POSSIBLE? Auburn's Swing Games are WINNABLE Under Alex Golesh in 2026

0:00You know, I was asked a question about Auburn's swing games. I think there's four of them in 2026, and Auburn's got a shot and never seeing a one of them. You are locked on Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Yes, welcome on into locked on Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast. I'm your host, Zach Blackerby. Thank you so much for making locked on Auburn. You're first listen every single day. How to question asked by a member of the everyday club, which you can go to locked on Auburn.supercast.com, get more information about joining the everyday club. They asked me during or within the exclusive discord that you will get invited to as soon as you join. And P, B, Hoff, W, D, E,

1:00asked about the swing games, wanting more information about the swing games in 2026. And I think there's four of them. I think there's four of them. Hosting Florida, hosting Vandy, hosting LSU and hosting Arkansas. Three of those four games against first year head coaches. The other is now against your newest permanent rival, the Vanderbilt Commodores. And there's questions on that one, obviously, because what does life look like for Vandy? And Clark Lee, post Diego Pavia. He's gone. He's gone. Goodness gracious, has he tormented us for far too long? He has gone. And there's gonna be a few places. And I've seen a few, you know, just graphics on Instagram and all that. Lumping a few more games into the swing games. And I just didn't do a few of these. I didn't throw Baylor in there because Auburn's over a touchdown favorite. And there's a chance that grows over the course of the season.

2:04I've seen people say going to Tennessee is one. And if the NCAA officially rules on Joey Aguilar and says, no, no, no, you are actually truly out of eligibility. I will, I will say there are now five true swing games for Auburn, but I didn't do that. And I also think you could argue at Ole Miss. And I just think with the news of Trinidad coming back, that's gonna be a pretty tough one. I don't think there's any way that Auburn would be favored in that game, you know, barring injury or you know, something crazy happening. So, you know, we'll see what happens with that. So once again, I've got the swing games hosting Florida against first year head coach John Summeral, hosting Vandy, hosting LSU and hosting Arkansas. Now, there's clearly a theme here. Outside of three of the four of them being against first year head coaches in the conference. It's obvious. Auburn's at home and all of these. And while during the horse and in freeze era,

3:05playing a journey here lost a little bit of his lust or not due to the fans, but just the team not being able to win close games. Hopefully with the offense going, and if Alex Goulish can get Byron Brown in these new revamped offense, if they can get it humming at Jorn Hare Stadium, I think winning at Jorn Hare will be a thing that we can get used to again, which we all hope. So let's go in chronological order here. I think Auburn hosting Florida is a big deal. They bring in Fylo to lead this new era of Florida Gators football following his offensive coordinator from Georgia Tech. And I think Florida's always going to have a talented roster. I do have questions about this quarterback decision, not that he can't be good and fit a system and already be acclimated and know some of the verbiage of what they're going to try to do. I'm fine with all of that.

4:06My big question is, are they going to be ready this early in the season? Jake Crane came on the show and said that very thing and I 100% agree with him. His first SEC road action at Jorn Hare Stadium against Alex Goulish. Alex Goulish versus John Summerall will be tied at the hip as long as they're both head coaches in the SEC because of how this coaching, carousel, this coaching cycle, how it played out. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But something that I'm excited to see is, okay, well, day one, I'm taking our quarterback over there. And that's going to be important. Sure, Philo's going to understand the scheme. Well, so is like Auburn's entire offense because they all came over from South Florida. There's going to be questions about, you know, can folks make that transition? But you need to ask that question everywhere.

5:08Sure, the lead from Georgia Tech to Florida is much smaller than South Florida to Auburn, not pushing back on that at all, at all. But I will say being a backup at Georgia Tech and taking the jump to starter in the SEC versus being dominant offensively at South Florida and taking a jump to Auburn. I don't think those are that different, but we'll see. Maybe I'm bugging a little bit. But I think Auburn has a shot in that one and look, if they beat Florida, it opens up the entire schedule. Auburn can find a way to start three, you know, hosting Vandy, which brings us to our next swing game. I think Auburn's going to have a better roster than Vandy. I think they have a better roster right now, but I also said that last year in Diego Pavi was an X factor. Vandy really likes their five star freshmen quarterback. He's expected to start. I don't know how you don't start him. And I think there's going to be some energy there and I think he's going to be able to make plays.

6:09I think he's going to be good, but he's not going to be Diego Pavi. A guy that can just totally shift the balance, the power balance of college football on his head. I think Auburn's got a great shot in this one. I think the days of Auburn being afraid of Vandy should be behind us, please. And I think Alice Golisch knows that. I think every Auburn fan knows that. And look, at their core, Vandy people know that as well. So of the four swing games, this is probably the one I feel second most confident about. In favor of the Auburn Tigers, we'll get to which one I feel most confident about in just a moment. Right here on this quick bonus edition of Locked On Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends that indeed workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up inbox overflowing. And the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure is on and you need the right hire,

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8:10Mazda puts the same passion into every model highlights make the real what it took to get there is what makes it count. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Thank you so much for making locked on Auburn. Your first listen every single day. Once again, this question came from the exclusive discord that you get access to when you sign up for the every day or club locked on Auburn dot super cast dot com's how you get more information on that. You also for you audio listeners and YouTube folks you get access to an audio only feed. So if you don't like distractions, that is that is also a route that you can absolutely go. All right, so we went over to the first two of the four swing games that I've thrown out there. Florida and baby both at home. Let's look at two other home games. LSU and Arkansas. We'll get to LSU in a second, because I think that's the toughest of the four. Arkansas last chronologically of the four games we've mentioned. It'll be the week after a tough road trip to Ole Miss.

9:13But I think Auburn hosting Arkansas is certainly certainly winnable. Now, these two coaches have played each other before and he's actually gotten the better of Alex Golisch. And I think that's been a little under discussed Ryan Silverfield and he was at Memphis. Kind of got the better hand of Alex Golisch, so excited to see what exactly that looks like here. Now at the lower level of competition, I think Memphis is an easier place to win at than South Florida. Now, I think Auburn is an easier place to win at than Arkansas. So will Alex Golisch have the opportunity to return the favor? Yes, yes, I think he will. Excited to see exactly how that translates when they come to Jorn Hair Stadium on November 7th. As far as the least likely in my opinion, a lot of this is arbitrary as far as what's a trap game or what's a swing game and what's not. But hosting LSU is fascinating. I mean, obviously LSU is gonna be one

10:13of the more fascinating teams at all of the college football. Lane Kiffin, the portal king, questions about Sam Levitt is his foot gonna be okay. I do think there's a lot of assumptions that are being baked in when people are projecting Lane Kiffin, LSU and Sam Levitt. I think this game on October 24th is gonna mean a ton to everyone involved. And I think this arguably will be the biggest home game for fans on this with George and Alabama being on the road. Florida will be big, sure. I think hosting LSU and just the Lane Kiffin attitude behind all of this is gonna be the one that the fans are gonna want the most. I think Jorn Hair is going to be electric and I can't wait to see what kind of umph that gives this Auburn offense and defense when they host LSU on October 24th. My biggest question is Sam Levitt in this.

11:14A lot of assumptions that he's just gonna be okay. Not going through spring, supposedly or if he does, he won't be 100%. I've said this before, it really feels like the DJ lagway situation, different body part, different injury, sure. But I do wonder like being injured in spring is a big deal. I mean, we've seen that to some extent at Auburn with Jackson Arnold, is that why Jackson Arnold struggled? No, but it's not a good sign. There's not a great track record of people missing spring and then just being great. So curious to see how Sam Levitt fits at LSU from a health standpoint, an ability standpoint, and then also, you know, what does he look like specifically? On October 24th, that'll be super, super fun to see. So those are my four swing games to answer your question. Florida, Vandy, LSU, Arkansas, all at home, Auburn's got a chance at all of them. If you win those four games, you have a really good season ahead of you because then it's like, you gotta assume,

12:14okay, Mississippi, save falls into place, Sam Fritz falls into place, excuse me. Adol Miss honestly looks different and then I've got Baylor and you know, Southern Miss obviously there too. So I mean, you've got a shot. You've got a shot in every game you play. If you can take care of those at Georgia, at Alabama, those will be difficult regardless. But those are my swing games. Would you have added more or taken any of these off the list, genuinely curious? Let me know in the comments down below. Let me know in the everyday or discord, tag me in there, love interacting with you guys. So please like the video, please subscribe. We'll see you next time. This has been Lot on Auburn.