Auburn Opens a New Era With Last Year’s Opponent

Auburn and Baylor meet Saturday, Sept. 5, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a rematch of last year’s 38-24 opener the Tigers moved off their own campus. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC in the Aflac Kickoff Game.

Alex Golesh’s first Auburn Saturday is not a true first look. Bryson Washington ran for Baylor in Waco last August. Byrum Brown already beat DJ Lagway when Golesh’s South Florida team won in Gainesville.

Why Auburn vs Baylor Is in Atlanta

This was supposed to be Auburn’s home date in a two-game series agreed to in 2018. After the Tigers won in Waco, they shifted the return from Jordan-Hare Stadium to downtown Atlanta last October, a designated home game parked in a rented dome for NIL money and an afternoon ABC window.

Fans asked the obvious question when the move landed: why give up a home opener on purpose? The Kickoff Classic pays, and the television slot is the one schools chase in Week 1. It still leaves Golesh’s debut off the Plains, in a building that will treat Auburn as the home side on paper only.

Peach Bowl, Inc. president and CEO Gary Stokan called Atlanta the capital of college football when the sixth meeting, tied 2-2-1, was locked for Sept. 5. The series dates to 1954. Baylor had not played in the city since Georgia Tech in 1993, a 33-year gap. It is the Bears’ first Aflac Kickoff. Auburn is 2-1 in the event, with wins over Washington in 2018 and Louisville in 2015 and a loss to Clemson in 2012.

FROM WACO TO A RENTED DOME

1. 2018: Auburn and Baylor agree to a home-and-home.
2. August 29, 2025: Auburn wins 38-24 at McLane Stadium in Waco.
3. October 2025: Auburn moves the Jordan-Hare return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
4. September 5, 2026: The Tigers and Bears kick at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

The winner takes the Old Leather Helmet, a trophy the head coach is supposed to wear on the field. Aflac and the Peach Bowl also point to Kickoff for a Cause, which they say has raised more than $1.2 million for families facing pediatric cancer. Tickets for Saturday were listed from $78.

Last Year’s 38-24 Still Hangs Over Both Sidelines

Baylor piled up the yards and still lost. Sawyer Robertson threw for 419 yards and three touchdowns on 27 of 48 throws, the most passing yards Auburn had given up since 2016. The Bears finished with 483 total yards. Auburn answered with 307 yards rushing in a 38-24 win and held the ball 33:18 to 26:42.

Jackson Arnold, then an Oklahoma transfer in his Auburn debut, ran 16 times for 137 yards and two scores. Damari Alston added 84 yards and a touchdown. Jeremiah Cobb, who is still in Golesh’s backfield, ran 16 times for 74 yards and scored from the 2. Rayshawn Pleasant returned a kickoff 98 yards after Baylor had pulled within a score.

WACO, AUGUST 29, 2025

Washington was Baylor’s leading rusher that night, 14 carries for 54 yards, with no score. The Bears managed 64 rushing yards as a team. That is the tape Aranda’s staff has to live with, and the tape Washington now hands to Auburn’s meeting rooms.

Bryson Washington Changes Jerseys for Saturday

Washington entered the portal on Jan. 4 and landed on the Plains later that month. He had been Baylor’s leading rusher the previous two seasons, including a 2024 year of more than 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns. Injuries limited him in 2025 before the jump.

He missed spring practice after the transfer. Golesh said in camp that Washington was not there yet. By late August the back was on the field, and he told reporters he was treating Baylor as another opponent even as he looked forward to seeing old teammates.

“I’m most definitely looking forward to it, playing my old team, but I look at it as just another game, so we just got to go handle that.”

Cobb is the featured back. Washington is the one Baylor has to scheme for because he already knows the calls, the voices, and the gaps Aranda’s defense used to open for him. Dave Aranda, in his seventh season in Waco, did not pretend otherwise.

I want to see him win that job. But in this game, we’re going to have to build it to try to stop him.

Dave Aranda, Baylor head coach

Aranda also said he wants success for a former player outside this one afternoon. Inside the lines, Baylor has to replace the production it lost when Washington and Joseph Dodds left the running-back room. Dawson Pendergrass is back from foot surgery. Caden Knighten, who caught a touchdown against Auburn last year, is still there.

The Quarterbacks Already Have a Head-to-Head

The other rerun is at quarterback. Brown followed Golesh from Tampa after a 2025 season of 3,158 passing yards and 28 touchdowns, plus 1,008 rushing yards and 14 scores. Auburn’s staff lists him as the 12th player in FBS history to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 in the same season.

Lagway is the former five-star who left Florida after Billy Napier was fired. He is the son of Derek Lagway, a Baylor running back from 1997 to 2001, and he signed in Waco in January after a portal stay that included an Ole Miss visit. He has two seasons of eligibility left.

They have already shared a field. On Sept. 6, 2025, South Florida beat Florida 18-16 in Gainesville. Lagway completed 23 of 33 throws for 222 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Golesh’s last USF team also beat Boise State that September and finished 9-3, reaching the AP poll for the first time since 2018.

WHO CHANGED SIDES BEFORE SATURDAY

• Alex Golesh: Left South Florida on Nov. 30, 2025, as Auburn’s 33rd head coach, bringing the offense that ranked No. 2 nationally at 501.7 yards per game.
• Byrum Brown: Followed Golesh to Auburn after the 3,000/1,000 season and now starts the first Saturday of that staff on a Power Four defense.
• DJ Lagway: Left a 4-8 Florida team for his father’s school, replacing Sawyer Robertson, who threw for 419 yards in last year’s loss.
• Bryson Washington: Left Baylor for Auburn and now lines up across from the defense that used to block for him.

Golesh called the week a unique challenge with a ton of newness on both sides and said he has respect for what Aranda has built. He also said the wait has felt surreal, excitement mixed with how fast the months moved after the hire.

Golesh Walks Into Six Thin Seasons

Golesh, 42, is the fourth full-time coach to lead Auburn since 2020. Gus Malzahn was fired in 2020, Bryan Harsin in 2022, Hugh Freeze on Nov. 2, 2025. Freeze went 15-19 overall and 6-16 in the SEC. The Tigers have now had six straight seasons with six wins or fewer, including 5-7 a year ago, when they went unbeaten outside the league and won one conference game.

Athletic director John Cohen had looked at Golesh in 2022 and hired Freeze instead, wanting head-coaching experience. The second pass came after Freeze’s offense finished 80th in total yards and 75th in scoring. Golesh signed a six-year contract. Cohen said he had produced wins and record-setting results, including those three years in Tampa.

The USF file is the one Auburn is buying. Golesh inherited a program that had won four games in three seasons, then went 7-6, 7-6 and 9-3 at South Florida. Sports-Reference carries the career mark at 23-15. The first Bulls team jumped from 1-11 to 7-6 and shut out Syracuse 45-0 in the Boca Raton Bowl. The 2025 group ranked No. 5 in scoring at 43.0 points per game and posted 500-plus yards in eight of its last nine.

That is the clip Auburn wants. The catch inside the building is simpler: the same staff is installing that pace with a lot of the same South Florida skill players, on a roster that has to survive Georgia, Alabama, and the rest of the SEC after this commercial break in Atlanta. Golesh said this week the team is in a really good spot on gameday prep and that those details started earlier in camp than they had in Tampa.

Fourteen Picks Travel With Baylor’s New Quarterback

Lagway’s 2025 line is the other number hanging over the dome. He completed 213 of 337 throws for 2,264 yards and 16 touchdowns, a 63.2 percent clip, and he threw 14 interceptions on 337 attempts, most among SEC quarterbacks. His rating sat at 127.0. Florida’s official ledger matches the counting stats game by game.

The low point was LSU: 33 of 49, 287 yards, one touchdown, five interceptions in a 20-10 loss. He still had the Florida-Texas tape, 298 yards and two scores in a 29-21 win. Over two seasons he is 4,179 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions, with a 10-9 record in 19 starts.

LAGWAY IN 2025, BEFORE THE MOVE TO WACO

• Volume: 213 of 337, 2,264 yards, 16 touchdowns in 12 games.
• The picks: 14 interceptions, 4.2 percent of his attempts.
• The dual threat: 71 carries, 136 yards, one rushing score.
• The career file: 23 interceptions against 28 touchdowns in two Florida seasons.

Baylor is handing him Jake Spavital’s third-year offense, a system that lived on RPOs a year ago, and a defense Aranda says the school funded more heavily than it had before, with Joe Klanderman now running that side. The Bears also finished 5-7. They lost Robertson to the next level and rebuilt the receivers after Josh Cameron, Kole Wilson, and Kobe Prentice left. Lagway is the bet that a new playbook cleans up the giveaways without sanding off the arm that made him a five-star.

Bettors Price a New Staff Like an Old Favorite

Last year in Waco, Auburn was a 1.5-point favorite on the road and won by 14. This year the Tigers are a 7.5-point favorite in a stadium that is home to neither locker room, with a total of 58.5 and a moneyline of Auburn -300, Baylor +240, as of Sept. 2.

THE LINE, THEN AND NOW

The number assumes Golesh’s tempo shows up on the first Saturday and that Lagway’s 14 picks follow him out of the SEC. It also assumes Atlanta plays like a home game Auburn chose not to keep. A Group of 6 staff installing a Group of 6 quarterback against Power Four length is still a first-night problem, and Baylor’s RPO diet is a better fit for Lagway than the Florida calls he had a year ago.

Golesh already has 23 wins over three seasons at South Florida on the resume Auburn bought. Saturday is the first time that file meets a defense that does not live in the American Conference. The helmet trophy comes out after the clock, and both staffs will try to look new while running a game they have already played.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of a college football game and associated betting lines, and it is for information only. It is not betting advice, a tip, or a recommendation to wager on Auburn, Baylor, the spread, the total, or any other market. Anyone considering a bet should consult a licensed gambling counselor or other qualified professional and follow the laws where they live. Scores, depth charts, and odds reflect the sources available on Sept. 3, 2026, and can change before kickoff.