The October slate of games for the Auburn Tigers and Head coach Alex Golesh has arrived for the 2026 season, and the Tigers are entering it sitting at 3-1 on the year and 1-1 in the SEC.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR LIMITED-TIME SUBSCRIPTION MATCH OFFER
Auburn is hitting the road for the first time in the campaign to kick off a tough stretch of games that includes four ranked opponents, three of which are on the road.
Golesh’s squad will take on the first of those three road games on Saturday when it makes its way to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Tennessee Volunteers, who are also 3-1 after falling to Texas.
Ahead of his program hosting the Tigers, Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel, along with some of his staff and players, spoke on the game, with Heupel saying Auburn is another opponent with chances to be dynamic on both sides of the football.
“A football team that’s playing extremely well,” Heupel said. “They’re extremely talented. Physical on the defensive line, athletic second and third levels. Offensively, a quarterback that’s a dynamic playmaker. He’s gonna be a plus-one in the run game so we gotta do a great job against him and they’re making plays out on the perimeter too.”
One area a number of the speakers touched on was defending Tigers quarterback Byrum Brown, who currently leads the program in rushing yards at 237 through four games.
Tennessee’s edge rushers coach Andrew Jackson echoed that, adding that after watching the film, the rushing game as a whole is a big part of what Auburn will try and do.
“Every week is a challenge in this conference, so there’s no lay down,” Jackson said. “They’re going to be physical. They’re going to try to run us off the ball. Quarterback is phenomenal with his legs. Running backs run hard. And they’re going to try to knock the snot out of us, and we’ve got to be ready. Last week was last week, but this is a new challenge and it’s a new Saturday, we’ve got to defend the home turf better.”
While they have gotten to see tempo in games, the Volunteers have noticed the quickness with which the Tigers try to run their offense.
Currently, Auburn owns the fastest tempo in the nation, running a play every 20.8 seconds. That is something that Tennessee has tried to focus on in its preparation.
“I think the thing we’ve mostly got to worry about and hone up in on is the tempo obviously and just getting aligned and stuff like that,” said Volunteers defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby.
Even with the tempo though, the Tennessee defense has been focusing on what it can do to get better while dedicating what it can to study up on the Tigers skill players.
“We definitely scout and all that, but we’re moreso focused on us and what we’re going to do and how they’re going to respond to us,” said Volunteers defensive back Dejuan Lane. “That’s my take on their wide receivers.”
When Auburn returns to Neyland Stadium for the first time since 2013 on Saturday, it will serve as a homecoming of sorts for Golesh, as he served as the offensive coordinator for Heupel for two seasons.
In a sense, the Tennessee defense has noticed a few similarities to its own offense when watching the film, which has helped in some areas of preparation.
It is not completely the same, but the Volunteers feel like they can use some of those noticeable similarities to their advantage come Saturday.
“It is interesting,” said Tennessee defensive lineman Carson Gentle. “(Monday) when I started watching film on them, I was like, ‘These are the plays we see.’ Not every day, but I remember from two years ago, seeing these plays a lot, and so that was interesting to see. There’s probably some tendencies there that we might pick up on.”
The newest meeting between SEC foes is set for 2:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
