This article discusses an upcoming college football game between Auburn and Florida set to kick off on Saturday night. The rivalry dates back to 1912 with 84 meetings, and while Florida has dominated since 1990, recent history includes several upset victories by Auburn against highly ranked Florida teams. Both teams are led by new head coaches—Alex Golesh for Auburn and Jon Sumrall for Florida—who were previously linked to each other during coaching searches. The game carries significant importance as both programs seek early SEC wins, adding a layer of tension due to Sumrall's previous connection to Auburn.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
This coming Saturday features two highly anticipated college football games: one between Ole Miss and LSU in Oxford, Mississippi, expected to draw over 100,000 fans into the town of about 26,000, with unusual security measures due to former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin’s return as LSU's head coach. The second game is a rivalry match between Auburn and Florida, with 84 previous encounters dating back to 1912. While Ole Miss and LSU have national title aspirations, the Auburn-Florida matchup carries deep historical animosity and significant stakes for both programs.
Written for “College Football Rivalries” on 2026-09-18,
grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
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No political leaning scored for article 17112 · logged 2026-09-18
The center of the college football universe this coming weekend will undoubtedly be in Oxford, Mississippi, and it's easy to see why.
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it → come → Oxford
Ole Miss and LSU are both top-ten teams with College Football Playoff and national title aspirations, but there's also the added bonus of former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin making his return to Vaught Hemingway Stadium for the first time as the new head coach of the Tigers.
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Kiffin → be → Tigers
With all that in mind, there is a different game set to kick off around the same time in a different part of the SEC that will feature both extremely entertaining football and two fanbases with a ton at stake as well as plenty of hatred to go around.
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that → be → hatred
In case you didn't know, Auburn and Florida are old rivals.
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Auburn → know → case
I'm talking very old rivals.
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I → talk → rivals
Before their annual matchups and bitter back-and-forth contests with LSU and Tennessee, the Gators considered the Tigers one of their biggest rivals, and the feeling was mutual on the other side.
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feeling → consider → side
These two programs have met 84 times dating all the way back to 1912, and from 1945 until 2002, they played each other every year.
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they → meet → other
Auburn holds the all-time series lead at 43-39-2, but the Gators have dominated the rivalry since 1990 when Steve Spurrier arrived in Gainesville, boasting a 12-6 record in that timeframe.
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Spurrier → hold → timeframe
That's not to say the Tigers haven't ruined plenty of Florida's best seasons in that stretch, and as a Gator fan coming of age during those years, I can speak to several personal experiences.
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I → say → experiences
I was a bit too young to remember 1994, when the Tigers marched into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as 17.5-point underdogs and handed the top-ranked Gators their first and only regular season loss that year.
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Tigers → remember → loss
I do, however, remember the 2006 Auburn team pouncing all over the second-ranked Gators to give that team their only loss en route to a national championship.
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team → remember → championship
The very next year, a reeling 2-2 Auburn squad upset top-five Florida in The Swamp, giving then-head coach Urban Meyer his first home loss as a Gator.
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squad → reel → Gator
That might explain part of why the rhetoric around this renewed rivalry is so toxic on social media this week, but it doesn't tell the whole story.
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it → explain → story
History is only half of the equation here, as both the Tigers and Gators are breaking in new coaches who just as easily could have been on opposite sidelines.
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who → break → sidelines
Saturday night will be the first SEC game for both Auburn head coach Alex Golesh and Florida head coach Jon Sumrall, so this contest will be a huge early test for two programs desperate to get off on the right foot in conference play.
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contest → get → play
While the winner won't necessarily be out of the woods when it comes to proving they are ahead of schedule in year one, the loser will almost certainly be faced with some tough questions after failing to beat a team that is in a similar boat from a timeline perspective.
There's also the added animosity Tigers fans likely feel towards Sumrall, who, by all accounts, was Auburn's top choice in their search for a new coach last November before he pivoted to the Gators.
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he → come → Gators
It's highly likely that both programs ended up with the best coach for them moving forward - I personally think Golesh will be great at Auburn and I'm obviously super high on Sumrall so far at Florida - but on Saturday night, Tiger fans will be eager to prove that the man who spurned them for a different shade of orange and blue made the wrong choice.
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who → end → choice
Losing this game is going to suck for whichever coach, program, and fanbase fails to come out on top, and that's why it's so intriguing despite the fact neither team is ranked in the top-25.
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team → lose → top-25
There are plenty of football-related aspects that make this matchup a must-watch, too, though.
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matchup → be → aspects
The chess match between Florida's offensive coordinator extraordinaire, Buster Faulkner, and Auburn's defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, who many consider one of the best in the conference, as well as the prospect of Gator running back Jadan Baugh going against the Tigers' stellar linebacker duo of Elijah Melendez and Xavier Atkins, will have football fans salivating.
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fans → consider → Melendez
When you combine the off-field narratives with the on-field action, Auburn and Florida should provide one of the most entertaining matchups of the early season.
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Auburn → combine → season
Just pray for the losing fanbase, because social media won't be a happy place for them on Sunday morning.
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media → pray → morning
The Aporia
