Baylor
0-1 , 0-0
Auburn
1-0 , 0-0
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 16 |
| Auburn | 3 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
Game-Winning Conversion Falls Short, Auburn Outlasts Bears in Atlanta
9/5/2026 6:40:00 PM | Football
After the Bears used a 22-yard field goal from Rhett Armstrong to even the game at 10-10 with 7:11 left, and Auburn drove 75 yards to take a 17-10 lead, Baylor mounted a potential game-winning drive in the closing minutes of the game.
Baylor drove 75 yards on 14 plays after getting the ball with 3:21 left in the game. Sparked by two fourth-down conversions, both to Gavin Freeman, including a 28-yard strike and a fourth-and-goal from the five-yard line for a TD that cut the lead to 17-16, the Bears made a decision to go for the game-winning two-point conversion.
Lagway found Klopfenstein in the flat on the attempted conversion, but Auburn's Eric Winters made a heroic stop, just inches short of the goal line, leading the Tigers to the win.
"Everyone believed we were going to win, said head coach Dave Aranda. "I did. And we fought to try to get that win. We have multiple guys that were injured in the game and were out of the game and then came back in to play and, so, fought to come back in. So guys were playing through pain, discomfort and all that. That's one of the reasons for going for it. A bunch of guys getting Band-Aid up, and we had a chance to kind of close it out. We wanted to try to do that. But way proud. The loss hurts. I think the belief throughout was that we were going to win, and so it's disappointing."
The Bears rolled to 436 yards of total offense against an Auburn team that ranked among the nation's best a year ago. And the Baylor defense proved up to the task of facing the high-tempo Auburn offense under first-year head coach Alex Golesh, holding the Tigers to 389 yards, including 130 on the ground, and picked off three passes, with interceptions from Micah Gifford, Reggie Bush II and Devon Jordan.
Baylor's (0-1) narrow setback featured the historic outing from Freeman, who set career highs in catches (12), yards (154), adding a touchdown. The 5-foot-9 Oklahoma State transfer came up big repeatedly, with two catches coming on third down and the two crucial fourth-down grabs on the final drive.
Lagway, making his first start in a Baylor uniform after transferring from Florida, battled through an early game injury to push his Bears to the brink of the win. He finished 27-for-54 for 333 yards and two TDs.
Dawson Pendergrass, returning from a season-ending injury last year in the preseason, toted the rock a career-high 25 times for 88 yards. Caden Knighten chipped in 12 carries for 33 yards.
Louis Brown IV had five catches for 62 yards, including his second career BU touchdown and the 10th of his career, and Jadon Porter set a career-high with five catches for 77 yards, including a contested 27-yard grab on third down on the final drive that pushed the ball to the Auburn four-yard line.
"I do think that there's a lot to be said about going and playing a good football team week one," said Auburn's head coach Alex Golesh. "I think that's a really good football team in the sense that they will go and have a lot of success in that league. They play really hard. The quarterback is a tough, tough -- if you've got any question on how tough that kid is, like I said earlier in the week, I don't know him, but he got banged up early, and that is a tough, tough football player."
The Baylor defense was led by the three interceptions from its secondary but got career games from defensive lineman Devonte Tezino, who had his first career two-sack game. Travion Barnes and Devin Turner had team-high nine tackles each, with Turner owning a TFL and a PBU.
Kyland Reed had seven tackles, and a TFL, Daniel Cobbs had a sack and Jordan Mack and Garrick Ponder each charted sacks, as the Baylor defense accounted for five total sacks and 11 TFLs.
Auburn (1-0) got 259 yards passing from Byrum Brown, the South Florida transfer, who threw three interceptions and added 21 carries for 27 yards and a TD. Jeremiah Cobb rushed 12 times for 53 yards and a score.
Devonte Tezino recorded his first career two-sack game, ending with four tackles, two tackles for a loss of 11 yards and a pass breakup. Garrick Ponder recorded a sack among three solo tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss of nine yards.
The Bears open their home schedule on Saturday, playing host to defending SWAC Champion Prairie View A&M (0-1) at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ and the Baylor Sports Media Network.
The Tigers then used a 30-yard catch and run to spark a drive that ended in a 43-yard field goal from Auburn McPherson with 8:13 left in the first.
An interception on the next drive for the Bears gave Auburn the ball at its 28 yard line but the Bears forced a quick three-and-out, the first of two straight drives forcing a punt with -17 total yards from the Tigers on six plays.
A 10-play, 50-yard drive ended in a missed Rhett Armstrong field goal and a seven-play, 30-yard drive led to a punt from Palmer Williams that was fair caught at the two-yard line.
Baylor's defense got a Bush interception on the drive inside the Baylor five-yard line, stopping a 50-yard drive for the Tigers, who stiffened defensively to force a three-and-out and a 54-yard punt from Williams.
The Tigers drove 57 yards on five plays to take a 10-0 lead with 3:51 left in the second quarter, getting in the end zone on a 15-yard scamper from Jeremiah Cobb.
Baylor answered, driving 75 yards on nine plays, with Brown connecting with Lagway on a 14-yard TD, hauling it in on the one-yard line and fighting his way in, to cut the lead to 10-7 with 90 seconds left in the half.
BU's defense intercepted another Brown toss to end the half, trailing 10-7. Baylor had 235 yards of total offense, including 199 passing, while Auburn had 204 yards, with 145 passing.
After stopping Baylor on the opening drive of the second stanza, Auburn missed a 43-yard field goal wide on its first drive on the third quarter.
The Bears couldn't convert a fourth and two from the Auburn 16-yard line after a 58-play drive but the defense stiffed again with a stop on its side of the 50-yard line to take over on its own 15 with 4:08 left in the third.
Baylor was forced to a three-and-out by the Tigers and then stopped a 30-yard, eight-play drive with a stop on a fake punt on the BU 34-yard line to end the quarter.
The Bears and Tigers traded stops on their next two drives, with Gifford picking off a pass on the first play of the AU drive. That turnover sparked a 13-play, 45-yard drive that finished with the 22-yard field goal from Armstrong to even the game at 10.
With 7:11 left in the game, Auburn went on a 10-play, 75-yard drive to take a 17-10 lead with 3:21 left, soaking up nearly four minutes off the clock. Brown punched in a QB run from 11 yards out, on a drive that featured two crucial third-down conversions, including a 28-yard find from Brown to Chas Nimrod.
That led to Baylor's potential game-winning drive. A third-and-one conversion from its own 34 started the chains moving. The Bears faced a fourth-and-10 from its own 36 with the game on the line. Lagway found Freeman in traffic over the middle for 28 yards.
After the two-minute timeout, the Bears had a five-yard rush from Pendergrass and missed on a TD strike from 31 yards out that was narrowly dropped. On the next play, Lagway found Porter for 27 yards over the middle, and after a pair of rushes and a missed connection, Lagway found Freeman in the flat for a five-yard TD with nine seconds left.
Coach Dave Aranda immediately went for two, with the play going to Klopfenstein, the senior tight end, who was stopped inches short of the goal line.
Players Mentioned
Team Stats
BAY 0, AUB 3
AUB - McPherson,Alex 43 yd field goal 7 plays, 45 yards, TOP 01:52
BAY 0, AUB 10
AUB - Cobb,Jeremiah 15 yd run (McPherson,Alex kick), 5 plays, 57 yards, TOP 02:01
BAY 7, AUB 10
BAY - Brown IV,Louis 14 yd pass from Lagway,DJ (Armstrong,Rhett kick) 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:21
BAY 10, AUB 10
BAY - Armstrong,Rhett 22 yd field goal 13 plays, 45 yards, TOP 04:34
BAY 10, AUB 17
AUB - Brown,Byrum 11 yd run (McPherson,Alex kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:50
BAY 16, AUB 17
BAY - Freeman,Gavin 5 yd pass from Lagway,DJ () 14 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:12
