It was the Tigers' 25th overall season and they competed as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA).

The team was led by head coach Mike Donahue, in his 12th year, and played their home games at Drake Field in Auburn, Alabama.

In the 1916 game against Georgia,[11] Moon Ducote kicked a 40-yard field goal from placement off of captain Lucy Hairston's football helmet in the fourth quarter and in the mud, which proved the only points in the 3–0 Auburn victory.

Ducote leaps forward, kicks the ball from the top of the helmet and drives it straight as an arrow for Georgia's crossbar, over which it sails evenly between the posts.

[14] Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores eliminated Auburn from SIAA title contention by a 20–9 score.

[15] John Heisman's Georgia Tech overwhelmed rival Auburn 33–7 to clinch a share of the SIAA title.