It seems as if the only goal for the Auburn Tigers, at least in 2026, is to dig themselves out of the hole their prior coaches have dug them into.

The team has not finished with a winning record since 2019, three full-time head coaches ago, and now Alex Golesh is looking to right the ship.

Josh Pate, however, does not believe that progress will come easily, especially with the schedule Auburn has facing them this year, and in a recent episode of his College Football Show, Pate predicted the Tigers to finish 6-6.

“Three games into the season, they could be 1-2, they could be 3-0,” Pate said. “Neither of those things would be shocking. Either way, though, I feel like there’s a pretty good chance there’s a mid-season wall you hit here.”

Pate is referring to the brutal, four-game stretch towards the middle of the Tigers’ schedule, as after playing Vanderbilt at home in week four, the Tigers will travel to Knoxville to take on Tennessee before an off week that precedes a matchup with Georgia in Athens. Then, the Tigers travel home to take on Lane Kiffin’s LSU Tigers before Pete Golding’s Ole Miss will serve as the cherry on top of a brutal run.

“They’re free to prove me wrong,” Pate said, “but when you have a trip to Neyland [Tennessee] and then a trip to Sanford Stadium [Georgia], and you got to play LSU and then you go to Ole Miss, I don’t know of many four-game stretches that are tougher than that… I do think there’s a coming-back-to-earth moment there.”

So, even if the Tigers travel to Tennessee, Alex Golesh’s former program, as an undefeated, 4-0 team, Pate has a hard time believing that the Tigers will be able to hold up in the following matchups. However, even if the Tigers go 0-4 in that stretch–which isn’t unlikely–there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

After that particular stretch, the Tigers are then slated to take on Arkansas, travel to Mississippi State and head back home to take on the Samford Bulldogs before the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa later that month. Pate did not go into specifics about his expectations for specific Auburn matchups this year, but with only six wins to go around in this projection, it seems as if Auburn drops one of the games preceding the Iron Bowl, at least in Pate’s eyes.

However, Pate was clear that even though he expects Auburn to just barely make a bowl game this year, he also expects Golesh to move the program in the right direction throughout the year.

“I’ve got Auburn going 6-6 this year,” Pate said, “And I’m a huge believer in the future of this program. I think that’s what they’re going to be capable of this particular year, with much brighter days ahead.”

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