Alex Golesh's Auburn Tigers are officially 1-0. The sweep of the Baylor Bears in a home-and-1.5-hours-away-from-home series is complete. AU won its first one-point game away from Jordan-Hare Stadium since the "Camback." Golesh now has half as many one-score wins as Hugh Freeze had during his entire two-and-a-half-year tenure.
With that said, you couldn't have produced more cortisol in Tiger fans watching this game if you tried. The Toomer's Corner tree rolls are going to hit different tonight after a 17-16 win that came down to a failed Bears two-point conversion attempt with nine seconds remaining.
Safety Eric Winters was the defensive hero who stopped Baylor tight end Matthew Klopfenstein from getting into the end zone on the very last offensive play for the Bears. Byrum Brown was the offensive hero during the previous drive, scoring on an 11-yard touchdown run with 3:26 on the clock.
There were great developments throughout the 60 minutes in Atlanta, no doubt. Brown was efficient, well, aside from his three picks, completing 26/35 of his passes. His favorite targets were exactly who the Tigers need them to be: former USF receivers Keshaun Singleton, Jeremiah Koger, and Chas Nimrod. The run defense contained every Baylor running back to 3.5 yards per carry or fewer.
Golesh even seemed to give a nod to the Auburn family when he heavily featured tight end Jake Johnson from the jump. Johnson got three targets his way on the very first drive and hauled in his first two. Tight end was certainly a weak point for the team in 2025.
The cherry on top was Bryce Cain busting out for a 25-yard run in the second quarter. Cain was the only one of the "Freeze Four" receivers to stay this past offseason and had been moved to the secondary in fall camp. His patience was rewarded in the emotional win.
Golesh made it clear in his postgame interview what needs to improve immediately, though. Because, as the undefeated head coach on the Plains noted, this win wasn't pretty.
Auburn's offensive line is not ready for SEC play
Baylor brought a strong defensive line into Week 1, as head coach Dave Aranda noted they would. The Bears' defensive trenches were always going to bring it. Brown was hit five times behind the line of scrimmage, though, and Baylor had six other tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
The first thing Golesh called out postgame that had to improve was the pass protection. He also noted that the running game needs to improve. Jeremiah Cobb led the running back room with 4.4 yards per carry on 12 carries.
In the SEC, this offensive trench standard isn't high enough. Georgia and LSU's defensive front will have their way with this level of offensive line play in October. Let's hope that Week 1 was a case of five new starters getting accustomed to each other and not a sign of things to come.
It doesn't help that guards Cole Skinner and Jacob Strand both went down. Golesh said they'd be alright, but this offensive line badly needs reps in practice. USM will be a nice break next week, but Florida looms in Week 3.
Auburn's defense must be situationally better
Golesh also noted the defense's issues with third- and fourth-down situations. Baylor converted 4/6 attempts on fourth down.
While the Tigers' defense had two turnovers, a Jared Smith interception and a fumble recovery from Kaleb Harris, courtesy of more timely play from Winters, they can stand to improve when it comes to getting the offense back on the field.
Golesh's program got the job done. They won't keep getting the job done if they don't improve exactly where Golesh claimed they need to.
Auburn actually got the job done, though. War Damn to that.
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