For their 2025 home opener, Auburn welcomed in Ball State to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night.
Ball State was breaking in a new head coach for this season, and travelled to the Plains after getting blanked by Purdue in Week 1.
In what was a lively atmosphere, Auburn comes away with a 42-3 victory, thanks in part to three Jackson Arnold passing touchdowns and a couple rushing touchdowns from Jeremiah Cobb.
Auburn won the football game, so we start with the good…
1. Run defence:
Ball State finished the game with -3 rushing yards, so needless to say, it was a banner day for the Auburn run defence.
Consistent clogging up running lanes and defeating their blocks up front, Auburn defenders made life miserable on any Ball State ball carrier.
Whether it be running backs toting the rock, or a QB on a designed run, it seemed as though Auburn had 4 or more hats on the ball all night long, playing with relentless energy and not allowing Ball State any easy yards at all on the ground.
Very nice performance by Auburn’s defensive line in this one. Wrecking hacking the running game all night long and never relenting.
2. Pass rush:
Auburn’s pass rush was consistently relentless in this one. Against an overmatched Ball State offense, Auburn ended the game with 6 total sacks, harassing quarterback Kiael Kelly all game long.
Auburn’s defensive line was able to consistently win their assignments up front, not allowing Kelly any time to throw and severely disrupting the Ball State passing attack.
Both Keyron Crawford and Xavier Atkins finished the day with 2 sacks, while Demarcus Riddick and the freshman Jared Smith finished with 1 sack apiece.
Nice day for the Auburn pass rush.
3. Offence:
We’ll go with the offence as a whole here, as it was nice to see another interception free day from Jackson Arnold.
Auburn employed an efficient yet effective passing attack in this one, while explosive plays through the air were sparse, they managed to move the chains often with curls and in breaking routes, executing the RPO offense well.
Singleton caught two touchdowns, Coleman had 7 catches, Simmons and Horatio fields got into the mix as well, and throw in a Perry Thompson grab and it was an overall very efficient day through the air.
Good to see Singleton grab two touchdowns as well, welcome to Jordan Hare.
And now for the bad…
1. Pass protection:
Heading into the season, Auburn’s offensive
line was lauded as maybe their most improved, yet still underrated position group on the squad. Unfortunately, they didn’t prove to be overly stout in this one, particularly in the pass blocking phase.
By the time the final whistle sounded, Auburn gave up 5 sacks. Granted, Arnold did hold on to the ball for longer than normal which can be difficult on the big men up front to sustain their blocks, leading to coverage sacks, but the fact remains that Jackson Arnold was sacked 5 separate times. Concerning against lesser competition.
Auburn will need to clean up their pass protection before they head into the depth of their SEC schedule.
2. Fumbles:
Although they technically only lost one of them, putting the ball on the ground 5 times is never ideal. Fumbles can be weird and unpredictable, but ball security is paramount to offensive success and although Arnold should be praised for not throwing an interception, an offense fumbling 5 times is cause for concern.
It is true that some context needs to be added here, as two of the fumbles came when true freshman Deuce Knight took some snaps late in the game during mop up duty when the game was in hand. Not overly concerning as Knight isn’t yet Auburn’s starter of course, but he’ll have to improve his ball security if he wants more snaps to increase his development.
Ryan Ghea was the culprit of the lone lost fumble on Saturday after a short catch over the middle. Another non regular in Auburn’s starting lineup, the point still stands that like Knight, Ghea will have to focus on his ball security to avoid being placed in the doghouse by the coaching staff.
Some context needs to be added, but there were some blemishes in the ball security category on Saturday.
3. Deuce Knight struggles:
I couldn’t really think of another bad for this one so I’ll touch on the Deuce Knight struggles late in the game. He did have a nice scramble for a first down, but he seemed lost and erratic during his limited snaps with the second and third team offense.
He fumbled twice, and he didn’t seem overly polished. Not cause for concern by any means, but we’ll need to see some improvement should he be granted more snaps throughout this season. He finished with just 2 completions on 5 attempts in this one.
Another W in the books. We all as fans know that Ball isn’t a state, and it seems like Auburn knows that too, ultimately treating the Cardinals as the lower level competition squad that they are. Auburn didn’t mess around in this one, putting Ball State in a stranglehold and never relenting.
Tidy performances from Jackson Arnold and Jeremiah Cobb, as well as a defense that never relented their passionate and energetic tempo led Auburn to a victory on Saturday.
Auburn is 2-0 after an impressive home opener in all facets of the game. Enjoy the victory and get ready for the next one, as Auburn welcomes in state foe South Alabama into Jordan Hare.
Always nice to be 2-0. See you on Saturday.
As always… War Eagle!!
