Countdown to Auburn vs. Baylor - #94 Bret Eddins

With 94 days left until the Auburn Tigers take on the Baylor Bears, we take a look back at a special moment from No. 94 Bret Eddins.

Bret Eddins was part of a fearsome 2004 Auburn Tigers defense that beat the Tennessee Vols twice en route to an undefeated season. | Cathy Clarke/News Sentinel via IMAGN

We are 94 days away from everybody’s favorite day of the year, the first college football Saturday for the Auburn Tigers. Except, it will be the first college football Friday when the Tigers take on the Baylor Bears on August 29, 2025. And we will be counting down the days to kickoff by former Tigers’ jersey numbers. Clocking in at number 94 is defensive end Bret Eddins.

Eddins was one of the first names that came to mind when this countdown was envisioned. He joined the Tigers out of Montgomery, Alabama, from Trinity Presbyterian High School in 2000. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Eddins was a Tiger from 2000-2004, and his most impactful season came during that 2004 season. And the reason Eddins was such an early name in the thought process of this countdown really stems from one play from that season.

2004 was a special season for the Tigers and Auburn fans, of course. And at some point during the season, the Auburn Family realized their Tigers were not likely to face an opposing team that could match up with them on the field. That train of confidence truly got on the tracks after Auburn defeated the defending national champion LSU Tigers. Eddins confirmed the team felt that confidence. 

“I think a lot of our players realized just how good that team could be that day,” Eddins told warblogle.com in 2009.

And it was in that LSU game that Eddins’s impact play would happen. All Tigers fans can immediately picture the specific play anytime you mention Eddins and LSU in the same sentence. Third and 32, five minutes left in the third quarter, Eddins launched off the line, blew by the right tackle, and absolutely annihilated LSU quarterback Marcus Randle. 

The impact the play had on the game was huge, obviously. But it was the impact that game had on the season, and Auburn football as a whole, that has kept the play rolling on in virtually every Auburn highlight and hype video since 2004. 

Auburn would go on to defeat LSU 10-9 and finish the season 13-0. Eddins would finish 2004 with two sacks to go along with 20 total tackles.