The month of September is coming to a close, opening the doors for October to begin and bring on the heart of the conference schedule in the SEC.
For the Auburn Tigers, that means a brutal four-game stretch ahead of them, with all four contests being against ranked opponents and three of them being on the road.
The first of those road tests is on the docket first, as the Tigers will hit the road for the first time in their 2026 campaign to take on the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.
The Volunteers enter the meeting with a 3-1 record having just been defeated by the No. 1 Texas Longhorns to end September.
Auburn, who is also 3-1, is entering an environment it has not yet experienced this season, as a hostile crowd can have an effect on visiting players.
However, Alex Golesh’s players have been exposed to that as much as possible in practice, and they feel ready for it.
“We've been doing that every day almost,” said Tigers running back Omar Mabson II. “Every day. We're going to be prepared for the noise, crowd, all that.”
Even though a home crowd can affect the offense more often than not, that pressure can also carry over to the defensive side of the football.
The Tigers have a plan in place though, doing whatever it takes to ensure schemes get communicated correctly.
“Hand signals, urgency still,” said Auburn safety Kaleb Harris. “Get the call and pass it along. Hand signals, do whatever we've got to do to get it to the other dude. It shouldn't be that loud for us because we're on defense, offense will have way bigger trouble than us.”
Even in the week of preparation, while there is a trip up ahead of them, there has been no change in how the team is working before Saturday.
All the Tigers are worrying about is doing what they can in order to put them in the best position to win.
"Same thing week-in, week-out,” said Auburn defensive lineman Jourdin Crawford. “We don't do anything special. We just practice hard, same practice, same everything. Nothing changes."
One of the other challenges about the environment in Knoxville though is that rain is projected to show up in an abundance on Saturday.
With the rain providing a higher risk for slips, fumbles and turnovers overall, many teams put in extra work on a game week to prepare for that. For the Tigers though, that has been something that has been practiced for a while.
“In the running-back room, we preach ball security,” Mabson said. “That's nothing we're really worried about.”
Auburn’s opening kick against Tennessee is set for 2:30 p.m. CST on ESPN from Neyland Stadium.
“I'm definitely looking forward to it,” said Tigers defensive lineman Buddy Mathis Jr. “I know the team is looking forward to it, as well, just playing in a different environment. I feel like we're going there with a chip on our shoulder, and we gotta go show everybody who we are.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
