Week 1 of the 2018 college football season is finally upon us and the first weekend of action brings no shortage of exciting matchups. But no other has higher stakes than No. 6 Washington taking on No. 9 Auburn. 

The top-10 matchup is the perfect resume builder for the College Football Playoff for each team and will feature a stockpile of future NFL talent on the field. 

That being said, here are some quick players to watch and keys to victory for each team.

Players to watch

Myles Gaskin (Washington)

Gaskin has rushed for at least 1,300 yards in each of his three seasons at Washington, including a 1,380 yard, 21-touchdown season in 2017. Gaskin does not simply go down easy; he has balance, elusiveness and sneaky power that makes it hard to wrap him up on first effort. 

Gaskin was a touchdown-scoring machine last season, reaching pay-dirt in all but one game. Auburn’s highly touted front seven will be tested by the senior running back early and often on Saturday. It will be best to keep an eye on this playmaker as a huge amount of Washington’s offensive success rides on him. 

Greg Gaines (Washington) 

Last season Gaines, and current Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Vita Vea, were a force to be reckoned with. The two combined for 668 pounds of immovable force along the defensive line and were the best tag-team defensive line duo in the Pac-12. But with Vea moved on to the NFL, run-stopping and lane-clogging responsibilities fall onto Gaines. 

The 322-pounder is well up to the task with 13 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks over the last two seasons. Auburn will be breaking in a new offensive line that is replacing four starters from last year’s team. Gaines’ experience, skill and size will give the new group fits whether it is attracting a double team, closing running lanes and even getting to quarterback Jarrett Stidham. 

Entire Washington Secondary

In a recent article published on The Plainsman, the Washington secondary was broken down and dissected to see how Auburn could attack it. But even with the defensive backfield broken down, the Tigers are going to learn that it is definitely easier said than done. 

The Huskies are returning both All-Pac-12 safeties in Taylor Rapp and JoJo McIntosh and a cache of talented corners surrounding them. As a group, the secondary did not allow its first explosive (40+ yard) play until week 12 against Utah. Auburn had big time success throwing the deep and using them to get their offense kickstarted, but against this secondary, Auburn will have to grind it out. 

Jarrett Stidham (Auburn)

Stidham is listed here for the reason above. This might be the best defensive backfield that he has faced during his time at Auburn. 

This offseason, all the talk has been about how this is Stidham’s offense and how Auburn is going to let him sling the ball around the field. Last season, Stidham displayed his ability to be a key focal point of the offense after passing for 3,158 yards, 18 touchdowns with a 66.5 completion percentage but was not such an efficient passer in games played away from Jordan-Hare compared to the ones at home. In those games, he only completed 59 percent of his passes compared to 74 percent at home.

With the new added responsibility but past struggles in such games, whether Auburn walks out with a win or loss goes through Stidham’s performance and should be someone that will be under the spotlight on Saturday. 

Kam Martin (Auburn)

It is next man up at the running back position with Kerryon Johnson now in the NFL, and that next man is Kam Martin. Martin officially got the starting nod at running back on Tuesday and will be the first to trot on the field come Saturday. Martin’s performance is huge for Auburn as they’ll need to get the run game going in order to have a balanced attack to compliment the passing game.

But with remarks about Martin’s size and lack of pass protection ability it will be interesting to see if he has ability to take the grind of an every-down back.

Anders Carlson (Auburn)

Following in his older brother’s footsteps, Anders Carlson has impressed over the offseason and gave a lot of people Déjà vu. Auburn has relied heavily on Daniel Carlson over the past four seasons and there is no reason why they wouldn’t do the same with Anders, especially when Daniel said that Anders is further along than he was during his first year.  

Keys to victory

Auburn

- The Tigers must have success passing the football against this secondary. Auburn needs to utilize the play action pass to bring the linebackers up just enough so to open huge holes behind them and in front of the safeties. 

- The passing game will not be sufficient without the running backs being successful. Martin will need to show that he belongs as the Tigers’ starting running back by having a solid game. 

- In order for Auburn to come up with the win, The Tigers need to limit Gaskin. The Huskies are 19-2 in the last two seasons when Gaskin scores. The defense must take Gaskin down on the first attempt and not get extra yardage after contact. 

- The Tigers are 19-1 in the last three seasons when scoring at least 30 points under Malzahn, and if the Tigers reach 30 points, they should have a good chance to start the season with a top-10 victory.

Washington

- Jake Browning’s receiving corps is very limited after losing Dante Pettis, but he is still someone with three years of starting experience and a playoff appearance under his belt. For Washington to have success, he has to get his young unproven receivers going. 

- Washington must get pressure on Stidham to rattle him early. With Martin as the starting running back, the last line of defense for Stidham is lacking a little bit. It would not be surprising for Washington to test Martin’s ability early. 

- The Huskies also have to win the turnover battle, with a secondary as elite as theirs there should be plenty of opportunities for this to happen. 

Prediction

Top to bottom, Auburn’s roster is more talented on paper than Washington’s, and that will be the difference on Saturday. Washington will not be able to get its passing game going because of the lack of targets that Browning has to throw to. 

The defensive line of Auburn will get to Browning and make him uncomfortable all game. The Auburn kicking game will not skip a beat with Anders taking the helm as he will get thrown into the fire in his first game and asked to kick in a big stage. 

Auburn wins, 27-17.