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247sports.com Instant Impressions Auburn 14 Cal 10 Nathan King 12–15 minutes Auburn's offense suddenly came alive to put the Tigers up with 6:31 left, then their resilient defense got one final stop to seal — and steal — a 14-10 victory Saturday night BERKELEY, California — The Tigers' offensive performance 2,500 miles from home was one they'll soon hope to forget. But their go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter will go down as one of the team's biggest in recent seasons. Auburn's offense suddenly came alive to put the Tigers up with 6:31 left, then their resilient defense got one final stop to seal — and steal — a 14-10 victory Saturday night at California Memorial Stadium. Here are Auburn Undercover's instant impressions from an unbelievable first Power Five win for Hugh Freeze at Auburn. ONE DRIVE ALL THAT’S NEEDED FOR AUBURN Auburn started its 11th drive of the game with one of the team’s worst offensive performances in recent memory. As Freeze cycled quarterbacks, nothing had been clicking all night through the air or on the ground. But Auburn’s defense kept it in the game. So one drive was all the Tigers needed. Payton Thorne led Auburn down the field to take a 14-10 lead with 6:31 left to play, finding Rivaldo Fairweather for a 5-yard score on a fade in the back of the end zone. Before that series, Auburn had 131 yards of offense all game, was 1-of-8 on third down, and its previous longest drive was 26 yards. It converted two third downs on that scoring drive alone and went 69 yards down the field in 4:37. After a sack, Thorne hit Fairweather for 29 yards on a third-and-17 to push Auburn past midfield. Then Thorne dumped off to running back Damari Alston, then got the Tigers set up with a first-and-goal by lofting the ball to Fairweather in the end zone and drawing a pass interference. DEFENSE NEEDS ONE MORE STOP After squeezing everything from their defense all night, the Tigers needed just one more stop to possibly secure the win. Somehow, the Tigers got it. Auburn had a chance to put the game on ice, but Jarquez Hunter fumbled at his own 41-yard line. Cal quarterback Sam Jackson found Trond Grizzell for a first down, then 15 yards were tacked on by a late hit flag on Auburn freshman cornerback Kayin Lee, who started in place of the injured Nehemiah Pritchett. But Auburn took advantage of a holding call the following play, which ultimately set up a third-and-19 — with Cal needing a touchdown, the game at 14-10. D.J. James made a great tackle in space to set up a fourth-and-15, the game likely on the line. And it was James who sealed it, intercepting Jackson in the end zone with 1:44 left. AUBURN’S DEFENSE KEEPS GAME WINNABLE The only reason Saturday’s matchup didn’t get out of hand for Auburn is because its defense came to fight every drive. Cal crossed midfield eight times, and came away with only 10 points on the night. Auburn held the Golden Bears to a 4-of-18 clip on third down, 3-of-6 on fourth down, and forced three turnovers. On Cal’s first drive of the second quarter, Donovan Kaufman forced his second fumble in as many games — and recovered it — by stripping running back Isaiah Ifanse at the Cal 16-yard line. Cal made a quarterback switch on its sixth drive of the game, going with Week 1 starter Sam Jackson, who was questionable leading up to Saturday after a shoulder injury last week against North Texas. A more athletic option than Ben Finley, Jackson immediately galvanized the Cal offense, and the Tigers’ defense seemed a bit shell-shocked on a 65-yard touchdown drive that took only six plays. But they quickly settled back in, following up with another Cal punt, and an interception by Jaylin Simpson on a hail mary to end the first half. It took a long time for the dam to truly break for Auburn/The dam never truly broke for Auburn. Even as Cal advanced inside Auburn’s 40-yard line on its first drive of the second half, the Tigers got a stop on fourth-and-5, continuing to keep the Bears at bay and giving their offense a chance. Cal advanced to the red zone on the next drive, after another fourth-down conversion, but the Tigers stood tall and forced another 42-yard field goal try — which was no good. And yet again, the following drive, Cal went down the field again, and after another Eugene Asante tackle for loss, kicker Michael Luckhurst missed yet again, this time from 44 yards. And when Auburn went ahead with the touchdown drive, the Tigers immediately got a three-and-out and got the ball back with a chance to chew clock. Asante played on fire all night, leading Auburn with a career-high 12 tackles, plus 1 sack, one pass breakup and two QB hurries. AUBURN AVOIDS DISASTROUS START On the Tigers’ first third down of the game, Thorne fumbled on a scramble, and the ball appeared to be picked up by Cal linebacker Jackson Sirmon and returned 28 yards for a touchdown. One official signaled touchdown in the end zone, but the official ruling was that Thorne stepped out of bounds before losing the ball. Even though the call was overturned, no advancement was granted to Cal because the play was blown dead on the field. So the Bears were gifted their first drive at Auburn’s 35-yard line. Cal’s second drive started at the opposing 33-yard line after Thorne was nearly sacked on the goal line, and Oscar Chapman’s punt went only 32 yards. But in both instances, Auburn was helped by a Cal mistake that set its offense back 10 yards — a broken play for a loss on the first drive, and Marcus Harris sack on the second. Both came on Cal first downs inside Auburn’s 25-yard line. Cal only managed a field goal after the first blunder, then missed a 42-yard kick after the second, so the Tigers escaped a rough start to the game by surrendering only 3 points. THORNE UNDERSCORES BRUTAL OFFENSIVE NIGHT Thorne’s rough night on the West Coast began on the third play of the game. The Tigers quarterback scrambled out to his right on third down and fumbled right in front of the Cal sideline, and linebacker Jackson Sirmon picked it up and ran it back 28 yards, as the crowd roared. But it was ultimately ruled that although Thorne didn’t step out of bounds, the play was blown dead, so the Cal touchdown didn’t count. That was the first of a long list of Thorne’s troubles — and issues for the Auburn passing game. Thorne went 9-of-14 for the game, with two touchdowns and a pick, and was sacked three times, as the Tigers failed to find any sort of rhythm through the air for the majority of the night. Auburn and Thorne’s issues led to a 1-for-8 start on third downs. Thorne’s second turnover — a pass that sailed too high for receiver Shane Hooks and landed in the arms of Nohl Williams — gave Auburn nearly as many giveaways (three) as first downs (four) to that point in the game. Running back Damari Alston also had a lost fumble on Cal’s side of the field in the second quarter. No. 2 quarterback Robby Ashford got his first look at the start of the second quarter, and even when he looked to be getting a drive’s worth of work toward the end of the third quarter, Thorne still came in when things got to third-and-long. Freeze continued to cycle quarterbacks into the fourth quarter, when Ashford threw a dropped interception by Cal, then had to come off to the sideline to be looked at by trainers. Auburn finished with just 94 passing yards, as Ashford went 1-for-3 with no yardage. Jarquez Hunter (53 yards) and Damari Alston (51 yards) combined to help the Tigers rush for 113 on the night. Auburn Undercover will update this story. Check back for additional information.

auburnwire.usatoday.com Instant Analysis: Auburn gains late momentum, steals win from California Taylor Jones 5–6 minutes Auburn’s California dream almost ended in a nightmare. In a game plagued by turnovers and poor offensive play, Auburn caught momentum late and rode it to victory. A late touchdown followed by an interception in the final two minutes lifts Auburn to a 14-10 win over California late Saturday night. Buy Tigers Tickets Auburn (2-0) trailed 10-7 with 6:31 remaining in the game before quarterback Payton Thorne connected with tight end Rivaldo Fairweather for a touchdown pass to give the Tigers the lead. Later in the quarter, California (1-1) forced and recovered a fumble which gave them one final opportunity to steal a win. However, DJ James picked off Steven Jackson’s pass in the end zone with 1:44 remaining to secure the victory. “A win is a win” head coach Hugh Freeze said following the game on the ESPN broadcast. Auburn’s first drive set the tone for the evening. On 3rd down, quarterback Payton Thorne fumbled the football before stepping out of bounds. California’s Jackson Sirmon recovered the fumble with 13:33 remaining in the 1st quarter to give the Bears great field position at the Auburn 35-yard line. Cal would respond by converting a seven-play drive into three points. Michael Luckhurst nailed a 39-yard field goal to give the Bears the 3-0 lead with 9:42 remaining in the first. The quarter would end with Auburn obtaining three drives. Two ended on punts, and one would end on a fumble. The Tigers managed to gain just 32 yards of offense in the first quarter, trailing 3-0. It took Auburn several drives to return the favor, but they managed to record a turnover of their own in the 2nd quarter. Auburn’s Jalen McLeod tackled Cal’s Isaiah Ifanse, and the football was stripped away by Donovan Kaufman. Kaufman would recover the fumble at the California 17-yard line to give Auburn a new set of downs with 13:01 remaining in the first half. Like California in the first quarter, Auburn turned a fumble into a score. On the third play of the drive, Thorne connected with jay fair for the second time this season for a score. This time, Thorne dialed up a 13-yard strike to Fair to give Auburn the 7-3 lead with 11:50 in the 2nd quarter. The trend continued later in the quarter, as California turned another turnover into points. Damari Alston fumbled the football with 7:20 remaining in the quarter to, unfortunately, end a positive drive at that point. Running back Jadyn Ott rushed for a 14-yard score to push the Bears ahead, 10-7. Thorne was responsible for Auburn’s third turnover of the game. California’s Nohl Williams picked off Thorne with less than two minutes remaining in the first half to set up the Bears’ final drive of the 2nd quarter. The Bears planned to end the half by kicking a last-second field goal. However, a holding penalty erased the kick, forcing the Bears to try one last play from scrimmage. California quarterback Steven Jackson V threw a desperation pass to the end zone, which landed in the hands of Jaylin Simpson. He returned the pick to the Auburn 25-yard line to cap the first half. The Tigers gained just 99 yards of total offense in the first half while committing three turnovers. Auburn had just four first downs and converted 1-of-6 third down opportunities. Defensively, the Tigers allowed 129 yards of offense and created two turnovers. The third quarter featured less action than the previous two. California needed two possessions to set themselves up for a scoring opportunity. The Bears began a nine-play drive with 5:57, which ended in a missed 42-yard field goal to keep the score 10-7 heading into the 4th quarter. After several frustrating drives that resulted in zero points, Auburn found the end zone again with 6:31 remaining in the 4th quarter. Thorne tossed his second touchdown pass of the game to tight end Rivaldo Fairweather to push Auburn ahead, 14-10. The play was set up by a pass interference call on the Bears two plays prior. Turnovers woes continued for Auburn on its next possession. Hunter fumbled on the Tigers’ second play from scrimmaged, and it was recovered by Cal’s Ricky Correia for the fourth turnover of the game. However, that turnover did not plague Auburn as others had done before. On the sixth play of California’s ensuing drive, DJ James picked off Jackson in the end zone to regain possession. Auburn finished behind California in total yards, 273-230. The Tigers also had fewer first downs than California, and ran 23 fewer plays. Those stats go in-line with the time of possession battle, which Auburn lost by nearly 10 minutes (34:48 for California opposed to 25:12 for Auburn). Thorne completed 9-of-14 passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Fairweather hauled in three passes for 39 yards and a score. In his return to action, Jarquez Hunter rushed for 53 yards on 11 carries. Auburn returns to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday to face Samford. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

al.com Three takeaways from Auburn’s adversity-filled 14-10 win over Cal on the road Updated: Sep. 10, 2023, 1:09 a.m.|Published: Sep. 10, 2023, 12:55 a.m. 5–6 minutes Coming into Saturday night, the Auburn football program hadn’t made a trip out to Northern California in nearly 87 years with the Tigers’ last trip coming on Oct. 30, 1936 for a game against the University of Santa Clara Broncos. This go ‘round, Auburn lined up against the Cal Golden Bears for a game under the lights of California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. With a 9:30 p.m. CT start, Saturday’s kickoff was the latest in program history for Auburn and gave the Tigers a chance to pick up their first ever win in the Golden State. And in front of a crowd that was more lopsided in the Golden Bears’ favor than many expected, the Tigers squeaked out a 14-10 adversity-filled win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Here are the takeaways from Saturday night’s action on out west. Auburn’s one-dimensional offense nearly rolls over Saturday night’s performance against Cal might leave Auburn with some questions at quarterback. All week, the storylines revolved around how much energy — if any — Auburn would come out with after a long Thursday of traveling, a Friday getting adjusted to Pacific Time and a Saturday spent waiting for a late kickoff. However, that all felt like a worn-out storyline once the rubber hit the road and the Tigers’ offense sputtered not just to start the game, but all four quarters. The Auburn offense got eight possessions in the first half. Of those eight possessions, three ended in turnovers, four ended in punts and one ended in a touchdown. The Tigers’ lone score of the first half was the result of Auburn’s defense finally forcing a turnover of its own, giving the offense a short, 17-yard field. A 13-yard pass play from Thorne to Jay Fair capped off the scoring drive, giving Auburn a 7-3 lead. Thorne’s touchdown pass to Fair was one of just five passes that were completed by the Tigers’ offense in the first half. Even after the the Tigers’ first score of the night, the Auburn offense limped along through the second and third quarters, only finally finding some kind of groove midway through the fourth quarter as Thorne piloted a 10-play, 69-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard 50/50 ball brought down by tight end Rivaldo Fairweather. Auburn’s scoring drive in the fourth quarter was just the second drive of the night in which the Tigers’ offense completed more than one pass. While Cal passed for 160 yards Saturday night, Auburn’s offense mustered just 94 yards through the air. The Tigers added 136 yards on the ground — good for 230 yards of total offense to Cal’s 273 yards of total offense. Ball security, turnovers nearly catch up to Auburn There aren’t many games in which you lose the turnover battle and the penalty battle and keep the game as close as Auburn did Saturday night — let alone win it. The Tigers’ offense committed four turnovers in Saturday’s win — three fumbles and a interception. Of those, three came in the first half as Thorne fumbled in Auburn’s first drive and later tossed a pick. Meanwhile, running backs Damari Alston and Jarquez Hunter were each stripped of the football. Fortunately for Auburn, despite four chances to capitalize on turnovers, the Cal offense was only able to do so twice as it scored a field goal following the first fumble and a touchdown off of Auburn’s second fumble. The Tigers were able to tighten the turnover margin late in the game at DJ James intercepted Cal quarterback Sam Jackson — good for Auburn’s third takeaway of the game. James’ interception with 1:44 to play in the game sent Cal fans to the exits as it paved the way for the Auburn offense to milk the clock. On the penalty front, the Tigers committed seven penalties for 56 yards, while the Bears committed four penalties for 41 yards. Jarquez Hunter returns, but takes his time to come alive Seeing junior running back Jaquez Hunter dressed ahead of Saturday’s matchup felt like it might foreshadow a strong night on the ground for Auburn. Hunter, who came into the 2023 season primed to be the bell cow in Auburn’s backfield, missed the season-opener against UMass last week. It’s unclear if Hunter’s absence in Week 1 had anything to do with him allegedly being involved in a sex tape that leaked out during the offseason. Nonetheless, No. 27 returned to action Saturday night and certainly didn’t get out to the start many likely expected. Hunter’s number got called on Auburn’s first two plays from scrimmage on back-to-back carries that went for three yards a piece. After Auburn’s first drive, Hunter tallied just three more carries in the first half, totaling five carries for just 12 yards. Come the second half, Hunter and the Auburn offense seemed to be a bit less flat. Hunter finished the night with 11 carries, good for 53 yards. Hunter’s longest scamper of the night went for 19 yards. Meanwhile, Damari Alston tallied 51 yards on eight carries. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. By browsing this site, we may share your information with our social media partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

i want to take a quick nap but bama is getting beat so i was enjoying it.

since i do not want to worry alone check this out. we have never won in cali from what i have read. ALSO...................we are 0-3 when we wear our storm trooper look with the white facemasks. we have never won according to an Auburn Wire article posted on yahoo.

i am as well.they have one hell of a coach.

tonight they are going to say we released the Kraken on them after we whoop off in that tie dyed behind................grins

damn i am senile. i am not stoned yet................shakes my head. trying to watch the game and message is just too much for me.

i do not get the hate for deion. i watched the game today and afterwards he was god blessing everyone.people like to bring up the bad and forget the other side. people seem to like it when ol lane pops off something on twitter but it would appear deion does not get the same treatment. right now i like what we have and i am thrilled we are recruiting again and beating the big boys for some five stars. but sanders had been named coach i would fully support him as well unleashed ran the wheels off like that slimy hars did. and i think we dodged a bullet with lane. i could be wrong but that is how i feel at the moment. deion could implode and lane could start beating everyone but until he gets a better running game he is just an ok coach to me.

here are other options............. Still, the ESPN “GameDay” analyst was talking about Saturday night’s Auburn-Cal game, which will be live streamed on fuboTV (free trial), SlingTV (half off first month) and DirecTV Stream (free trial).

ol miss cannot stop the run of tulane and i am pretty sure we are better than they are in the running game. Tulane is better than most think they are.

it has been a few years since i did a shot of ta killya out a good looking womans belly button.

i had direct tv and i had to pay six dollars a month insurance to not be charged for a service call on their equipment. i think that should be against the law and when they had me jumping through hoops i told them how i felt.

ok he returned my call. it is on dish. they upped their programming to get espn for six bucks more. i knw he had said cable but i freely admit my memory is bad. but this is how he got it. i thought all the cable companies stopped espn but i use youtube tv so i would not know. so it seems several of us are right to an extent. at the end of the day just remember i was trying to help...............

free is free if you delete your account before the money is do right? i do it regular to watch something no one else has but you have to do the free part sparingly because after a free trial or two you then have to pay first day for the month.

i probably will not get him on the phone until the bama game tonight. he is my age and takes a lot of naps and will turn the phone off. look i could be wrong but a couple of months ago i asked if he played any computer games and he said they do not own a computer. so someone either gave him one since then or they broke down and paid for it on phone. i will find out but it might take a while.

i want to know what makes biden worse than trump. we all know trump is a crook and most of us knew it before he ran for office. butjhow anyone can vote for someone that spit on this country by trying to steal an election baffles the crap out of me. it is completely unamerican and my question is what will he do next time? it will be more of the same and probably worse since he thinks he is entitled to do anything he wants with no repercussions. i mean he has already said he is not guilty of anything and he is going to clean house with those that dared make him toe the line?

take a nap...............

i will find out when i can get him. if i am wrong i will admit it and have no problems doing so.