Auburn’s 27-24 upset over No. 1 Georgia on Saturday was the program’s third one-score win of the season, and quarterback Byrum Brown credited a simple philosophy for the turnaround. “Everyone plays 6-8 seconds every play,” Brown said after the victory. “Don’t look too far ahead. Just play, be right here, right now, and that’s all it is.”
Defensive lineman Cody Sigler connected that approach directly to head coach Alex Golesh and compared it to methods used by Alabama’s Nick Saban. “I watched the Saban documentary, and that man is doing the exact same things he’s doing,” Sigler said. “Six-eight seconds, every play. Don’t worry about the scoreboard. Six (to) eight seconds, every play. That’s what he told us, and we went out there and executed it.”
Golesh’s impact on Auburn’s ability to close out tight games is clear. The Georgia win came after a 21-15 victory over Vanderbilt and a narrow 17-16 season-opening triumph against Baylor. Those results contrast starkly with the tenure of former coach Hugh Freeze, who managed just two one-score wins across three seasons and went 2-10 in those situations.
With Golesh, Auburn’s record in tight games sits at 3-1. Running back Jeremiah Cobb said the coach’s focus on finishing drives and maintaining detail has changed how the team performs late in games. “How he just drills in our head the fourth quarter and finishing in everything; runs, catches, plays, just finishing,” Cobb said on Tuesday, October 20. “Taking that to the fourth quarter and finishing and doing what we need to do. Staying detailed and not getting lackadaisical and all that stuff, being us.”
The narrow victories began with the 17-16 win over Baylor, which was Auburn’s first one-point victory in 16 years. The last such win came in the 2010 Iron Bowl, known as the “Camback.” The team’s only one-score loss under Golesh came in a 44-39 defeat by Florida in the SEC opener, where Auburn overcame a 17-point third-quarter deficit to outscore the Gators 15-10 in the final stretch.
Safety AnQuon Fegans offered a different take on the recent success in close games. “This year, we are just together,” he said. “I’m not going to say we weren’t last year, but this year we all are together more on both sides of the ball, and that’s what helps us each and every week.”
Golesh’s insistence on process and execution has resonated throughout the locker room, but it is the unity among players that Fegans believes is driving the improved results. The team’s ability to deliver in close contests has become a defining feature of Auburn’s 2026 season, highlighted by the upset of a top-ranked Georgia team and a series of narrow finishes that had eluded the program for years.
Adam Cole, Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser, reported these developments and can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @colereporter.
According to Yahoo Sports.