The Auburn Tigers haven't had an uber-competitive Week 1 matchup since the 2019 season, when Bo Nix outdueled Justin Herbert and the Oregon Ducks, 27-21, in Eugene and got what'd be one of the program's last great signature national victories before the post-COVID-19 NIL-era downturn.
Since then, Allen Greene and John Cohen have scheduled the Akron Zips, Mercer Bears, UMass Minutemen, and Alabama A&M Bulldogs before breaking that trend next Friday against the Baylor Bears on August 29 in Waco.
Saturday Down South's David Wasson condemned the program for booking Group of Five/FCS marshmallows in Week 1 during Joe Biden's administration.
"...taking on the Big 12 Bears represents a departure from the recent norm of cupcake opener scheduling for Auburn. The past 4 years – 2 under Freeze and 2 under Bryan Harsin – saw Auburn roll up 58.5 points per game in 4 home victories against powerhouses in Alabama A&M, Massachusetts, Mercer and Akron," Wasson wrote.
"Awesome, that’s 4-0 in Week 1 the past 4 years. But when the resulting campaigns end up with more losses than wins (5-7 in 2024, 6-7 in 2023, 5-7 in 2022 and 6-7 in 2021), what good was scheduling those marshmallows in the first place?"
Auburn played the Penn State Nittany Lions in Week 2 during the 2021 season. They played the California Golden Bears each of the last two seasons. Some teams choose Week 1 for big non-conference games against fellow Power 4 teams, some use Week 2.
Has AU learned its lesson? We'll see. Many see the Bears game as make-or-break for Freeze's tenure, so this game stands alone in time; possibly serving as the Tigers' momentum-building triumph, possibly being the beginning of the end.
Because it's a home-and-home with Baylor, they'll be back on the Plains in 2026. And that'll be a second straight year that this bogus narrative can't be used to discredit Auburn's schedule.
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