The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Auburn's Win Over Baylor

Auburn had plenty of strong performances, but that doesn't mean the Tigers were perfect in its win over Baylor.

Aug 29, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; Auburn running back Damari Alston was one of three Tigers with a rushing touchdown in Friday's game. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers walked into Waco, TX, last night and beat the Baylor Bears 38-24. The Auburn offense executed the run game at a very high level, but could not do much in the passing game.

Simultaneously, the Tiger defense locked down the run, but could not stop Sawyer Robertson and the Bears offense from having their way in the passing game. Let’s look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from Auburn’s win last night. 

The Good

The Auburn rushing attack absolutely exploded onto the scene. In total, the Tigers rushed for 308 yards. The primary contributors to the run game were quarterback Jackson Arnold (137 yards) and running backs Damari Alston (84 yards) and Jeremiah Cobb (74 yards), with each of them having 16 carries a piece.

Arnold's 137 yards were a career high and marked the first time in two years a Tigers' quarterback had over 100 rushing yards in a game.

HAVE. A. DAY. @_JacksonArnold_ 😏

His second rushing touchdown of the day, 38-24 Auburn🔥 pic.twitter.com/CjwWq7q3yj

— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) August 30, 2025

Another good to take away from Friday night is that the Tigers had zero turnovers.

Arnold, despite not having much success through the air, did not very many poor decisions, often just pulling the ball down and running rather than trying to force a pass that isn’t there. The only real scare of a turnover was very early in the game when Arnold threw a pass backwards when trying to throw out of a sack.

The Auburn run defense was stout all night, too, only giving up 64 rushing yards. The defensive line made their presence felt in the run game, with backs often not getting past them and into the second level.

The defensive line had a total of four sacks on Robertson. The leading tackler for the Tigers was Kerryon Crawford with seven stops and a sack.

The Bad

The Tigers pass defense was getting shredded, to put it lightly.

Robertson had his way with the Tiger defense when using his arm. He went 27-of-48 for 419 yards and three touchdown passes, while averaging 8.7 yards per completion. 

SawDawg strikes on 4th down 🎯

📺: @CFBONFOX #SicEm pic.twitter.com/hpswwwjcTj

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) August 30, 2025

Auburn's conditioning was not where it needed to be, with the Tigers looking exhausted after long drives.  In the post-game press conference, Freeze was asked about the team looking ‘sluggish.'

 "Yeah, I have to go back and talk to my strength staff. I thought we were a little tired,” Freeze stated. I don't know if it was the heat or if we didn't prepare exactly right for it, but I thought we looked a little sluggish, and to see us fight through that and find a way to get a win and against a good opponent to open the year, I think we can really build upon it.”

The Ugly

Tackling. Tackling. Tackling.

The Tigers could not get guys to the ground in key situations. Seemingly refusing to wrap up the ball carrier to go for a big hit. Defensive coordinator DJ Durkin is well aware of the woes of his defense.

“We played a lot of guys, some guys were showing that they weren’t quite ready, but that's okay. We’ll get them ready," he said.

All in all, some people say, “A win is a win.” However, it is important to continue to do what you did that was successful, but improve on the things you did not do so well. Starting off this season with a win was near-essential for Freeze and Auburn, and they did not disappoint, 

The Tigers will be back in Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday, Sept. 6, against the Ball State Cardinals at 6:30 p.m. CT.