Baylor is ready for the Auburn Tigers: 'A switch has been flipped'
This moment has been building since Baylor's loss to LSU in its bowl game. The Bears will look to not only avenge their loss to an SEC school, but start off 2025 with a bang. Baylor has a tough four-week stretch but a win over Auburn on Friday could give the Bears the confidence they need to get through it.
Offensive lineman Ryan Lengyel said a switch has been flipped for Baylor. Now, the team can really start focusing on their week-to-week opponent, starting with the Auburn Tigers.
"I feel like the switch has been flipped," Lengyel said on Tuesday. "What we are doing is focusing more on details of our other opponents, where we had been focusing a lot on our defense, getting our offense together. Now we're switching our focus more into Auburn and how they're gonna attack us and how we need to play the game."
The Auburn Tigers won just five games a year ago and Hugh Freeze badly needs a successful season. He will pull out all the stunts in order to beat Baylor and get 2025 started with a win. Lengyel said the offensive line is expecting to go up against long and quick play from the Tigers' defensive line.
"A lot of size, we expect length for long arms and the edge rushers, they're quick on the edge," Lengyel said. "We expect some twist games, some smack gaps, whack and stuff like that. We expect a lot of size, but it's kind of hard first game.
"You don't know what they've added to their toolbox. You don't know how they've progressed from last year. And so we're kind of taking everything with a grain of salt and just kind of gonna be ready to adjust on the fly."
Offensively, Auburn has a dynamic wide receiving corps led by sophomore Cam Coleman and Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton. But that's not what Baylor head coach Dave Aranda says is the Tigers' strength: it's the run game. Baylor safety Devyn Bobby talked about how the Bears want to stop the Tigers' rushing game.
"Most definitely, you know, playing safety, we are in the run as well," Bobby said. "Nickel, safety, we're in the run as well. So, you know, that's our main goal. We want to stop the run. That's every week. Each team, we're trying to stop the run and we want them to pass more. So that's how I keep stopping the run."
Fans can tune in to watch the exciting Week 1 matchup on Friday at 7 p.m. CT on Fox.
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Trent is the Publisher of Baylor Bears on SI and also serves as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines on SI. His work has additionally been featured on Maryland on SI, Wisconsin on SI, and across the USA TODAY Sports network. Trent’s love of sports and being able to tell stories to fans is what made him get into writing.