Auburn Tigers vs. Baylor Bears Football Recap

Saturday night gave us one of the best games of the week, with the Baylor Bears taking on Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium. D.J. Lagway’s first game with the Bears had its ups and downs, but their defense was the story of the game.

Baylor’s first drive went 45 yards down the field and into field goal range for the Bears’ kicker. Lagway hadn’t attempted a pass yet, but on 3rd and 2, he rolled out on a designed run and fumbled near the sideline, resulting in a turnover. Going 0/0 with a turnover isn’t the best stat line to start the game, but the Bears’ defense held Auburn to a field goal after the turnover. Lagway ended up completing 27/54 pass attempts for 333 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Gavin Freeman led the Bears with 12 receptions and a touchdown.

The Tigers didn’t have a flawless passing game either. Byrum Brown went 26/35 for 259 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. He was also sacked five times on Saturday. However, on the go-ahead drive, we got to see Brown show off his athleticism as he marched the Tigers down the field, capping off the drive with an 11-yard physical touchdown run to put Auburn up 17-10 with a little over three minutes left on the clock.

The real headline of this game was on the other side of the field. Both defenses forced five turnovers in total. There were 19 tackles for loss on Saturday night, including six sacks. Yes, both offenses made unforced errors, but the physicality on the defensive side of the ball changed the way both offenses had to operate. The game-ending goal-line stop on the two-point conversion perfectly summed up how the game was played: big offensive plays were constantly being trumped by physical defensive stops.