Alex Golesh Addresses Auburn's Decision to Decline Bowl Game Offer

The Auburn Tigers finished the season with a disappointing 5-7 record, which normally isn’t enough to clinch a bowl game berth, but they were presented with a unique postseason opportunity just a few days ago.

Reports circulated earlier this week that there weren’t a sufficient number of bowl-eligible teams to fill all bowl game spots, as teams such as Notre Dame, Kansas State, and Iowa State all turned down bowl invitations. Thus, several 5-7 squads were extended invitations to fill the remaining games, and that list included Auburn.

However, the Tigers followed a number of other programs and declined the bowl offer, as well. According to On3’s Brett McMurphy, in addition to Auburn, Florida State, UCF, Baylor, Rutgers, Temple, and Kansas are other 5-7 teams that opted out.

At least 7 teams that were 5-7 have now declined a bowl bid: Florida State, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Rutgers, Temple & Kansas, sources told @On3sports. The quest continues to find an opponent for Georgia Southern in the Birmingham Bowl
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 8, 2025

Auburn head coach Alex Golesh discussed the program’s decision to decline the bid at his press conference on Monday, explaining how choosing not to play another game this season was the best option all around for the staff (or lack thereof), state of the locker room, and more importantly, the players.

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“I think if it all had happened a week ago and our guys were all here, the staff that was previously here was still here and intact for the most part, I think that would have been realistic,” Golesh said. “I think you go through the week and when that question was posed to us, there were multiple things that go into it.”

“One, there’s so much staff turnover that it would be hard to truly be able to put it all together and be competitive to where you have a chance to go win a football game,” Golesh said. “If you’re going to go play a game, you’re wanting to win the game.”

Additionally, Golesh revealed the logistical struggles that playing another game would present to all parties involved, as many players have already gone home and most coaches from Hugh Freeze’s staff aren’t employed anymore.

“The other part of it is, our guys, there are so many of them that are done with finals that were able to get out and go home and be with their families for a little while,” Golesh said. “So to be able to get everybody back together, figure out who the heck is going to coach them, how you would actually do that? The timing of it all was not practical. It just wasn’t realistic.”

“I think would you love to go play a game? Absolutely. Would you love to go compete and win a game? Absolutely. But the timing of it all was just not realistic,” Golesh continued.

It’s apparent that Golesh and company would enjoy another opportunity to compete, and it seems like he and athletics director John Cohen somewhat considered it, but they eventually made the decision that playing in a bowl game would not be putting the program in the best position to succeed.

“And John (Cohen) and I talked about it at length twice. To be able to get the guys back here. To be able to do what we have to do to go field a football team that could go win,” Golesh said. “With so many conversations happening right about roster management and all of it combined with, I would tell you that 75 percent of the guys aren’t here. I think that would be really unrealistic and not fair to the kids more than anybody else. So it just didn’t make any sense.”