College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

The 2018 Chic-Fil-A Kickoff Game between No. 9 Auburn and No. 6 Washington matches two top 10 teams with playoff aspirations, both coming off of 10-win seasons, both returning tons of talent. This game would be a huge boost to the resume of the winner and a loss turns up the pressure significantly with challenging conference schedules ahead. Being Week 1, it’s not a Thunderdome scenario — two teams enter, one team leaves — but it’s going to mean a head start or a lot of ground to make up.

The game comes down to two key matchups: Auburn’s passing game vs. Washington’s secondary and Washington’s running attack vs. Auburn’s defensive line.

Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham will face the Pac-12’s best defense and maybe the best secondary in the country. Washington returns all four starters, all four top reserve players and there will be at least three early round draft picks on the back-end of the Huskies D.

When Washington has the ball, four-year starter Jake Browning will have a group of talented, young receivers around him and Myles Gaskin will be back after a 1,380-yard, 21-touchdown junior season as will sophomore Salvon Ahmed who averaged 6.4 yards per carry in 2017. Auburn’s defensive front was one of the best in the SEC by season’s end last year. They played six underclassmen who return along with two seniors. There might be two or three better starting D-lines but no one can touch Auburn’s depth and quality upfront.

Whoever gets the better of the other in those two areas should come away with a win and set themselves up in great early season position. Since the game is in Atlanta, 100 miles from Auburn and 2,400 miles from Eugene, it’s essentially a home game for the Tigers. Between the crowd advantage and Auburn’s edge in the trenches, I see them upsetting the higher ranked Pac-12 powerhouse.