For the first time in both school’s history, the #6 Washington Huskies will play the #9 Auburn Tigers this coming Saturday. If you’re an avid student of college football, you already know that implications of this game. But let’s look at who this Auburn team is, and what the Huskies have going for them going into Saturday’s game.
1. OFFENSE
Everyone knows that Auburn will field a very good quarterback on Saturday in the person of Jarrett Stidham. The 6-3, 215 lb. junior (transfer) had a huge coming-0ut season in 2017. He threw for 3158 total yards (66.49%) and 18 touchdowns. He also had a senior-laded offensive line blocking for him. This is where we begin to dissect the chinks in the armor of this Auburn team.
There’s been a lot of chatter about how Jake Browning didn’t perform as well in 2017 because he missed the previous spring with off-season shoulder surgery, but Stidham had the same issue this past spring. Stidham was limited all spring because he also had shoulder surgery. While it wasn’t his throwing arm, just missing that time can be a detriment, both on the field and in the weight room. That’s just one thing to keep an eye on.
The other is that offensive line inexperience with the Tigers, but they do return an 800-plus-yard wideout (Ryan Davis) and they have a couple good receivers for Stidham to throw to (Darius Slayton RS, Will Hastings JR). What Auburn is missing this year is the legs of Kerryon Johnson, who bolted for the NFL after rushing for 1391 yards on 285 carries and 18 touchdowns.
The “new guy” isn’t that new; he played in all 14 games last season, but Kam Martin contributed 453 yards and two touchdowns in 2017.
2. DEFENSE
Clearly, the strongest unit that Auburn will field on Saturday is their interior d-line and one really, really good linebacker (DeShaun Davis). They have several good linebackers but Davis is the obvious guy to keep an eye on. He led the team last season in tackles (82) and is just a fierce competitor. On the line, Auburn returns guys like Derrick Brown, Dontavious Russell, and Marlon Davison.
The Tigers are still sorting out who will start at BUCK.
Sackmaster, Jeff Holland left for the NFL. Last year he was insane with nine total sacks for the season, but both Davis and Brown had four sacks a-piece so they still will present some real challenges for the Husky offensive line.
The weak-link on the Tiger defense is their secondary. They weren’t exactly stellar last season and, this season, they’re very young. In fact, one starter is now fighting through a hand injury sustained over the weekend. He’s wearing a soft cast, but Jamel Dean was thought to be one of the more up-and-coming players for 2018.
3. RETURNING
In total, Auburn returns 13 starters from a team that only lost four games in 2017.
Seven on offense, and six on defense.
In contract, Washington returns 16; seven on offense and nine on defense.
4. UP UNTIL NOW…
Auburn is coming off a two-game losing streak that started last winter. They lost to Georgia 7-28 to end their regular season, and then lost to UCF in the Peach Bowl, 27-34. They also have lost twice in the last two times they’ve played in Mercedes Benz Stadium.
You would think that an SEC power like Auburn would have better starts against ranked teams, but they are 1-7 in these types of openers. Gus Malzahn, Auburn’s head coach, is 3-5 against non-conference opponents when playing on the road. But this is a neutral site.
The whole reason for bringing all of this up is that it would bring a great deal of redemption for the program if they were to knock off #6 to open the season.
5. RANDOM STATS COMPARISON
[icon name=”caret-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Auburn was penalized 63 times last season, Washington was penalized 54 times.
[icon name=”caret-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Auburn’s defense allowed an average of 137.2 yards-per-game rushing, while Washington allowed just 100.8 rushing yards per-game.
[icon name=”caret-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Overall, Auburn’s defensie allowed an average of 319 yards of total offense per-game while Washington’s defense allowed an average of 298 per-game.
[icon name=”caret-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Auburn’s offense fumbled the ball 21 times, Washington fumbled 15 times.
[icon name=”caret-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Auburn’s secondary picked off six passes, Washington’s picked off 15.
