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Florida @ Auburn Week 3 will be one of the better early season "Temperature Check" games
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:18 am
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:18 am
Both of these teams have brand new coaches, obviously.
Sumrall was linked to Auburn for a long time before Florida swooped in, Golesh went to Gainesville and beat the Gators last year with the QB he brought with him to Auburn.
Neither fanbase is expecting a playoff appearance, but it seems like they both expect 7-8 wins with 9-10 being possible if the chips fall favorably.
Both teams have 6 games where I'd say they should be the clear favorite going into the season. This game for both is a toss up. I think Florida is the slightly better team on paper, but going to Jordan Hare in an SEC opener against a team that will be well-coached is never easy.
Just seems like the perceptions of both of these teams' seasons really hinges on this game. Both teams start a tough stretch immediately afterward.
If Auburn struggles against Baylor I'll feel better going into this one, but right now I find it hard to pick Florida given how the environment will be, Auburns DL vs our OL, and not knowing how our QB will play. That said, I wouldn't put money on Auburn either necessarily.
What says the rant?
Sumrall was linked to Auburn for a long time before Florida swooped in, Golesh went to Gainesville and beat the Gators last year with the QB he brought with him to Auburn.
Neither fanbase is expecting a playoff appearance, but it seems like they both expect 7-8 wins with 9-10 being possible if the chips fall favorably.
Both teams have 6 games where I'd say they should be the clear favorite going into the season. This game for both is a toss up. I think Florida is the slightly better team on paper, but going to Jordan Hare in an SEC opener against a team that will be well-coached is never easy.
Just seems like the perceptions of both of these teams' seasons really hinges on this game. Both teams start a tough stretch immediately afterward.
If Auburn struggles against Baylor I'll feel better going into this one, but right now I find it hard to pick Florida given how the environment will be, Auburns DL vs our OL, and not knowing how our QB will play. That said, I wouldn't put money on Auburn either necessarily.
What says the rant?
5
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:21 am to ShrimperDan
Has the Veer and Shoot been solved? I know Heupel has moved away from it to some degree. If it’s not been solved Auburn might have another Hendon Hooker
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:26 am to GreatPumpkin
quote:
Has the Veer and Shoot been solved?
Byrum didn't really light it up against any of the tougher teams he played last year. Even against UF when they won it wasn't because he was slinging it around or running all that well, UF was just stuck in the mud offensively because we had Sling Blade calling plays.
I don't know if you can really "solve" that offense. The principles are just an expanded form of what offensive coaches have been doing since football was invented and moves the decision making process from more post-snap to pre-snap for the QB.
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:35 am to ShrimperDan
Florida played decent defense that game. The 3 high seems like it’s been a pretty effective solution against it. OU has handled it pretty well the past two years playing that well. They’ve also got an elite DLine. It was magical though when it was “new”. Hyatt in the 22 Bama game was beyond my wildest dreams
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:40 am to GreatPumpkin
quote:
Has the Veer and Shoot been solved? I know Heupel has moved away from it to some degree. If it’s not been solved Auburn might have another Hendon Hooker
You answered your own question.
You can run the veer and shoot to great success, you just need a quality QB to do it and Heupel hasn't had one since Hooker left.
Heupel has been a top 15 QB away from the playoffs the last couple years IMO. Think about how many close games yall win during that stretch if the offense was elite again?
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:44 am to ShrimperDan
quote:
one of the better early season "Temperature Check" games
Couldn't agree more.
Both programs have a lot at stake, and this game could very well set the tone for the rest of the season.
It's also anomalous in that although they open in Atlanta (neutral), Auburn doesn't play a true road game until October when they travel to Knoxville.
Then they have a week off before Georgia.
In other words, the first five-to-six weeks of their schedule sets up favorably for them to gather momentum.
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:49 am to ShrimperDan
100% agree with that take.
Posted on 8/19/26 at 9:55 am to ShrimperDan
quote:
if the chips fall favorably
Posted on 8/19/26 at 10:02 am to GreatPumpkin
quote:
Hyatt in the 22 Bama game was beyond my wildest dreams
A lot of that was on Pete Golding refusing to put an extra man on Hyatt even after he had run up and down the field a couple of times.
Posted on 8/19/26 at 10:06 am to tide06
quote:That was very true in 2023 and 2024. Last year I thought Aguilar did a pretty good job. He had the odd catastrophic interception in him though. It’d have been nice if he had a defense behind him like Nico and Joe got.
Heupel has been a top 15 QB away from the playoffs the last couple years IMO. Think about how many close games yall win during that stretch if the offense was elite again?
Posted on 8/19/26 at 10:13 am to captdalton
quote:it’s hard to do that unless you want to play man to man which usually didn’t work that year unless you were Georgia
A lot of that was on Pete Golding refusing to put an extra man on Hyatt even after he had run up and down the field a couple of times.
Posted on 8/19/26 at 10:31 am to ShrimperDan
Absolutely cannot wait for this game. Night game in Jordan-Hare. Assuming we get past Baylor and Southern Miss unscathed, this will be the best atmosphere we've had since 2021.
Auburn leads the series 44-39-2, but Florida is 12-6 against Auburn since Spurrier arrived in 1990.
Auburn has won the past 3 meetings inside Jordan-Hare with two of those Florida teams being ranked in the Top 2 at the time.
Florida's most recent win inside Jordan-Hare was in 1999.
Auburn is 26-8-1 against the Gators at home.... 12-4 when Auburn is ranked at the time and 10-3-1 when Auburn is unranked at the time. At home, Auburn is 11-1-1 against the Gators when they come in unranked and 11-6 against Florida teams that are ranked at the time.
Auburn leads the series 44-39-2, but Florida is 12-6 against Auburn since Spurrier arrived in 1990.
Auburn has won the past 3 meetings inside Jordan-Hare with two of those Florida teams being ranked in the Top 2 at the time.
Florida's most recent win inside Jordan-Hare was in 1999.
Auburn is 26-8-1 against the Gators at home.... 12-4 when Auburn is ranked at the time and 10-3-1 when Auburn is unranked at the time. At home, Auburn is 11-1-1 against the Gators when they come in unranked and 11-6 against Florida teams that are ranked at the time.
Posted on 8/19/26 at 10:34 am to captdalton
quote:
A lot of that was on Pete Golding refusing to put an extra man on Hyatt even after he had run up and down the field a couple of times.
This gives me Golding flashbacks. The man was certainly capable of putting together some good defensive plans going into games, but on the occasions that those plans didn't work his response was always to just stick with it because that was the PLAN and you always stick to the PLAN.
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