ATLANTA – Seeing Sal Cannella go up and haul in a catch over a defender in the back of the end zone Saturday might have been a surprise to Auburn fans watching, but it wasn't a surprise to Cannella. When the play was called and he knew it was coming his way, it didn't matter that he had caught only three passes total the season before. He knew he was going to make a play. And he knew he was about to score his first touchdown.
"Guaranteed six," he told his teammates at the team walk-through the day before when they were going over that specific play.
"Ever since I've been here, the quarterbacks, me, [Gus] Malzahn, Coach [Chip] Lindsey, we've just been working specific red-zone routes," Cannella said. "It's just building timing with each quarterback, whoever it's going to be. I knew coming into the game, that was going to be a play down there. And when they called it, they just expected me to go make a play.
"I had all the confidence in the world. I told everybody, I'm scoring on this. I'm going up and getting this. That's been my play. Ever since I've been here, that's my play."
His play worked. The 6-foot-5, 232-pound former basketball player jumped up and caught the pass from Jarrett Stidham over the top of the Washington defender to give Auburn an early lead 7-0 lead. For Cannella, it was a reward for all the hard work he had put in during the offseason and during fall camp after struggling through a difficult first season with the Tigers last year.
"[Last season] did affect me a little bit," he said. "I knew that I had to go back to what I knew, which is working. That's how I got to Auburn. Putting extra hours in, more than anybody. I knew I had good hands. It's just going back to the basics by hitting the jugs every day and [the] tennis ball drills.
"It came to going back to what I know and just going to work."
Debut on defense
In last year's opener against Georgia Southern, Noah Igbinoghene – a true freshman at the time – lined up at wide receiver. He even caught pass that lost a yard. On Saturday, it was like he was making his debut all over again, as he started at cornerback for the first time.
Igbinoghene made the move there in the spring and by fall camp, he had won the starting job alongside fellow cornerback Jamel Dean. On Saturday, both he and Dean struggled at times against Washington's wide receivers, but the sophomore still finished with five tackles and two pass break-ups, including one in the end zone that prevented a touchdown.
"It went way better than I expected," Igbinoghene said. "I just think as coaches, they got me ready. I've been working for this moment, and I took advantage of it.
The converted wide receiver had a feeling going into the game that Washington would try to go after him. It was, after all, his first game at cornerback since middle school.
"I'm not going to lie, before the game I was kind of nervous," he said. "I've never played the position since middle school. It was kind of different, but once I got my feet wet a little bit, it was fine."
Legatron 2.0
Daniel Carlson grew a reputation for consistently knocking down field goals from 50 yards or more during his illustrious career at Auburn. On Saturday, it was his younger brother, Anders Carlson, who stepped into a 53-yard field goal late in the first half and drilled it through the uprights to give the Tigers a 15-6 lead.
It was Carlson's second field goal of the half, and it even drew a tweet from big brother, who won the starting kicking job for the Minnesota Vikings during preseason.
THAT'S MY LITTLE BROTHER!!!!! #WarEagle
— Daniel Carlson (@DanielCarlson38) September 1, 2018
The younger Carlson did miss two field-goal attempts Saturday, including a 54-yarder that had the distance but went wide right. Still, his two makes proved to be the difference in the game as Auburn won by five points.
"I was pleased with the day," Carlson said. "It wasn't perfect, but I did what I could do."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf