Unfortunately, a 30-year streak of taking down Auburn in Gainesville came to an end on Saturday. While the Florida Gators showed some fight, Steven Pearl and his players were able to get the job done and post a convincing win. It was a result that Florida fans hated to see.
Florida face plants vs. Auburn after one star goes completely MIA
The same could be said for head man Todd Golden. Throughout the contest, you could tell that Golden was a bit frustrated with what he was seeing, as Florida was a bit inconsistent going up against its SEC rival. After the final whistle, Golden gave props to the Tigers, but he also made it clear his team needed to be better.
Florida HC Todd Golden: "They took the fight to us"
— Patrick Bingham (@PatrickABingham) January 25, 2026
Video courtesy the University of Florida Athletics
➡️ https://t.co/4PB1p17qcm pic.twitter.com/GnADMz6Mlm
Todd Golden was understandably disappointed after the Florida loss to Auburn
"I want to first obviously credit Auburn," Golden said. "I thought they took the fight to us today and that's something that we take a lot of pride in doing. We've been pretty consistent with that over the last couple of weeks - throwing the first punch and the majority of the punches. I thought in the first half, they were just better than us in that way."
Golden said nothing but the truth there, as Auburn looked downright sensational in the first 20 minutes of play. So much in fact, Auburn entered the halftime break up 43-28. A 15-point lead on the road for the Tigers? That's exactly how things went down.
While Florida was able to show some life in the second half, the deficit was too much to overcome and Auburn was able to celebrate its 76-67 victory. Following the defeat, Florida is 14-6 on the year and the Gators are sure to take a bit of a dive in the next AP Poll.
There's been a bit of a National Championship hangover for the Gators, but there's still plenty of time to turn things around. If anything, this loss can serve as a wake-up call for Golden and Co., as the coach is going to want to see his guys respond and start landing more of those first-half punches that people have been used to seeing.