.
The Gators will return for a Sept. 26 matchup at home with Ole Miss, a 2025 College Football Playoff semifinalist ranked No. 8 entering Saturday’s emotionally charged visit with Lane Kiffin and LSU. Next is an Oct. 3 trip to Missouri, currently No. 20 and winners of three of the past four meetings in Columbia.
Resurgent South Carolina for Oct. 10 homecoming, followed by an Oct. 17 trip to Texas, currently the nation’s No. 1. Then comes the bye week.
The formidable stretch makes Auburn all the more important.
The Tigers (2-0) and first-year coach Alex Golesh have plenty of reasons to feel the same way.
Aubrn initially targeted Sumrall before turning to Golesh at USF when it became clear Florida had the inside track on Tulane’s former coach.
For a fan base starved for success, an Auburn loss to Sumrall would inevitably invite questions about whether the Tigers landed the wrong man.
At USF, Golesh already experienced his share of Sumrall angst. In their only meeting, Tulane beat USF 45-10.
“If you wanted to have a really, really rough morning,” Golesh said this week, “you could have sat with me and watched that yesterday again, for maybe 200th time — and again, wanted to throw up.”
Both fan bases know the feeling.
Florida and Auburn last opened 3-0 in 2019. Sumrall is the Gators’ third coach and Golesh the Tigers’ fourth since then. Other than Florida’s 8-5 finish in 2024, neither program has posted a winning season since 2020.
While it’s only September, Week 3 could foreshadow what’s coming.
The anticipation and butterflies will be there.
Despite losing nine straight conference games away from home, Florida linebacker Myles Graham is eager for what awaits on the SEC road.
“It’s really just y’all and a few fans,” he said. “It’s thousands and thousands of people that want to see you fail, and it’s nothing like just having that bond with your brothers and going in there and just doing your thing.
“There’s nothing like it.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
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