Auburn Football: Homecoming Week on The Plains

🏈 Good Morning, Auburn Family! Jordan-Hare was ROCKING this past weekend. You don’t want to miss the Cinematic Recap from Saturday’s win. 👇

It’s thrilling to kick off the year with another electric night at Jordan-Hare Stadium and a confident statement that we’re building something big. Our defense set the tone—holding Ball State to negative rushing yards for the first time since 2001, piling up fourteen tackles for loss and six sacks. That kind of physicality speaks volumes about this group’s character. With a sell-out crowd behind us for the 16th straight time, we know what defending this place looks like. We got the win, but more importantly, we’re excited about the work still ahead. The goals are high, the belief is real, and we’re just getting started.

War Eagle! — Head Coach Hugh Freeze

This week our theme is simple: Dream Big. As Mark Batterson reminds us in Chase the Lion, every great dream comes with risk, and the size of your dream is often the best measure of the size of your God. David’s mighty warriors didn’t achieve greatness by playing it safe—they stepped into impossible battles with courage and faith, chasing opportunities instead of excuses. That same mentality applies to us on the field. Against South Alabama, we can’t tiptoe or hold back; we have to attack with belief, with conviction, and with a relentless drive to turn our preparation into performance. The 2025 Auburn Tigers must decide what our legacy will be, and it starts with our willingness to dream big, trust big, and play big.

🟠 Having A Ball. Auburn defeated Ball State 42-3 in the Tigers’ home-opener, holding the Cardinals to minus-3 rushing yards. Jackson Arnold threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns, while Jeremiah Cobb rushed for 121 yards and two scores. The Tigers were ranked No. 24 in the AP Top-25.

🎥 Touchdown Highlights
🎥 Top Defensive Plays

🟠 Leading The Way. Auburn leads the SEC in both tackles for loss (19.0) and sacks (10.0), tying for the national lead in the latter. Pro Football Focus (PFF) named LB Xavier Atkins and CB Sylvester Smith to the SEC Team of the Week - Defense after their dominant performance this past weekend. All five of Xavier Atkins tackles vs. Ball State were solo stops, and he recorded career highs with 4.0 TFL and 2.0 sacks. Sylvester Smith led Auburn with six tackles, all solos.

🟠 Moving Up. Auburn appeared at No. 24 in the AP poll this week, marking the first time the Tigers have been ranked in the AP poll since being ranked No. 16 on Nov. 7, 2021.

🟠 Homecoming Week on The Plains. The Tigers will host South Alabama for the first time in school history this Saturday at 11:45 am CT for Homecoming. The game will be Auburn’s 17th consecutive sellout. Don’t forget to Wear White!

🟠 Auburn Made – NFL Week 1 Highlights. Many former Tigers were in action in week one of the NFL season! Check out the best of the week:

Roger McCreary (Tennessee Titans) — The corner hauled in his third interception, picking off former Auburn teammate Bo Nix. He added five tackles, four solo.

Colby Wooden (Green Bay Packers) — He helped stop a crucial third-down at the 1-yard line and totaled a career-high six tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a quarterback hit.

Jamel Dean (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) — He totaled six tackles and three passes defended. All six tackles were solo stops.

🟠 Outside linebackers coach Roc Bellantoni, a 30-year coaching veteran, has coached at every level, been a part of seven conference championships, seven FCS playoffs, and three bowl games. He has mentored 29 players who played professionally, including five NFL Draft picks.

He is determined to lead Auburn’s outside backers to greatness. That impact was clear this past weekend against Ball State with senior Keyron Crawford recording two sacks, marking his third of the season, after not recording any last season.

🟠 No Place Like It. The nation took notice as Auburn unveiled a new light and laser show as part of its more than 20 enhancements in and around Jordan-Hare Stadium.

This season Auburn made more than $25 million in upgrades to the game production with the addition of the new north end zone videoboard as well as a new lighting and laser production system. Read more about all of the elevated gameday experiences here.

🟠 Family Business. Top-rated transfer Eric Singleton Jr. scored twice in Auburn’s 42-3 win over Ball State, including a 30-yard wheel-route touchdown, where Assistant GM of Recruiting Kenyatta Watson was there to celebrate with him in the end zone.

Saturday, Sept. 13
🏈 vs. South Alabama | Homecoming Weekend @ 11:45 a.m. | SECN | Color: Wear White

Saturday, Sept. 20
🏈 at Oklahoma @ 2:30 p.m. | ABC

🐯 Go here to view the entire Auburn Athletics Calendar

Band of Brothers. Auburn has four sets of brothers on its 2025 roster, good for the second most in the country.