2018 Washington Football Auburn opener punctuates solid season

Retention getting attention in Washington

The Washington Football team may not have generated the numbers of Auburn’s offense in 2017, but the team did manage to retain four key players. Returning to the team this year are offensive tackles Tra Adams and Kaleb McGary, quarterback Jake Browning, and running back Myles Gaskin. Also coming back from injury are wide receiver Chico McClatcher and tight end Hunter Bryant.

The Washington Football team scored plenty of points in the 2017 season.  And the biggest touchdown machine, running back Myles Gaskin, will pick right up where he left off in 2017.  He accounted for 21 touchdowns himself.  With the return of Browning, and his 19 touchdown passes, the Huskies reclaim 40 touchdowns from the 2017 offense already for 2018. Still, the Huskies may have produced far more offense if not for the untimely injuries to wide receivers McClatcher, Quinten Pounds, and tight ends Hunter Bryant and Drew Sample.

More plays = more offense

So it was a somewhat depleted offense which generated 405 yards per game in 2017: 222.2 yards passing and 183.2 yards rushing.  That landed the Washington offense at 58th in the country.   But there is even more behind the rote numbers.

Auburn ran 642 times last season, and passed 382 times. Meanwhile, Washington rushed just 473 times and passed just 248 times. In short, Auburn had 42 percent more offensive plays than Washington last season. That  translates into more offense, but the comparisons will definitely skew in Auburns favor.  Auburn simply had the ball more often.