A wild set of events sent Sumrall to Florida instead of Auburn and Golesh to Auburn instead of Arkansas, and now the old American Conference rivals open SEC play against each other

An added element of the matchup is the two head coaches, Alex Golesh and Jon Sumrall, both of whom are in their first seasons at their respective schools. The two met once in the American Conference when Sumrall's Tulane team beat South Florida 45-10 in 2024.