Washington Auburn halftime report: rushing offense

At the halfway point, let’s look at Washington Football team’s running offense against that Auburn defense

Well here we are at the halfway point. Nervous? Confident? The emotions are at their peak right now. While the images of the first half are still fresh in your mind, let’s break down some important factors in today’s game. In this article, we’ll look at how well the Washington Football team runs the ball.

In the minutes leading up to the game, Huskies fans weighed in on our Twitter poll with surprising confidence. In spite of the absence of left tackle Trey Adams, when asked “What is your take on Washington’s running offense today?”  the votes distributed this way:

Great job – 60%
Not bad –   33%
Needs to improve – 0%
Yikes! – 7%

But by halftime?

Washington had only attempted 10 runs for 45 yards. While that averages 4.5 yards per carry, it’s simply too little to impact this game.  The running game shows some potential for the second half. You simply cannot ignore the fact that sophomore running back Salvon Ahmed has 18 yards on just two carries. But the workhorse of the running game, Myles Gaskin, sits at eight runs for just 27 yards.

It was clear heading into this game that the Auburn defensive line would have their eyes on Gaskin today. So far in this one, that has proven to be the narrative. The Huskies have countered by opening up the playbook  in the passing game.

Gaskin needs touches in the second half. Whether that means pitch outs or run-pass option plays. And once more, fleet footed running back Salvon Ahmed delivers incredible runs when he touches the ball. But so far he has only touched the ball twice.

I like how the Washington offense adjust as the game progressed. But I remain concerned that Auburn has succeeded already in forcing Washington to abandon the running game with the end of just one half of play.  Washington needs to get Gaskin and Ahmed involved in this offense in the second half.