Observations: Auburn 42, Ball State 3
It was far from the cleanest win, but the Tigers had a historic night of defense and an explosive night of offense. That'll get the job done.
AUBURN — On a night when Auburn honored the legacy of legendary head coach Pat Dye, the modern-day Tigers did a pretty good impression of his glory days.
When Ball State’s 49th and final offensive play went for a loss — the 14th time that had happened — the Cardinals left the field with 68 yards of total offense.
Auburn’s offense was content to run out the clock on the ensuing possession, giving playing time to walk-ons and sealing a 42-3 victory.
Those 68 yards were the fewest Auburn had allowed in a single game in 40 years.
The last time the Tigers were that low in total defense, Dye was the head coach. Bo Jackson ran for more than 200 yards, and Auburn racked up more than 600 yards.
Ole Miss had nine. That’s right: Less than a first down’s worth. The Rebels were down their starting quarterback that day. That quarterback just so happened to be current Auburn assistant coach Kent Austin.
What do you think about that history lesson, Malik Blocton?
“It really made me feel a lot better, because this isn’t our best,” the starting defensive tackle said Saturday night. “We had so many penalties. We didn’t play our cleanest game. So just to hear that’s the best game in 40 years and it wasn’t our best— it’s just exciting for the future.”
That future, if it’s going to be a successful one for the 2025 Auburn Tigers, is going to have to come with improvement in the other two phases of the game.
“I’m sure we can find some things to complain about, especially offensively and special teams-wise,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said.
Auburn had five different offensive drives come up empty, mainly due to negative plays in the passing game or penalties. Still, the Tigers finished with six touchdowns, so it was ultimately more good than bad overall from an offense that had more than 200 rushing yards and nearly 300 passing yards.
“It wasn't a really clean night, but I feel like we executed well,” receiver Eric Singleton Jr. said. “We've got to watch film, come back and clean some things up. I think we'll be firing on all cylinders.”
On special teams, Auburn missed a long field goal with what appeared to be an injury for its long-distance kicker, muffed the first punt of the night, had a shanked punt of its own and committed two frustrating penalties in the kicking game.
But Auburn was a massive Ref Show sequence in the third quarter away from shutting out Ball State and covering one of its biggest point spreads against an FBS team in program history.
(That Ref Show started with a reversed call from an incompletion to a catch and fumble by freshman tight end Ryan Ghea, even though there was a delay of game called between the play and the review.)
Even with that, Ball State went 3-and-out on exactly 75% of its possessions.
“It’s just going out and doing your job,” edge rusher Keyron Crawford said. “Because we didn’t want to overlook our opponent, and we knew we had something to prove.”
With that kind of defensive dominance setting the tone, Auburn could call its home opener against Ball State a successful night back inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.
It’s only going to get tougher from here — especially after next Saturday.
“Just good to give our fans that kind of a game at home,” Freeze said. “We’ve got seven opportunities here, and they have to matter. We have to defend this place and there’s no excuse for us not to play with great passion, particularly here.”
Here are five Observations from Auburn’s tune-up victory over Ball State, along with Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
Auburn’s defense made a bad offense look much worse
Not much should have been expected of Ball State’s offense Saturday night. The Cardinals ranked No. 115 nationally in yards per play last season.
In their season opener, they only rolled up 203 yards in 52 plays — an average of 3.9 — against a Purdue team that hit the reset button after finishing No. 127 in total defense and losing 11 straight games.
There was little hope to be found for the visitors. After all, starting quarterback Kiael Kelly was a defensive back at the start of last season.