Auburn

The Iron Bowl runs through Tuscaloosa and Auburn in equal measure. Same state, same recruiting ground, the same SEC bid — and Auburn has spent the better part of a decade watching one side of that equation collect national titles while the other restarts its head coaching search. The chip is not a pose; it is structural. War Eagle is said with an edge because the ledger demands one.

Hugh Freeze arrived in December 2022 with a recruiting reputation and an offensive pedigree and left in November 2025 at 15-19, fired after an 0-3 start bled into a 4-5 record and an SEC mark that never matched the talent on hand. DJ Durkin finished the season as interim. On Nov. 30, Auburn hired Golesh — the USF architect who squeezed historically explosive numbers out of a non-Power program — and brought Brown with him through the portal. The bet is that a real scheme, finally, converts what Jordan-Hare has always been able to offer.

The 2026 season will adjudicate a question Auburn has been deferring since Cam Newton walked out: does the talent-rich, resource-rich, stadium-loud program just keep needing another year of patience, or does a new offensive identity and a dual-threat quarterback finally produce the SEC contender the fanbase has been waiting for since 2013? Golesh is Year One. The room that says give it time is arguing with the room that has been counting down four consecutive first years.