Baylor (0-1) elected to forego an extra point that would have sent the game to overtime. Instead, Dave Aranda risked it all against an Auburn (1-0) defense who made goal line stands look easy on Saturday afternoon as Auburn survived a Baylor come back attempt in the final minute of the game.
Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown led a final drive spanning 75 yards over 10 plays culminating with a designed QB run for an 11 yard touchdown. The Auburn signal caller completed 26 of his 35 passes for 259 yards on mostly short passes. While Brown did throw 3 interceptions, one of the picks was a 50 yard bomb on 3rd down that pinned the Baylor offense on their own 2 yard line. His ceiling seems to be a lot higher than we saw today, but he did something we haven't seen on The Plains since Bo Nix is his freshman season: HE FOUND A WAY TO WIN.
Close games were the bane of Hugh Freeze's time in Lee County. Six of Auburn's seven losses in 2025 were by a touchdown or less. The only other loss was a 10 point setback against Georgia. Finding a way to claim a victory was an unfamiliar breath of fresh air. Struggling on offense for a majority of the game was not. Alex Golesh was asked on the field after the game what he thought Auburn needed to improve on heading into next week. He listed so many things off that I'm going to omit listing them here.
Baylor came to play. This was a tremendously improved Baylor team from a year ago when Auburn ran the ball through their defensive line at will. The Baylor defense had 11 tackles for loss and 3 interceptions. The Bears offense outgained Auburn 436 to 389 overall. DJ Lagway struggled passing the ball at times, but connected when it counted. He thew for 333 yards on 54 attempts with 2 TDs and a pick. They extended drives by going for it on 4th down SIX times, converting on 4 of those attempts.
The play of the game goes to big number five Eric Winters with a tackle at the goal line on Baylor's game deciding 2 point conversion. That was his biggest play, but far from his only contribution. Winters had 11 tackles. Nine of them were solo. Two tackles for loss and the aforementioned game winning stop makes him the Auburn Fan Club: Player of the Game.
Defense was a bright spot as usual, but they were challenged at times. DJ Lagway had several passes that were undefendable. Elijah Melendez had 12 tackles and 2 pass breakups, but other than Winters and Melendez most of the defense was done by committee with 23 Auburn Tigers recording a tackle. Strangely we didn't hear much from Da'Shawn Womack.
Other than a muffed field goal attempt- the Auburn special teams did a fantastic job. Hudson Kaak boomed his punts down field and the coverage team did not allow any return yards.
The receivers held onto the ball religiously. It was phenomenal to see the receivers do so well after the exodus of last seasons superstars. Keshaun Singleton led the way with 7 receptions for 89 yards. Seven Auburn Tigers caught at least two passes. Any questions about whether the USF receivers could hang in the POWER 5 were put to rest.
The offensive line was by far the worst unit on the field tonight. They have the toughest job on the field. We will see this offensive line improve week to week as they gain experience playing alongside each other. The effort was fantastic. I didn't see one lazy player in orange and blue. There were some mental errors that cost us significantly and Auburn almost lost the game because of them (especially a painful offsides on 4th and 4). We constantly hear how the offensive line takes time to develop, and it's the truth. Baylor's newly vamped defensive line is expensive, and for good reason. 1/3rd of Baylor's 75 total tackles came from 3 players.
We have a lot to work on, but we saw enough tonight to give us some hope that it's beginning to turn around. I think people tend to forget just how close those Cam Newton games were. We barely beat Kentucky and Clemson had to drop the ball in the end zone to save us. We might not have had a lot to cheer about since 2019, but seeing the stadium packed full for these past 6 years says a lot about Auburn.
Thomas Porter