The Opening Drive: Auburn vs. Cal

AUBURN, Ala. – Last year, Auburn traveled across the country to Cal the second week of the season. Trailing 10-7 in the fourth quarter, the Tigers needed a play. The coaches called on new tight end Rivaldo Fairweather. On second-and-goal, Payton Thorne threw a fade to Fairweather in the back corner of the end zone. The FIU transfer went up and got it, catching what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. 

“It kind of started everything off for me,” Fairweather recalled this week. “I remember the first game last year I didn’t really do too much, but the Cal game really kicked it off. I caught the pass on third down and caught the game-winning touchdown, which I’m really blessed to be a part of. I thank my coaches for putting me in that position.” 

Auburn won the game 14-10, and Fairweather went on to set the program’s single-season tight end receiving record with 38 catches last season. 

A year later, Fairweather and his teammates are preparing for another week two matchup against Cal. However, this time the Golden Bears are the ones having to travel. On Saturday, they will find out what it’s like to play in Jordan-Hare Stadium. 

“It’s going to be tougher for them to come here because playing at Auburn is always hard,” Fairweather said. “It’s one of the hardest places to play in college football. This game is going to be a fight. They have a good defense, but our offense is going to go out there, execute and continue to do what we did last game.”

In the last game, Saturday’s opener against Alabama A&M, Auburn put up 638 total yards, including 451 yards through the air, and scored 73 points. It was the second-most Auburn has ever scored in a season opener and the most since scoring 78 points against Marion to open the 1915 season. 

But with Cal comes a new challenge for the Auburn offense. The Tigers only threw for 94 yards in last season’s 14-10 victory, and Cal returns a handful of players from that defense. 

“We feel confident right now,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said. “After Saturday we will see. Here’s our chance, not just (the players) but us as coaches to prove we need to be a fundamental scoring machine against a team that plays really good defensive football. It will be a really good test for us.”

Saturday’s game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT from Jordan-Hare Stadium and will be televised on ESPN2 with Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler and Stormy Buonantony on the call. You can also listen to Andy Burcham, Jason Campbell, Ronnie Brown and Will Herring who will have the radio call on 94.3 FM, online at AuburnTigers.com and on the Auburn app. 

For this week’s game, fans are encouraged to wear white to the game.

THREE QUESTIONS WITH WR SAM JACKSON V

Q: You caught your first touchdown at Auburn last week. Take us through the play. 

A: It was kind of crazy for me because I’m usually in the slot, but Coach (Marcus) Davis had moved me to the outside receiver. Right before the play, he said they’re probably going to jump on the play. They ended up jumping, and I just sprinted off the ball. The ball got caught in the lights. I was kind of fading at first and then I saw the ball, so I jumped back into it. It was an awesome moment for me. 

Q: What was the experience like to play at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time? 

A: It was insane. Before we even get on the field, Tiger Walk. I get off the bus, I look down the hill, and it’s just a long line (of fans). I can’t even give a guess of how many people were there, but the walk was just full of people excited to come out there and see us. And it was pretty hot. You have fans like that who are willing to sit in 100-degree weather and wait for you just to shake your hand, it’s pretty exciting. Then you get to the stadium, and the student section is already there before you even come out and pray. It was pretty exciting for me. When I got in the game – I usually don’t hear the crowd roaring – but I did when I got in the game this time because there were so many people there. 

Q: What’s this week like for you preparing to play against your former team? 

A: It’s a pretty big week for me. It’s a pretty big week for the guys too just because they played Cal last year, and it was a tough game. Obviously, I wasn’t a part of the Auburn team last year, but I know these guys have a different mindset with it. Hopefully, my brother (Cal running back) Jayden Ott gives another pep talk like (last year). I think it’s a big week.

INSIDE THE SERIES: CAL

Auburn leads the series with California by a 1-0 margin. The first and only meeting between the two schools was last September at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley where the Tigers posted a 14-10 win in what was the first road contest of the Hugh Freeze era. 

Auburn holds a 123-83-9 (.593) overall record against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference: Boston College (1-2); Clemson (34-15-2); Florida State (13-5-1); Georgia Tech (47-41-4); Louisville (2-0); Miami (7-4); North Carolina (2-4); North Carolina State (1-1); Syracuse (1-1-1); Virginia (2-1); Virginia Tech (3-1-1); and Wake Forest (7-2). Auburn’s last meeting with an ACC team was a 14-6 loss at Clemson in 2017. Auburn is 53-17-1 when playing at home, 57-52-5 on the road and 13-14-3 in neutral-site locations against these teams.

BY THE NUMBERS

70: Auburn won its opener in convincing fashion, 73-3 over Alabama A&M. The 70-point win was a Jordan-Hare Stadium record, breaking the old record of 66 set against Chattanooga in 1995 (76-10) and ULM in 2003 (73-7). The 73 points are the second-most the Tigers have ever scored in a season opener and the most since scoring 78 against Marion to open the 1915 season. 

6: Auburn set a single-game record with six touchdown passes against Alabama A&M on Saturday. Auburn’s 451 passing yards rank second in program single-game totals, behind Nick Marshall’s 456 passing yards in the 2014 Iron Bowl. 

3: After 12 Auburn players recorded sacks in 2023, three already have a sack in 2024 as Jalen McLeod, Keldric Faulk and Malik Blocton all notched sacks in the season opener. For Blocton, the younger brother of Marcus Harris, it was the first sack of his career. 

800: With Saturday’s win over Alabama A&M, Auburn now has 800 all-time wins – 13th-most among FBS schools. The first win in program history came in 1892 when Auburn beat Georgia 10-0 in Atlanta. Auburn is now 800-471-47 all-time.