A Week 3 clash at Auburn defines Florida Gators HC Jon Sumrall’s debut SEC season, pitting high-stakes momentum against a rival coach the Tigers nearly hired over Alex Golesh.
Jon Sumrall should go 2-0 easy in his first two games with the Florida Gators, then things will become a little tricky for the former Group of 6 head coach.
The Gators will start their season at home against FAU on Sept. 5. A week later, UF will host Campbell.
Then comes the start of a nine-game SEC schedule.
Florida will go on the road to play Auburn on Sept. 19. With all of the momentum Sumrall has built since he was hired, this feels like a must-win game for the Gators.
On his show on Thursday, Josh Pate argued that the winner of the Auburn-Florida game could gain confidence for the next month.
“Florida at Auburn is a really, really interesting circle game for me," Pate said. "Wild card teams. Florida is a wild card team. Auburn is a wild card team.
"Very few people are going to predict them to be in the mix, but they are the kinds of teams with the minimum baseline of talent level that if everything clicks, they could be a surprise contender. And this being in week three, one of them, if they win this game, could enter the next month really, really, really super charged.”
There's another level of intrigue before the Auburn-Florida game. While Sumrall was busy leading Tulane to the College Football Playoff, his name was linked to the Tigers at about the same time the Lane Kiffin-UF rumors were flying.
Sumrall eventually took the Florida job, and Auburn decided to go all-in on Alex Golesh, who had success with USF. Pate suggested that pride could be on the line during the September conference matchup.
“Not to mention, this is the guy Auburn ended up hiring versus the guy it looks like they were going to hire," Pate said. "And this gets one of them a really early signature win, either John Sumrall or Alex Golesh.
Also, a couple of transfer quarterbacks there going at it. Byrum Brown (Auburn) against presumably Aaron Philo (Florida). That'll be fun to watch.”
It also will be a pressure-packed game for the Gators. After playing the Tigers, Florida will host Ole Miss before traveling to Missouri.
