Paper Tigers No More: Why An Ugly 1-Point Win May Prove To Be Exactly What AU Needed

Auburn entered the 2026 season having lost 12 of their last 13 games that were decided by one score. The Tigers’ inability to finish out a game in the fourth quarter was one of the most glaring reasons the previous head coach was fired.

Enter Alex Golesh. The new Auburn head coach, who seemed to press all the right buttons in the offseason, led his Tigers into Atlanta to open the 2026 season in the Aflac Kickoff Game vs. fellow power-four opponent Baylor Bears.

What unfolded inside of Mercedes-Benz Stadium was anything but a masterpiece. If fans were expecting a Picasso, they instead got the equivalent of a torn-out page from a coloring book where a toddler has scribbled outside the lines.

It was ugly.

The offenses were offensive combining for five turnovers.

Not to be a Golesh ball buster, but I’d argue he made one of the most baffling decisions of his young head-coaching career when at the end of the third quarter, Auburn faced 4th and 5 deep inside the Baylor 36-yard-line.

Not a single soul would have blamed Golesh for keeping the offense out on the field and going for it on 4th down.

And hardly an eye would have been batted if Golesh had sent Auburn kicker Alex McPherson out there to attempt a 53-yard field goal. After all, the talk of camp was that he was nailing them from 60. Apparently the dead duck of a 43-yarder McPherson missed early in the 3rd quarter gave Golesh pause.

Instead, the new Auburn head man sent out his punt team ON THE BAYLOR 36-YARD-LINE. No one and I mean no one punts the ball when you’re that deep in opponent territory.

Baylor wasn’t the least bit fooled when Auburn attempted a fake punt as the direct snap went to up-man Omar Mabson, whose attempt to run up the middle was stoned by the Bears.

Fortunately, the boneheaded coaching decision didn’t cost Auburn the game.

Give Golesh a mulligan.

After all, his offseason teaching and preaching of intensity, physicality and toughness, especially in the 4th quarter obviously paid off.

Recent Auburn teams were unable to finish out games in the final period. They folded like paper tigers. As one former coach put it, “We are so close.”

They say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

After a Baylor field goal tied the game 10-10 in the fourth quarter, Auburn’s offense used the next 3:50 to march 75 yards down the field in ten plays capped off by a Byrum Brown 11-yd touchdown run off left tackle.

Auburn 17-10 with 3:21 remaining in the game.

Remarkably, a hobbled Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway led a 14-play, 75-yard drive of its own that ended when he found receiver Gavin Freeman for a 5-yard touchdown with just 9 seconds remaining on the game clock.

All that awaited an overtime showdown was a successful point-after kick.

Baylor head coach Dave Aranda decided instead to let the Bears’ nuts hang by going for the win in attempting a 2-point conversion.

After the snap, Lagway quickly connected with his 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end Matthew Klopfenstein, who turned to fall into the end zone for the win.

But Auburn had already pulled the pin from its grenade better known as Eric Winters. The 6-foot, 215-pound safety and pride of Enterprise exploded to blow up Klopfenstein short of the goal line to deny the 2-point conversion for the wackos from Waco.

An ugly one point win isn’t one you’d hang in the Louvre, but that scribbled on coloring book page looks far more beautiful with 17-16 painted on it in the blood of Bears.