Auburn got out of Week 1 with a 17-16 win over Baylor, but nobody inside the building is pretending it was clean.
The Tigers had trouble finding any real rhythm on offense, and while the defense held up well enough, there were also a few shaky moments that Baylor failed to fully cash in on. That kind of opener can leave a fan base uneasy, but it also comes with an obvious caveat: this is still the first game under Alex Golesh, with several players brought over from USF still settling in and a tough nonconference test right out of the gate.
Golesh isn’t asking anyone to overreact to one game. He’s looking at the bigger arc.
“Really good football teams get better as it goes,” he said. “I think the level of competition has something to do with that too… Your rhythm gets better as it goes.
You’re more in sync. You miss less tackles.
You get aligned quicker. Coaches get in better rhythm.”
That idea fits what Auburn showed against Baylor. The problems weren’t mysterious, and they weren’t the sort that usually linger forever.
The biggest one was inside, where the Tigers cycled through three players at each guard spot. That kind of rotation can keep a staff searching, but it also makes it hard to build cohesion, and the rushing game paid the price.
That competition is expected to keep going into the Southern Mississippi game, with Auburn still trying to sort out which players fit best where. Over time, the separation should become clearer, and names like Kail Ellis and Deryc Plazz have already put themselves in the conversation for starting jobs. Even so, the battle isn’t over, especially with SEC play coming down the line.
There’s also the turnover issue, and that one was louder than most. Byrum Brown threw three interceptions against Baylor, nearly cutting in half the total he had for all of last season.
Golesh and Joel Gordon have already taken responsibility for two of them, while the third still sits more squarely on Brown. That’s another area Auburn will have to clean up if it wants the offense to move with more confidence.
One week in, the Tigers are still a work in progress. But if the blocking settles down and the turnovers come down, the offense should be in a much better place when the SEC schedule arrives.
In Other News...
Auburns Offensive Line Faces An Early Test Fans Cant Ignore
Auburn spent its season opener at Baylor sorting through the kind of offensive line issues that tend to linger if they are not cleaned up quickly. The staff rotated multiple players at guard, and the shuffling showed up in the ground game, leaving the Tigers with some obvious work to do before the season settles into a rhythm.
Alex Golesh said he liked the way the group has responded to coaching and kept working, which matters with Southern Mississippi next on the schedule. The official depth chart still shows several players in the mix at guard, so Auburn is clearly trying to find the right combination without letting the early-season uncertainty spill into another week. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Fans Just Got A Reminder What Saraland Keeps Producing
SEC Media Days gave Auburn fans one more reminder of the talent pipeline coming out of Saraland, where Alabama wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams took time to praise former teammate DeShawn Spencer and credit the work ethic that developed during their high school days. It was the kind of comment that fits neatly with what Saraland has built under coach Jeff Kelly, a program that has turned itself into a steady source of college and pro players and takes obvious pride in that lineage.
Kelly folded Coleman-Williams words into Saralands pregame video, which already features highlights of former Spartans now playing in college and the NFL. The video, produced by Saraland graduate Jeremy Haney, plays before home games and serves as another reminder of how tightly the school ties its current team to the players who came before it, with Spencer and Coleman-Williams just the latest names to keep that reputation alive. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Tried To Ease One Big Fear About Losing A Home Game
Auburns decision to shift its 2026 football season opener against Baylor from Jordan-Hare Stadium to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta raised a familiar worry around town: what happens when a home date disappears from the fall calendar? The move, part of the Aflac Kickoff, leaves the Tigers with six home games, and it immediately prompted questions about the economic ripple effect for a city that leans heavily on game-day traffic.
Auburn athletics has since tried to ease that concern by pointing to a broader picture of how the city benefits when big events come to town. The school released a report comparing the impact of the Baylor game change with past football dates, and city officials have already cited the international soccer friendly between Argentina and Iceland in Auburn as proof that the local economy can absorb and even benefit from major events beyond football, with Camp War Eagle also helping shape hotel occupancy during that week. [Read more 🡒]