The month of November has arrived for hte Auburn Tigers after falling to 4-4 on the 2026 season and 2-4 in conference play.
Alex Golesh’s squad is returning home once again to Jordan-Hare Stadium after a 1-3 slate in October that saw the team play three road games and four games against ranked opponents. The Tigers’ ninth game of the regular season will now be against the Arkansas Razorbacks, a team Auburn is looking to beat for the first time at home since 2020.
Arkansas is coming into the game after a loss to the Missouri Tigers in Fayetteville, which dropped it to 3-5 on the season and 1-4 in SEC competition.
Golesh held his weekly Monday press conference to begin the week leading into the game against the Razorbacks. Here are some of his most notable quotes from the session.
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On the final takeaways of the team from the Ole Miss game:
“I thought you would turn that film and there would be lack of effort all over the place, there would be catastrophic things. The catastrophic thing is we gave up the points we gave up, and we went three-and-out, three-and-out. There's not a lack of effort consistently. There's not, 'Man, we gave up.' We didn't. And that's the part I'm hanging my hat on.”
On the performance of the new-look offensive line:
“I thought that group, when we were in rhythm, I thought that group did a solid job. I thought for Wilson's (Zierer) first time going out to tackle, for Jacobe's (Ward) first real game action, (it was) inconsistent, but the positives were positive. I thought when, again, when we were in rhythm, I thought they did some really good things.”
On the tackles for loss continuing to be an issue:
“It's a combination of execution and a combination of getting to the right things. We've lived in so many different run schemes to try to create an advantage that we've got to hang our hat on something. And if there's a frustration there, like we've been very schemy in the run game to try to create an advantage the last couple weeks specifically. As we move forward, we've got to hang our hat on something, get really, really good at something, to be able to not give up negatives, but as much as anything else, have an identity in running.”
On the status of Jeremiah Koger:
“Yeah, he ran this morning. We're hoping to have him back. I'll have a way, way better idea on Wednesday as we go into tomorrow. At the end of the week he was close. Man, he's fighting like crazy to get back, so we need him back.”
On what he’s doing to combat people trying to tear team’s culture apart:
“My job is to keep them the same in the sense of, this is what elite process looks like, this is what Sunday to Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday to Thursday to Friday, and keep the outside noise outside. You heard me talk about this inner circle. Everything you need and the truth is right here in this building. My job is to establish standards, protect the culture at all costs.”
On the performance of Chas Nimrod:
“Chas, when he got hurt last year, was on track to break every record at the last place too. So Chas was having a great year until he got hurt. Kind of picked up where he left off. He's playing really confident right now. Certainly got a great connection with Byrum, but he's also playing more physical. I think he's in the best place that he's been mentally.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
