Cadillac Williams' candidacy, fixing the offense and other questions about Auburn football

AUBURN — When Carnell "Cadillac" Williams led Auburn football out of the tunnel ahead of its 13-10 win over Texas A&M on Saturday night, he locked arms with juniors Jaylin Simpson and Colby Wooden.

It was an ode to what Williams and his teammates used to do at Auburn when he was a player two decades ago. Wooden said he appreciates how Williams has gone the extra mile to instill old Auburn tradition into the program. It's unclear how it was decided who the two players would be on either side of Williams, but clearly, the right decision was made, at least in Wooden's case.

The pass rusher strip-sacked Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman late in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers (4-6, 2-5 SEC) an opportunity to go up two scores. With the Aggies (3-7, 1-6) scoring a touchdown a few minutes later to cut Auburn's lead to three, Wooden's play proved to be the biggest of the game.

With Western Kentucky (7-4) coming to the Plains this week, here are some of the biggest questions surrounding Auburn.

Should the win change Cadillac's candidacy?

Williams has been a lightning rod since getting elevated to the interim role after Bryan Harsin was fired Oct. 31. He's electrified the fanbase with his emotion and is now 1-1 as a coach, with the loss coming in overtime last week in a gutsy game on the road against Mississippi State.

But the win against the Aggies shouldn't factor into new athletics director John Cohen's decision too much. Cohen needs this hire to be successful and shouldn't let a victory over mediocre Texas A&M sway his decision. Now, if Williams leads Auburn to wins over Western Kentucky and Alabama on the road, which would make the Tigers bowl eligible, a different conversation would need to be had.

But until then, just as he said he's been doing for the past two weeks, Williams and the fans should be living in the moment and enjoying the ride.

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Is a bowl realistic?

The Tigers need two wins in two weeks to get back to .500 and become bowl eligible, an accomplishment that seemed virtually impossible just a couple of weeks ago before the coaching change was made.

The first challenger standing in their way is Western Kentucky (), which is coming off a 45-10 smackdown of Rice. The Hilltoppers are in second place in Conference USA and have played one other Power 5 opponent this season, losing in overtime to Indiana in September. The Tigers should be able to handle Western Kentucky, although nothing is a given.

The real test comes against Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Auburn hasn't won a game in Tuscaloosa since Cam Newton led the Tigers to the "Camback" in 2010, erasing a 24-point deficit on the way to a 28-27 victory. For the first time in years, though, Alabama has looked human under coach Nick Saban, losing games to Tennessee and LSU and narrowly escaping Texas A&M and Ole Miss.

It may not be likely, but there's a universe where Auburn can do it.

Can the offense recover?

Auburn ran wild against the Aggies. Running backs Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter combined for 242 yards on the ground and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. Despite this, and the fact that the Tigers drove into Texas A&M territory on nine of the 13 drives they had, Auburn only mustered 13 points.

In order to fix the offense, Robby Ashford needs to hit the easy passes more consistently, and co-offensive coordinators Will Friend and Ike Hilliard need to scheme up some simple looks for their young quarterback. They did a few times against the Aggies — Ashford missed a wide-open Hunter for a surefire touchdown — but should have even more of an opportunity to do it against Western Kentucky.

Richard Silva is the Auburn beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Cadillac Williams' candidacy and other questions about Auburn football