It was crazy.

A week before being named Auburn’s starting quarterback back in mid-August, Jarrett Stidham had the same Heisman Trophy odds as Saquon Barkley. Jake Browning and Deondre Francois were the other signal-callers who were 15-to-1 to win college football’s most-coveted award. In addition to the hype he received to win individual awards, articles were written about him being the final piece to take down Alabama, about him and leading the Tigers to a national championship.

Never mind the fact that Stidham had three career starts — only one of which came against a top-90 defense — entering his first season in a completely new system. Auburn probably waited until mid-August to announce Stidham as the starter in attempt to curb some of the inevitable hype that would follow.

That didn’t work.

He was a blue-chip recruit who transferred from a high-powered offense at Baylor. Of course there was going to be hype at a program that was desperate for a game-changer at the quarterback position. Realistic expectations went out the window before he ever took a snap.

The question was how Stidham was going to handle those expectations. Would he be another Jeremy Johnson? Or would he be another Cam Newton?

So far, it looks more like the latter. That’s saying a lot considering how Stidham played in the beginning of the season.

But like Newton, whom Gus Malzahn coached as Auburn’s offensive coordinator in 2010, Stidham’s rushing ability was key to developing in the system. Unlike Newton, it didn’t come naturally to Stidham. He was the big-armed Texas gunslinger, not the dual-threat mobile playmaker.

Last Saturday, Stidham delivered the best game of his young career. He threw 3 touchdown passes in Auburn’s 40-17 blowout win against No. 1 Georgia. He also chipped in a rushing touchdown, which came on a zone read. Just as he had worked on with Malzahn and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, Stidham fooled the Georgia defensive end and rolled out to the near-side pylon for 6.

Guess which one of Stidham’s 4 touchdowns was Malzahn’s favorite.

“I’m really proud of Jarrett,” Malzahn said after Saturday’s victory. “He had the running touchdown, and I feel that was big. When he runs it just enough, I think it changes everything.”

Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Stidham’s rushing touchdown perfectly illustrates his improved decision-making. Georgia was understandably keyed in on Kerryon Johnson, who picked apart the Dawgs’ defense for 167 yards on a career-high 32 carries. Teams will continue to sell out on Johnson when Auburn runs its option.

As Malzahn said, though, the more Stidham is confident in his ability to call his own number, the more deceptive the Tigers’ offense will become.

That’s been Malzahn’s main objective all season. It’s not that Stidham lacks athleticism. He’s not Newton, but he has the ability to use his legs to his advantage. It’s just been a matter of getting him to rely on them at the right time.

Against Clemson, Stidham wasn’t willing to do that. Did Auburn’s offensive line perform up to its standards in the first real test of the season? No. But neither did Stidham. He was indecisive. As a result, Clemson racked up its most sacks in 13 years. Considering that was a battle of now-top 6 teams, that’s shocking.

But when you go back and look at Stidham’s tape from that game, it’s not shocking. He didn’t understand the offense yet, at least not from an execution standpoint. Forget Heisman Trophy candidate. Stidham spent so much time on his back that night that he didn’t look like an average college quarterback.

On the very first play from scrimmage, Stidham looked at his first read, which wasn’t open. He then tucked the ball down and realized that the Clemson defensive line was unlike anything he had ever faced in a real game. This was not a pocket that suggested “roll out and run.”

That turned into the first of Clemson’s 11 sacks.

The offensive line took plenty of flak for the way it played in that game. That play, however, was not on the offensive line. That’s all Stidham. Had Stidham been comfortable in the system, he would’ve looked much calmer in the pocket. On the dozens of run-pass options/zone reads that Auburn ran that night, Stidham called his own number once. That’s it.

Go back and watch the film. Stidham only kept it when he thought he was running for his life.

That was the sign of a guy who couldn’t keep up with the speed of the game yet. You know, like someone with four career starts. It was unrealistic to think that Stidham was going to look like a seasoned veteran that early in the season against the defending national champs.

What was realistic was that Stidham could learn from that game. And obviously, he did.

The numbers reflected that.

[table “” not found /]

I was curious if Malzahn saw a specific turning point in Stidham’s understanding of the offense, so I asked him about that on the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday.

“Probably after the Clemson game, you saw him really start growing and progressing. The next week after that, he actually was very efficient with the ball,” Malzahn said. “You can just see the way he protects the football and you can see his decision-making and just how efficient he is throwing the football.

“I think each week, he’s gotten more and more comfortable.”

A lot of that had to do with getting on the same page with Lindsey, who is in his first year at Auburn. He saw what others saw in Stidham against Clemson — he was too afraid of turning the ball over. Trusting protection to hold and receivers to get open wasn’t easy.

“Probably after the Clemson game, you saw (Stidham) really start growing and progressing. The next week after that, he actually was very efficient with the ball. You can just see the way he protects the football and you can see his decision-making and just how efficient he is throwing the football. I think each week, he’s gotten more and more comfortable.”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn

Stidham made headlines a month ago when he said that he couldn’t audible at the line of scrimmage. Malzahn defended himself by saying Stidham actually had more freedom to change protections and to make decisions on the run-pass options than “any quarterback he’s had.”

After the Georgia performance, nobody was talking about Stidham’s limitations.

“It’s just his command of the offense, the confidence, he’s doing a very good job,” Malzahn said on Wednesday. “Chip’s giving him a lot of flexibility, and he’s doing a good job with that.”

The question now is whether Stidham and the Auburn offense can shake up the SEC and College Football Playoff picture. And of course not all of that falls on the sophomore signal-caller. If Johnson continues to run like Le’Veon Bell in a college uniform and the Auburn defense stuffs the running game, Stidham won’t need to do a whole lot.

Nobody is expecting Stidham to run for as many yards as Newton did, nor is anybody expecting Stidham to play quite like Heisman Trophy favorite Baker Mayfield.

But if he can continue give Auburn the type of attack it had against Georgia, Stidham and the Tigers are every bit as dangerous as anyone heading into the Iron Bowl/SEC West final. Fitting it’ll be that Stidham’s last regular-season game of his first full season will come against Alabama. Once upon a time, he was billed as the guy who would help dethrone the mighty Tide.

That doesn’t seem so crazy anymore.