Greg McElroy names major SEC program in a 'dangerous spot' in Week 1

Week 1 offers the shot at some impressive upsets. One could be brewing on Friday for the Auburn Tigers in their road trip to Baylor, per ESPN's Greg McElroy. The Tigers are a very slight road favorite in the Week 1 battle, but that doesn't mean that there's not room for concern. McElroy laid out his concerns with the Tigers in ESPN's Always College Football podcast.

Defensive challenges for Auburn

I think defensively [Auburn] should be good at all three levels. But they're now going on the road to a Baylor team that has been very outspoken about the importance of this game, not just for Baylor, but for the Big 12 as a whole. Baylor brings back an experienced quarterback who was playing his best football down the stretch last year in Sawyer Robertson. They have an elite running back in Bryson Washington, that can take the game over, a 1,000 yard ball carrier a year ago.
Greg McElroy

McElroy's take on the Baylor offense is well rooted in fact. The Bears finished the 2024 regular season with six straight victories, led largely by Robertson, who passed for 3,071 yards and 28 touchdowns. Washington had a brilliant freshman season, rushing for 1,028 yards and 12 scores. In that six-game streak, Robertson had 17 touchdowns and four interceptions, while Washington topped 100 rushing yards five times and had four multi-touchdown games.

While Auburn's defense was competent in 2024, they were gashed for over 450 yards in the season's final two games against Texas A&M and Alabama. Auburn gave up over 150 yards rushing in each game and over 250 yards passing in each as well.

Baylor's other potential advantage

Dave Aranda, [Baylor's] head coach and defensive mastermind, has had an off-season to prepare for what Hugh Freeze might throw at him from an offensive standpoint. What Dave Aranda will do is make things cloudy for a quarterback that in the past has had some challenges with confidence and with delivering the football accurately into tight windows. I think it's a very dangerous spot for Auburn on Friday night.
Greg McElroy

While Dave Aranda's Baylor defense wasn't epic in 2024 (26.7 points per game allowed), during that late season run, the Bears did a nice job of forcing turnovers. Baylor had at least one interception in five of those six games and posted a positive turnover margin in five of the six games.

Additionally, the pass defense did get stingy for the Bears on yardage down the stretch. Three times in the six-game run, opposing passers were held to under 6.2 yards per pass attempt and only once did Baylor allow 10 yards per pass. Meanwhile, Auburn threw 13 interceptions last year and Arnold only topped 6.3 yards per pass attempt once last year at Oklahoma, with that game coming against FCS opponent Maine.

Auburn and Hugh Freeze are a 2.5 point favorite on the road, but McElroy's twin points establish that the Tigers could indeed be in a very dangerous spot on Friday.

Defensive challenges for Auburn

Baylor's other potential advantage

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