As the days continue to dwindle down to the opening day of the College Football season, Auburn Wire will take a look at each nonconference opponent that Auburn football will face this season and break down its’ history against teams in their opponents’ home conference.
This edition takes a look at the Mountain West Conference, home of Auburn’s second nonconference foe, San Jose State.
Auburn will face the Spartans at 6:30 p.m. CDT on Sept. 10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game has been scheduled to take place since 2019, when Auburn agreed to pay San Jose State a cool $1.85 million to travel across the country to play.
The next meeting between the Tigers and Spartans will be the third meeting all-time between these two squads, all three being played on the Plains.
Auburn welcomed San Jose State to town for the first time in the school’s history on Sept. 10, 2014, as the second game on the schedule.
Auburn had just come off of a national championship appearance in 2013 and opened the season with a convincing 45-21 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks a week prior. Auburn struck first when [autotag]Nick Marshall[/autotag] completed a four-yard touchdown pass to [autotag]Ricardo Louis[/autotag] to give Auburn the 7-0 lead with 8:15 remaining in the opening quarter.
San Jose State quickly answered when Blake Jurich found Tyler Ervin 75-yards downfield to tie the game at 7-7 just 12 seconds after Auburn got on the board.
Auburn scored 28 unanswered points before the Spartans struck for another touchdown in the first half, and would go on to score three more times in the second half to win, 59-13.
The result of the second-ever meeting between these two squads one year later was a little too close to comfort for Auburn.
Auburn entered the game feeling tons of pressure after squeaking by FCS’ Jacksonville State at home and losing two straight games to LSU and Mississippi State in three consecutive weeks. Auburn really needed a dominating win to rebuild confidence in the program heading into the rest of the season.
[autotag]Peyton Barber[/autotag] led the way for Auburn offensively by rushing for 151 yards and all five of Auburn’s touchdowns in the Tigers’ 35-21 win over San Jose State. Auburn jumped out to a 21-7 halftime lead, but did not see a surge in the second half to run away and put the blowout into effect.
Although brief, Auburn does have a history against teams currently affiliated with the Mountain West Conference, sporting a perfect 5-0 record all-time against the conference. Here is a look at Auburn Football’s history against the Mountain West: