Auburn football report card: Grading the Tigers after Baylor win

ATLANTA — It was difficult to expect much of what transpired between Auburn football and Baylor — certainly that it came down to the wire and that a goal-line stand gave the Tigers a 17-16 victory.

There were some surprises — good and bad alike — for Auburn , and it'll have plenty to improve upon as it continues its first season under Alex Golesh .

Here's our postgame report card of the Tigers' performance:

There were flashes, and what Brown did to give Auburn its go-ahead score displayed his value. But he still tossed three interceptions, and his offensive line surrendered double-digit tackles for loss. That'll need plenty of work.

It felt like a vintage Auburn performance on the defense end. Baylor made it look human on more than one occasion, but the Tigers buckled down in terms of scoring opportunities, giving up points on just two of its opponent's 13 drives.

Hudson Kaak had an effective day with half of his punts pinned inside the 20-yard line, and Alex McPherson ultimately split a pair of field goal attempts. A serviceable day from Auburn's specialists.

Golesh acknowledged more than once this week that Week 1 can be unpredictable sometimes. It felt unpredictable come game time, and while there may have only been so much to scout, Auburn looked unprepared for certain aspects of the Bears.

The sophomore safety's goal-line stop saved the day. Plus, he had double-digit tackles, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.

Auburn's defense does most of the heavy lifting for its team grade. Clearly, the Tigers passed. There's still so much ample room for improvement.

Check out our Auburn football vs Baylor photo gallery from Atlanta

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter . To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser .