As the 2026 season neared during preseason camp for the Auburn Tigers, Head Coach Alex Golesh continually held his position on wanting to establish a successful run game early and often, looking to pick apart opponents on the ground.
The Tigers walked away from their season opener in Atlanta as victors, but not feeling great about the way they played on the offensive side of the football, especially in the ground game.
Against Baylor, Auburn rushed for just 130 yards on the day, with no rusher having more than 60 yards individually. Senior running back Jeremiah Cobb, who had 969 yards in 2025, rushed for just 53 on the night, averaging 4.4 yards per carry.
On Saturday night in the home opener against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, the Tigers got closer to the identity of dominating on the ground with 343 yards rushing, a stat that included 88 yards from quarterback Byrum Brown.
“I thought we established the run better,” Alex Golesh said. “It took Byrum a second to get settled in, but I thought he settled in. He felt comfortable taking off and running a handful of times and that’s how he gets going.”
Cobb got 12 carries in this game for the second week in a row and notched 85 yards in his performance, being the third-highest rusher for the Tigers. That averaged out to 7.1 yards per carry.
However, Golesh did not admit that the successful effort was easy though.
The head coach said after the win that the scheme Southern Miss had for defending the ground game was aggressive and one that tried a lot of different things.
“These guys were gonna make it hard,” Golesh said. “So much single-high and kept plugging backers to try to get the run game disrupted. Honestly, it's what we thought it was going to be. You saw a lot more gap scheme there to try to get it going. I thought those guys ran it hard. You take the holding calls out, and you feel like you had a pretty good day running the football. That's the part that's frustrating.”
The breakout game though came from a young rising star who goes by the name of Omar Mabson II. The sophomore tallied 15 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown, proving himself and why the coaches made him the second-string running back.
For him, having this game was a special moment.
“I feel blessed,” said Omar Mabson II. “It’s a blessing to just be able to be in the position I am right now, so I’m just blessed.”
At the end of the night looking back on it, while the offensive line was not perfect, Mabson gave praise to what the front group did for his performance.
It was all about trust, which is part of how the team believes it will get the rushing game going inthe future and get the ground game to the standard Auburn is known for.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
