Whatever hope Florida fans had for the 2025 season ended instantly in week two when Alex Golesh and his USF squad came into The Swamp and knocked off the Gators. Billy Napier was fired just a few weeks later, and Golesh would take his talents to Auburn at the end of the season.
As we have talked throughout the offseason, the week three matchup with Auburn this year is set to be a massive litmus test for Jon Sumrall and will be among the closest apples-to-apples tests Sumrall will get in year one in Gainesville.
During his appearance at SEC Media Days, Golesh admitted a component to Auburn’s offense that might help favor Sumrall in this matchup.
Florida’s defense will get an immediate test from one of college football’s fastest offenses
Golesh was asked about his offenses when he was the OC at Tennessee and his reputation for having one of the most explosive and fastest offenses in the country. Golesh said he has a vision for what he wants to do at Auburn, but that vision still may need some time to take hold:
“I think offensive football is about finding matchups in space, and we chose to do it really, really quickly. As we’ve evolved offensively and as we have to continue to evolve offensively, we’ve got to use these next three weeks once we get into camp to truly figure out who are our playmakers, put them in the best positions to create the best matchups and do it really, really fast.
If we continue to do that, we’ve got the right staff to figure it out. We’ve got a bunch of guys that are familiar with the system. Got a bunch of guys that we brought in that are getting familiar with the system. But we need to use those three weeks to truly identify formationally how we do that, which guys can help, because we want to use as many as can help us, and then getting them in space.
And that’s in the run game and the pass game. For us everything starts with the ability to run the football, and it sets up everything else. But it’s the players in the right formations to then be able to create explosive, because the matchups and the space allows you to do so. It’s on us to put them in the right positions and on the guys to go execute at a high clip.
We are going to need every single day of those three weeks of camp to get ready for Baylor to be able to identify that and then detail it out.”
Florida gets a rematch with Byrum Brown
Coincidentally, it wasn’t Golesh’s offense or the play of then-USF QB Byrum Brown that led to Florida’s demise. In the end, USF only scored 18 points and benefited from one of the most anemic offenses in Florida history.
But it is interesting that Golesh admits he still needs to “truly figure out who are our playmakers” when most would seem to believe that isn’t the case in Gainesville. Beyond the battle for QB1, most of the playmakers are well established at Florida. It also paints a picture that Auburn’s offense won’t be at its max capability when Florida comes to town in week three.
Florida fans will take any advantage they can get, and it probably doesn’t hurt that Tulane shut USF down in 2024 when Sumrall beat Golesh 45-10.
If Florida can walk out of Auburn with a win to start 3-0, most fans won’t care if the Tigers haven’t reached their full potential.
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