In their first true season-opening road game since 2002, the Auburn Tigers marched into Big 12 territory and started off their 2025 campaign with a 38-24 win over Baylor at McLane Stadium on Friday night.
Auburn has now won nine consecutive season openers, dating back to 2017. It’s the third-longest season-opening winning streak in program history. Three of them have come under head coach Hugh Freeze’s tutelage.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Pass defense a liability
Considered a strength heading into the season, Auburn’s secondary got torched on Friday night.
Baylor boasts one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 in Sawyer Robertson, who finished his night 27-of-48 with 419 yards and three touchdowns. He has a handful of weapons out wide – Kobe Prentice, Ashtyn Hawkins, Kole Wilson, and Michael Trigg, to name a few, who were thorns in the Tigers’ side.
And Auburn had no answer for them.
On the night, 319 of Baylor’s yards through the air resulted in gains of 15 yards or more, highlighted by pickups of 55 yards, 36 yards and a 33-yard touchdown. Wilson led the way with 134 yards on eight receptions, with Trigg tacking on an extra 99 yards on seven catches. The Bears had two more pass catchers go for more than 50 yards – Hawkins and Josh Cameron.
It’s the most passing yards Auburn has relinquished since 2021 against Mississippi State.
Potent rush attack, led by Arnold
No Jarquez Hunter? No problem.
It was the first game in four seasons without the program’s fourth-leading rusher. But Jackson Arnold, in his return to the Lone Star State – where he was the national player of the year coming out of high school – led Auburn’s rushing efforts with an adept performance with his legs.
Arnold finished the night as the Tigers’ leading rusher, showing his mobility on multiple occasions, with 137 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. He delivered the would-be dagger in the fourth quarter with a 27-yard touchdown scamper on Auburn’s final scoring drive.
Damari Alston followed suit with 84 yards on 16 carries, and Jeremiah Cobb was close behind with 74 yards on 16 carries. Per Justin Hokanson of On3Sports, Auburn’s 307 total rushing yards were more than any performance a year ago, excluding a 326-yard performance at Kentucky.
Room for improvement on crucial downs
The stats may tell a different story, but Auburn had trouble on crucial downs – defensively – on Friday.
The Tigers’ offense dominated on first down, averaging 6.4 yards on first down attempts with 204 of their 415 total yards coming in that regard – at the half, Auburn was averaging 7.3 yards per attempt. Conversely, Baylor gained 130 yards on first down, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt.
But there lies the problem.
Baylor only converted on 33.3% of its third-down attempts, but showed that it was willing to go for it on third and fourth downs repeatedly. It paid off as two of the Bears’ touchdowns came on fourth downs – a 55-yard blown coverage by Auburn and a conversion on a fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line.
The Tigers will return home next weekend, hosting Ball State at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
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