Auburn football stock report: Darrell Williams, Jarrett Stidham huge for Tigers
By Rob Maxwell
The ninth-ranked Auburn football team escaped Atlanta with a 21-16 victory against No. 6 Washington.
Like most people expected, it was a battle.
Auburn outgained Washington 420-398. The two teams combined for 22 penalties. But the Huskies turned it over twice and that played a big part in the Auburn victory.
Stock up
QB Jarrett Stidham: The Auburn quarterback completed 26-of-36 passes (15 of 19 in the first half) for 273 yards and a touchdown. The TD pass was a thread-the-needle toss to Sal Cannella in the first half that gave the Tigers an early 6-0 lead. He was efficient and, outside of not getting the ball pas the line of scrimmage while trying to throw it away and getting penalized, made good decisions all afternoon. He even gained 23 yards, including 18 on one run. Several times he avoided losses by at least getting back to the line of scrimmage.
RB Kam Martin: The junior received most the carries, running 22 times for a tough 80 yards. He also caught 5 passes for 32 yards. He picked up some tough between-the-tackles yards and had a 19-yard run up the middle on fourth-and-1 in the second quarter. And don’t shake your head at him not getting 100. Washington’s defense is very good and will be one of the top two Auburn faces this season.
DT Derrick Brown: It was obvious early that Washington wasn’t going to be able to run the ball up the middle. Brown was too disruptive. That forced Myles Gaskin outside most the afternoon and that didn’t work all that well for the Huskies. Gaskin ran 17 times for 75 yards and 25 of those came on one carry.
LB Darrell Williams. The guts award goes to Williams. After leaving earlier on the drive with what looked like a stinger, Williams returned and made the defensive play of the game. On third-and-goal at the 13, Browning had Andre Baccellia breaking wide open in the end zone and Williams leaped and got just enough to send the pass to the turf innocently. Washington kicked a field goal to go up, 16-15, but that gave the Tigers momentum. Williams also was in on the other biggest play of the game (see: Nick Coe).
Buck Nick Coe: Play of the Game 1B goes to Coe. Trailing 15-13 facing third-and-goal at the Auburn 3, Jake Browning looked to pitch the ball but Coe hit him, forcing a fumble and Williams recovered the fumble and disaster was averted.
Stock down
Punter Aidan Marshall: Yes, Marshall got the first shot at punting, but it did not go well. He just got off the kick before it was blocked and it traveled just 30 yards to the Washington 37. Arryn Siposs punted the next two times for Auburn and his kicks traveled 47 and 40 yards.
CB Noah Igbinoghene: Maybe it’s not fair to put Igbinoghene here, but Browning picked on the first-time starter throughout the game. To Igbinoghene’s credit, he made some plays. But he was victimized by the back-shoulder thrown and not turning to find the ball — but so were other Auburn DBs (Jamel Dean, Javaris Davis).
Stock even
Kicker Anders Carlson: The redshirt freshman was 3 of 5 on field goal attempts, missing from 33 and 54 yards. He connected on a 53-yarder. It’s tough to ding him for the long miss. And Washington didn’t return a single kickoff. It’s obvious that, like his brother, he has a strong leg and is going to be a weapon for the Tigers.