No. 17 Tennessee Hosts Auburn as Former OC Alex Golesh Returns to Knoxville

First-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh brings the Tigers to Neyland Stadium on Oct. 3 to face No. 17 Tennessee and his old boss Josh Heupel in an SEC game on ESPN.

No. 17 Tennessee hosts Auburn on Oct. 3 at Neyland Stadium in a game both programs view as a key SEC test. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Volunteers enter at 3-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while the Tigers are 3-1 and 1-1.

The visit brings a familiar figure back to Knoxville. Auburn coach Alex Golesh, in his first season on the job after previously holding the head post at South Florida, ran Josh Heupel's offense at Tennessee in 2021 and 2022. The two remain friendly and traded compliments on Sept. 28, with Heupel citing the job Golesh and his staff have done dating to his USF tenure. Golesh called Heupel "really high-end smart, a phenomenal leader, a really good friend" and credited him with changing how he views offensive football and running a program.

The reunion lands at a sensitive moment for the home team. Tennessee lost 20-17 to No. 1 Texas on Sept. 26 in a performance ranked among its worst offensive showings, gaining just 221 yards and allowing 10 sacks. The output stoked criticism from fans that the attack has not hit the same heights since Golesh left for USF.

Those heights were considerable. Across 2021 and 2022, Tennessee set a series of school records for points, yards and explosive plays, and the 2022 team led the nation in scoring at 46.1 points per game while breaking more than a dozen single-season program marks. Hendon Hooker earned SEC Offensive Player of the Year that season, Jalin Hyatt won the Biletnikoff Award, and the Vols beat Alabama 52-49 among six victories over top-25 opponents. Golesh has said in recent years that Heupel turned play-calling duties over to him during that stretch, most likely in 2022.

Golesh is not the only returnee with Tennessee ties. Tim Banks, fired as the Vols' defensive coordinator in December, is now Auburn's co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Kodi Burns, Heupel's wide receivers coach in 2021, serves as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, offensive line coach Tyler Hudanick was a graduate assistant under Heupel, and tight ends coach Larry Scott coordinated Tennessee's offense under Butch Jones in 2017.

The schemes have diverged since the split. Auburn operates at the fastest pace in the FBS, snapping the ball once every 20.8 seconds, while Tennessee ranks 22nd at one play per 24.2 seconds. Production has lagged behind tempo for the Tigers, who sit 75th nationally in scoring to Tennessee's 23rd. Rule changes allowing more defensive substitutions have slowed up-tempo teams across college football, and Heupel has moved further from that style than his former coordinator.

Tennessee's offense has hardly collapsed since Golesh departed. The Vols led the SEC in rushing in 2023 and 2024 and led the conference in scoring in 2025 at 40 points per game. No team in college football has averaged 46 points over a full season since the 2022 Vols, and Heupel previously directed high-powered attacks as a play-caller at Oklahoma, Missouri and UCF before arriving in Knoxville.

Both men framed their changes as routine adaptation. "To me, it's more fascinating to see how we all evolve and make it our own," Golesh said, adding that good coaches tailor their systems to their personnel every year. Heupel said every job presents a different puzzle of personnel, staff and a program's current state. The former partners now meet on opposite sidelines with an early SEC result at stake.