GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida linebacker Myles Graham welcomes playing on the road in the unrelenting Southeastern Conference. He likes the raucous crowds, the frosty receptions and even the potential of getting pelted by flying objects.
“It’s thousands and thousands of people that want to see you fail,” Graham said. “And there’s nothing like just having that bond with your brothers and going in there and doing your thing. There’s nothing like it.”
If you win, anyway.
The Gators (2-0) have lost six consecutive games away from the friendly confines of Florida Field, better known as the Swamp. It's a skid they hope to end when they open SEC play at Auburn (2-0) on Saturday night.
It’s a pivotal, early season game for both programs, with Florida’s Jon Sumrall and Auburn’s Alex Golesh looking for a signature win. Florida is a 2 1/2-point favorite.
Sumrall, though, is 0-4 against Auburn, including 0-2 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. He was on the wrong side of lopsided road losses as a Kentucky linebacker in 2004 and as a Kentucky assistant in 2020.
“They’ve had a great home-field advantage there for a long time,” Sumrall said. “We have to handle that challenge.”
It’ll be the first road start for Florida quarterback Aaron Philo, who has been mostly efficient through the first two weeks. He’s thrown for 517 yards, with five touchdowns and an interception. He also has two rushing scores. But how well will he command the huddle with 88,000 fans screaming around him?
“He’s been really, really steady,” Sumrall said. “He’s made a lot of good decisions. Doesn’t mean he’s played perfect, but he’s done a lot of things. If he plays like he’s played through the first part of this year, he will give us a chance to win every week, and that’s all you can ask.”
There are several other subplots to the game:
— Sumrall was Auburn’s top choice to replace Hugh Freeze last year, but Florida lured him away after Lane Kiffin chose LSU over the Gators. Had Sumrall ended up on the Plains, he likely would have brought offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and Philo with him.
Plus, Sumrall’s wife and some of her family members are Auburn grads. Does Sumrall have to worry about any of them rooting against the Gators?
“If I do, they’re not family to me,” Sumrall quipped. “There’s ties, but Florida pays my mortgage, so any family that is pulling against us, they ain’t my family. I don’t care what their last name is. You know what I mean?”
— Golesh, quarterback Byrum Brown and about a dozen other current Auburn players won in the Swamp last year with South Florida, an 18-16 upset that was the beginning of the end for former Gators coach Billy Napier.
“We’re not worried about that game,” Graham said. “That game doesn’t matter to this game now, but it definitely gives us the experience. … It’s the same kind of system, so we know what to expect going into it.”
— Florida receiver Eric Singleton Jr. returns to Auburn for the first time since transferring to Gainesville in January. Singleton missed last week’s game against lower-division Campbell after spraining his left ankle in the season opener and was wearing a walking boot through Saturday night.
He was “very, very, very limited” in practice Monday, Sumrall said, calling him questionable for the game.
“Is there a shot? Yes,” he added.
Singleton, who spent one season at Auburn after two years at Georgia Tech, caught 58 passes for 534 yards and three touchdowns in 2025. He said in April he “most definitely” circled the Auburn game on Florida’s schedule.
“Every game is a big game for me because this is my last season,” Singleton said.
— And Golesh hasn't forgotten his lone matchup against Sumrall as head coaches. Sumrall and Tulane smoked Golesh, Brown and the Bulls 45-10 two years ago in New Orleans.
“If you wanted to have a really, really rough morning, you could have sat with me and watched that (Sunday) again — for maybe the 200th time,” Golesh said. “And, again, wanted to throw up.”
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