By: D’Andre McKenzie 9.5.2026
One of the wildest games of the opening weekend of college football took place on Saturday, September 5, 2026, when the Auburn Tigers and Baylor Bears met inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the Aflac Kickoff Game.
The matchup was a rematch of the teams’ 2025 season opener in Waco, Texas, where Auburn defeated Baylor 38-24. One year later, the two programs met again with the same result, although this time the Tigers had to survive until the final seconds.
Auburn escaped Atlanta with a dramatic 17-16 victory, starting the Alex Golesh era at 1-0 while sending Baylor home at 0-1.
The game was technically played at a neutral site, but it replaced what was originally supposed to be Auburn’s home game in the home-and-home series. The matchup was moved from Jordan-Hare Stadium to Atlanta as part of an arrangement that created additional NIL opportunities for Auburn’s players while placing the game on a larger national stage.
Despite the neutral location, there was nothing neutral about the crowd.
Auburn fans made up the overwhelming majority of the announced attendance of 55,068. From inside the stadium, it felt like the crowd was roughly 80 percent Auburn and 20 percent Baylor, which was not surprising considering Atlanta is only about a two-hour drive from Auburn. Tigers fans turned Mercedes-Benz Stadium into a legitimate home-field advantage.
Expectations were high among that Auburn crowd. The Tigers entered the game as approximately 6.5-point favorites, and most of the fans I spoke with before kickoff expected Auburn to take care of business.
However, both teams entered the season with plenty to prove.
Auburn and Baylor each finished 5-7 in 2025 and missed out on bowl eligibility. Both programs also entered the new season with new offensive and defensive coordinators, while Auburn was beginning an entirely new chapter under Golesh following the departure of Hugh Freeze.
For Auburn, this season represents another attempt to restore a program that was competing for championships not too long ago. For Baylor, it is an opportunity to rebound in the Big 12 behind a new quarterback with plenty of talent and national recognition.
That quarterback, DJ Lagway, made his Baylor debut after transferring from Florida. His first appearance in a Bears uniform was far from perfect, but he showed plenty of toughness and nearly led Baylor to a comeback victory.
Auburn struck first with a 43-yard field goal from Alex McPherson, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the opening quarter. Auburn extended that advantage to 10-0 late in the second quarter when Jeremiah Cobb scored on a 15-yard run.
Baylor finally broke through before halftime when Lagway connected with Louis Brown IV for a 14-yard touchdown, cutting Auburn’s lead to 10-7 with 1:30 remaining in the half.
Neither offense could find any consistency during the third quarter, and the score remained 10-7 entering the fourth.
Baylor moved the ball throughout the game, finishing with 436 total yards, but almost every promising possession seemed to end with something going wrong. The Bears lost a fumble, threw an interception, missed a field goal and failed on multiple fourth-down attempts. It felt like anything that could go wrong for Baylor after crossing midfield did.
Auburn certainly benefited from those mistakes, but the Tigers’ defense also deserves credit for creating many of them. Eric Winters forced Lagway’s first-quarter fumble, Jared Smith intercepted him on Baylor’s following possession and the Tigers repeatedly tightened up when the Bears entered scoring territory.
Baylor eventually tied the game at 10 when Rhett Armstrong made a 22-yard field goal with 7:11 remaining. Auburn responded with its best drive of the afternoon.
Byrum Brown led the Tigers 75 yards on 10 plays, keeping the drive alive with several important third-down conversions. With 3:21 remaining, Brown took off for an 11-yard touchdown run that put Auburn back in front 17-10.
That was when the game went from a defensive battle to complete madness.
Baylor received the ball with 3:21 remaining and began one final 75-yard drive. Facing fourth-and-10 from its own 36-yard line, Lagway found Gavin Freeman for a 28-yard completion that kept the Bears alive.
Lagway later connected with Jadon Porter for 27 yards, moving Baylor inside Auburn’s five-yard line. On fourth-and-goal, with the game hanging in the balance, Lagway found Freeman again for a five-yard touchdown.
With nine seconds remaining, Baylor trailed 17-16 and had a decision to make.
Head coach Dave Aranda could send out the kicking unit for an extra point and potentially force overtime, or he could trust his offense to gain three yards and win the game immediately. After Baylor’s earlier kicking issues, Aranda chose to go for two.
Lagway rolled to his right and completed a short pass in the flat to tight end Matthew Klopfenstein. For a split second, it looked like Baylor might complete the comeback.
Then Eric Winters made the play of the game.
Winters read the play, closed the distance and brought Klopfenstein down inches short of the goal line. It was a game-saving tackle that secured Golesh’s first victory as Auburn’s head coach and sent the Auburn-heavy crowd into a frenzy.
Freeman was one of the biggest stories of the afternoon despite Baylor’s loss. The Oklahoma State transfer finished with career highs of 12 receptions and 154 yards while adding the late touchdown. He was open throughout the game and consistently delivered when Baylor needed him most. If Freeman continues producing performances like this, he could find himself in the All-American conversation by the end of the season.
Lagway finished 27 of 54 for 333 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw an interception and lost a fumble, but he battled through an early injury and gave Baylor a chance to win the game in the final seconds.
Brown completed 26 of 35 passes for 259 yards but threw three interceptions. He also rushed 21 times for 27 yards and scored what became the game-winning touchdown. It was not his cleanest performance, but when Auburn needed a scoring drive, he delivered.
This was not a dominant Auburn victory. It was messy, physical and decided by a matter of inches. Baylor could easily argue that it let the game slip away through turnovers, missed opportunities and failures in Auburn territory. At the same time, Auburn made the decisive play when everything was on the line.
The Tigers left Atlanta with Golesh’s first victory and their 10th consecutive season-opening win. Their fans were able to make the short trip home as happy campers, although many of them admitted after the game that they still need to see more before they are completely convinced about this team.
That is fair. Auburn has plenty to clean up, especially after committing three turnovers and struggling to finish drives. Still, starting a new era with a win is much better than the alternative.
Auburn will host Southern Miss next Saturday, while Baylor will return to Waco for its home opener against Prairie View A&M. Both teams should be favored in those matchups as they attempt to build momentum before the more difficult portion of their schedules begins.
The Aflac Kickoff Game has developed a reputation for delivering memorable opening-weekend matchups, and this year’s edition continued that tradition. It was not always pretty, but it was tense, unpredictable and decided on one of the most dramatic defensive plays of the weekend.
For Golesh and Auburn, it was the perfect way to begin a new era.
For Baylor, it was a painful reminder that sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is only a few inches.