ATLANTA — Matthew Klopfenstein caught DJ Lagway‘s two‑point conversion pass in the flat with nine seconds left and was stopped inches short of the goal line. Auburn held on for a 17‑16 win over Baylor on Saturday afternoon in the season‑opening Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes‑Benz Stadium.
Baylor coach Dave Aranda kept his offense on the field for the conversion rather than kick the tie. The Bears had taken over with 3:21 left, trailing 17‑10, and covered 75 yards on 14 plays to get there.
On fourth‑and‑10 from the Baylor 36, Lagway found Gavin Freeman over the middle for 28 yards. After the two‑minute timeout, Dawson Pendergrass ran for 5 yards and a 31‑yard throw into the end zone was dropped. Lagway hit Jadon Porter for 27 yards over the middle on the next snap, moving the ball to the Auburn 4. Two runs and an incompletion later, Lagway found Freeman in the flat for a 5‑yard touchdown on fourth down.
Multiple Baylor players left the game injured and came back into it, Aranda said, and guys were playing through pain by the end. That was one of the reasons he went for the win.
“I thought he was in,” Aranda said. “Obviously when you hear the call, you know what the play is. So you’re thinking you’re watching for it and you see it, and I’m thinking it’s a touchdown or it’s points. And for it not to be just sucks. But there is no hesitation with that. We referenced the book, and the book said to go for it. But it wasn’t so much that. It was more of we had so many guys that were just doing everything they can to try to push through and close this game out. I just didn’t feel playing longer was going to benefit us.”
Auburn had gone 75 yards on 10 plays for the go‑ahead score, burning 3:50 off the clock. Byrum Brown ran it in from 11 yards out. Two third‑down conversions kept the drive alive, including a 28‑yard throw from Brown to Chas Nimrod.
Micah Gifford had intercepted Brown on the first play of Auburn’s previous possession. Baylor turned that into a 13‑play, 45‑yard drive and a 22‑yard field goal from Rhett Armstrong that tied the game at 10 with 7:11 remaining.
Auburn scored first on a 43‑yard field goal from Alex McPherson with 8:13 left in the opening quarter, seven plays after Lagway lost a fumble as the Bears drove inside the Auburn 40. Baylor’s next two possessions ended with an interception and a missed Armstrong field goal.
“Mistakes,” Aranda explained. “That’s why we lost. That’s what I told the team, that early in the game there’s too many opportunities that we had to close or to finish drives to put points on the board and we didn’t do it. And I take the credit for that. I should have done a better job of coaching that. One of the things we talk about, more games are lost than won, especially early in the season. And I could have communicated that better because I think we contributed to that tonight.”
Jeremiah Cobb capped a five‑play, 57‑yard drive with a 15‑yard touchdown run with 3:51 to go in the second quarter. Baylor answered with a nine‑play, 75‑yard drive. Lagway threw a 14‑yard touchdown to Louis Brown IV, who caught it at the 1 and fought his way across with 90 seconds left in the half. It was Louis Brown’s second touchdown at Baylor and the 10th of his college career.
Saturday was the opener of Baylor’s 125th season of football.
Gavin Freeman Sets Career Highs in Baylor Debut
Freeman finished with 12 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown, all career highs. The 5‑foot‑9 Oklahoma State transfer caught two passes on third down and both fourth‑down conversions on the final drive.
Anything Freeman can do catching, running, or blocking works for him.
“That last drive, we had nothing in our mind but playing the game, next play, next play mentality,” Freeman said. “No matter what happens, just keep going. And obviously we’re trying to score. I had faith in my guys and we had all the faith going forward, because that’s what we do in practice. That’s what we practice all the time is winning the game.”
Aranda would not hesitate to believe Freeman had made a catch on fourth‑and‑whatever to move the chains. There are countless clips of it.
“He’s been who we thought he was. He’s been like that ever since the beginning,” Aranda said. “What’s cool about Gavin is he’s taken ownership of the team. Gavin’s one of the guys, just his life story and his family and his upbringing and his high school and college career, just everything that he’s done and how he’s lived his life. If Gavin Freeman was a football team, you’re backing him because that team’s going to win.”
“And so to get the Gavin Freeman of the world to own this team, to put it on his back and say, hey, this is my team, and to lead it that way is way special for us,” Aranda added. “And I think we’ll transform into what you see. Because he’s that way.”
The play developed in a split second from where Freeman was standing.
“From my view, it kind of looked like, because it was split second, it kind of looked like it could have went either way,” Freeman explained.
Making his first start for Baylor after transferring from Florida, Lagway went 27‑of‑54 for 333 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Over two seasons with the Gators, he completed 328‑of‑529 passes for 4,179 yards with 28 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in 24 games. He entered the transfer portal in December, after Florida fired Billy Napier and hired Jon Sumrall.
Baylor had two designed Lagway runs called before he was hurt, Aranda said, and a fair amount of called runs in the plan overall.
“It’s an ankle sprain as far as I know right now,” Aranda said. “I think a lot of the fourth downs and the short yardage and all these things were, we have both packages of DJ runs and then really a lot of running in the game. He hurt himself. I think prior to hurting, there were two called runs. And there was a fair amount of runs in this game that were called. So him being hurt really cut that down. And we had to go to another package for the third and short and the fourth and short calls. So I credit Spaff for minding those calls and getting deep in the book to be able to do that.”
“I thought that DJ being able to play through pain and fighting through and pushing off and doing all those things was tremendous and inspiring,” Aranda continued.
Pendergrass, back from a season‑ending injury suffered in preseason camp a year ago, carried a career‑high 25 times for 88 yards. Caden Knighten added 12 carries for 33 yards. Porter set a career high with 5 catches for 77 yards. Louis Brown had 5 catches for 62 yards.
Baylor Defense Intercepts Byrum Brown Three Times
Baylor intercepted Brown three times. Gifford, Reggie Bush II, and Devon Jordan each had one. Bush’s pick came inside the Baylor 5 in the second quarter and ended a 50‑yard Auburn drive.
Devonte Tezino recorded the first two‑sack game of his career. He finished with 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss covering 11 yards, and a pass breakup. Garrick Ponder had a sack among 3 solo tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss covering 9 yards. Daniel Cobbs and Jordan Mack also charted sacks. Baylor finished with 5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
Travion Barnes and Devin Turner shared the team lead with 9 tackles each. Turner added a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. Kyland Reed had 7 tackles and a tackle for loss.
First‑year defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman came to Baylor from Kansas State, where he ran the defense beginning in 2019. Aranda called the plays himself the previous two seasons. For Gifford, the belief is always there, and he is fully positive his teammates will do their jobs.
“It felt great to really just be able to put it all together on the field,” Gifford said. “We’ve been really just putting in so much work, just been in the lab with Klando, everyone on the defense really just putting in their all, doing their 111th, and it just felt good to be able to see it on paper and see the results.”
Baylor outgained Auburn 436‑389 and held the ball for 32:32. The Bears threw for 333 yards and ran for 103. They picked up 27 first downs to Auburn’s 24. Auburn ran for 130 yards on the afternoon.
The Bears went for it 5 times on fourth down and converted 3, according to the Associated Press. Baylor ranked third in the FBS in fourth‑down attempts in 2025.
Brown finished 26‑of‑35 for 259 yards with 3 interceptions, and he ran 21 times for 27 yards and a touchdown. Cobb carried 12 times for 53 yards and a score.
Aranda is in his seventh season at Baylor. The Bears went 5‑7 in 2025 and missed a bowl game. In 2021, Aranda’s second season, Baylor went 12‑2, won the Big 12 championship, and finished the year in the Sugar Bowl. Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital is in his third season directing the offense.
Baylor opens its home schedule against defending SWAC champion Prairie View A&M on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. CT at McLane Stadium. The game airs on ESPN+ and the Baylor Sports Media Network. Auburn hosts Southern Miss the same day.
