The Auburn Tigers football team is coming off a bye week, so one would think that Auburn news would be pretty quiet heading into Georgia. Instead, fans spent the week getting riled up over a big decision made by the Auburn Athletic Department.
Auburn announced that its 2026 matchup with Baylor, the second game in a home-and-home series after the Tigers traveled to Waco earlier this year, will be played in Atlanta at a neutral site.
Wednesday, on the SEC Coaches Teleconference, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin weighed in on the situation, taking aim at the Tigers for the decision to give up a big home game.
“I like our home games for our fans,” Kiffin said, per AL.com. “They get to come and it does a lot for our community and our town with all the people that come into town for the home games. So I wouldn’t want to take that away from our fans and our community. NIL dollars isn’t the answer to everything. (Auburn has) a lot of them over there. So, I prefer in that situation to keep supporting our community and our town and our university that’s been so great for us.”
Following the immediate negative reaction from the Auburn community upon the announcement, Athletic Director John Cohen revealed that the decision was directly tied to NIL dollars and was another decision made by the university based on money. The AD was forced to defend the move after fans were angry and the mayor of the city of Auburn expressed disappointment with the move.
“The amount of revenue it’s going to create for our student-athletes and future student-athletes through this opportunity really is something we could not walk away from,” he said. “I say that knowing that all of us that work at Auburn University have a responsibility to our community and the local businesses and to the city government, and we completely understand and take that responsibility seriously.”
Auburn and Baylor will meet at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to play in the 2026 Aflac Kickoff game next fall.