Practice Observations: Where can Auburn improve in Week 2?
The Tigers got a road win, but they could have played better in several areas. Here's what has Auburn's attention before the home opener.
AUBURN — In recent seasons, Auburn teed off on paycheck opponents in Week 1, and you don’t know if you really learned anything before Week 2.
That’s not the case this time. Auburn went on the road and beat a Baylor team that finished the 2024 season quite well, capturing its first quality road victory in years.
Now the Tigers can do their post-Week 1 repairs in front of their home fans against an opponent that shouldn’t provide them too much trouble. Jordan-Hare Stadium, at night, when spirits are high? It shouldn’t matter who’s on the other sideline.
“It's going to be awesome,” transfer right tackle Mason Murphy said after practice Tuesday. “I've heard the stories, I've seen the videos. It's going to be an electric atmosphere, and I'm really excited.”
On Tuesday, media members got to watch the first seven periods of Auburn football practice — which equaled about a half-hour of action. Those were followed by player interviews, including a few names who were coming off of some standout performances in the opener against Baylor.
Here are our Observations from Tuesday at the football performance center as Auburn turns the page from that win over Baylor to a home opener against Ball State.
We’ll start, per usual, with some injury updates and more takeaways from what we saw and heard during the actual practice viewing window.
What we saw and heard during Tuesday’s practice
Running back Damari Alston (shoulder) was fully dressed out, but he did not participate in any drills during the viewing window. Since Auburn is more than a six-touchdown favorite over Ball State this weekend, Alston feels like a candidate to not play Saturday and recover from his minor injury against Baylor. With Alston out, Jeremiah Cobb got the first-team reps, and we saw a good bit of freshman Omar Mabson with the second-team offense.