A 3-2 start has been the result of the first five games of the 2026 season for Alex Golesh and his Auburn Tigers, putting them at a bye week with a lot to work on before hitting the road again to take on the Georgia Bulldogs next week.
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In terms of the offense, it has been a season defined by slow starts, as two out of the last three games that the Tigers have played have seen the offense fail to gain its first first down in the first quarter.
That was evident against Tennessee, which in its own right saw Auburn backed up deep against the Volunteers student section and in the midst of a lot of noise. At the end of the night though, the Tigers had picked up six false starts, which accounted for more than half of their penalties.
“In a lot of ways, it makes you sick to see some of the self-inflicted stuff,” Golesh said in his appearance at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club. “We’ve not been a team, certainly an offense that penalties have been a thing. We’ve done a really solid job. To have seven pre-snap (penalties) like that, again I stand on what I said afterwards, I think from a prep standpoint, I felt really good going in; obviously not when you look at it and there was a phase of where we felt like going on silent is what we had to do.”
Auburn has four more road games left in the season, all of which will be against ranked opponents.
Knowing how tough those matchups will be from an environment perspective, Golesh was adamant that those penalties cannot be afforded if the offense wants a chance at succeeding.
“You can’t have (false starts),” Golesh said. “Not in a game where it’s going to stay like that and as soon as you get one or two of them, now the crowd feels it and it’s a part of it. It can’t be a factor, and especially going into, we’re going to Georgia, we’re going to be on the road in Oxford, we’re going to be on the road in Starkville. Like that has to get nipped in the butt immediately.
Outside of the penalties, it has been the execution in many parts of the offense, which has led to a lower output of yards and points than is desired.
In the SEC, the Tigers are currently ranked 11th in average offensive yards per game, and 13th in average points scored. Auburn scored 14 points on 13 drives against Tennessee, driving that statistic.
Deep in the bye week, Golesh and his staff are figuring out how they can improve on things and get the offense rolling quicker.
“Whatever deficiencies we have, it’s our job as coaches to overcome those deficiencies and put us in positions to win,” Golesh said. “You look at it from an execution standpoint, short fields or long fields or not, we didn’t operate like you’re supposed to operate, and that’s the part that’s really, really disappointing ‘cause you played well enough defensively, especially through the first half to where you have to get up until what I felt like they changed the game offensively and we didn’t adjust well defensively.”
The issues come to an offense that has seen the line come dead last in the conference in sacks given up, while the movement of the football has been extremely inconsistent.
Golesh said he knew when the roster was filled out what shortcomings the team might have going into the year, but has recognized where the unit has come to be successful.
“I think in a lot of ways you knew the deficiencies going in,” Golesh said. “It’s easy to say when we’re playing fast and we’re on tempo and we’re in rhythm, we move the ball efficiently. When we’re not and it’s a stopped clock situation or just trying to get the drive started, we haven’t been efficient.”
Overall, the outlook of the offense is not what Golesh hoped it would be at this point in the year, but it is all about progressing in those deficiencies that he is focused on heading into the back half of the year.
“I was hoping we would obviously be further ahead in terms of being more efficient,” Golesh said. “There’s certain things we’ve done well, like third down has been, as much as we’ve been in it, has been more efficient than I thought it would be as we’ve evolved and grown. I still don’t think we’re running it well enough. We’re not protecting well enough in situations where we have to protect and you got to bow up and go. So I would say we’re not where I was certainly hoping to be.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
