Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown among college football’s best-ever duos

The tag team of Brown and Williams provided many memories for Auburn fans in 2024.

The 20th anniversary of Auburn’s undefeated 2004 season will be celebrated this year, and the contributions of two Tiger playmakers are still being discussed today.

Sure, players such as [autotag]Jason Campbell[/autotag], [autotag]Courtney Taylor[/autotag], and [autotag]Carlos Rodgers[/autotag] were important to Auburn’s Sugar Bowl-winning season, but the efforts of [autotag]Ronnie Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] were arguably the most vital to Auburn’s success in 2004.

The 1-2 punch rushed for 2,078 yards and 20 scores in 2004 with Williams taking the bulk of those numbers with 1,173 yards and 12 scores. Finding a tandem as elite as Auburn’s 2004 running backs is hard to find these days, which is why Brown and Williams are considered to be one of the best playmaking duos in college football history.

247Sports ranks the tag team of Brown and Williams as the fifth-best all-time playmaking duo in college football history. 247Sports’ Brad Crawford says that Brown and Williams make the case to be one of the SEC’s best rushing duos of all-time.

There’s going to be some debate here, but Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams are just behind two other ball carriers considered the SEC’s greatest rushing duo of all-time. Brown’s 2,707 yards rushing and Williams’ 3,831 yards on the ground featured a stunning two dozen 100-yard performances between the pair. Brown was the bruiser and Williams had breakaway speed, anchoring a 13-0 Auburn team in 2004 that was left out of the BCS National Championship. Williams finished with 45 career rushing touchdowns while Brown tallied 28. Auburn’s backfield hasn’t seen this level of elite tandem since.

Crawford ranks the duo of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones from Arkansas’ 2007 squad as the SEC’s best-ever running back duo. The top playmaking duo of all-time belongs to USC‘s Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, who enjoyed several successful seasons together in Los Angeles during the early 2000s.

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Auburn Football: The top 10 all-time receivers in program history

Auburn has had some great receivers, here are the 10 best in program history.

Auburn is more known for their running backs but they have also had some impressive receivers.

The first to come to mind is [autotag]Terry Beasley[/autotag] who was part of an unstoppable connection with [autotag]Pat Sullivan[/autotag]. Beasley’s records will be tough for anyone to break but [autotag]Tyrone Goodson [/autotag]and [autotag]Karsten Bailey[/autotag] came close back in the 1990’s.

[autotag]Seth Williams[/autotag] has been Auburn’s best recent receiver before he left for the NFL. Other notable receivers this millennium include [autotag]Emory Blake[/autotag], [autotag]Darvin Adams[/autotag], and [autotag]Courtney Taylor[/autotag].

While none of Auburn’s current receivers are likely to wind up on this list, the Tigers have some talented but unproven targets who are looking to breakout during the 2022 season. Here is a look at the 10 leading receivers in Auburn history.

Shea’s Favorite Auburn Games: No. 6 -Tigers vs LSU 2004

It was a defensive battle when the two Tigers met up in Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2004.

[jwplayer AWBAMRau]

I can’t even lie, y’all. I’m stressing about football already. It’s a dreadful feeling that I’m elated to finally experience again. Here’s the continuation of my countdown to kickoff.

Number 6: Auburn vs LSU 2004

I was 10 when this game occurred and I had no idea how football was supposed to work. All I knew was that my dad was going down to the game and told me to look for him on TV. I’d already tried to locate my dad once before when he went down to Talladega and was unsuccessful in my efforts. I was pretty skeptical that I would be able to locate my father at an Auburn football game, but with all of my ‘Where’s Waldo?’ and ‘I Spy’ expertise I felt pretty confident about giving it a shot.

I think my dad telling me to look for him on the TV was secretly his was of getting me to watch the game because it worked. I was fixated on the screen wondering when the cameras would pan to the crowd. I gave up on this probably five minutes after I began watching, and then I became obsessed over learning the game.

At the time my sister’s bedroom had been somewhat converted into a play room (she was at school in Southern Illinois, shoutout to the Salukis) and her room was so cool because it had a TV in it. My mom was downstairs watching her own shows, so anytime the crowd in Jordan Hare went nuts I ran to the top of the stairwell and started shouting random questions.

“MOM, SOME GUY ON THE OTHER TEAM JUST RAN INSIDE OF A MAGIC RECTANGLE AND EARNED 6 TOKENS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?”

“Shea, that’s a touchdown.”

“MOM THIS GUY ON THE OTHER TEAM TRIED KICKING THE BALL LIKE A NEW YORK CITY ROCKETTE AND NOW THE ENTIRE STADIUM IS GOING BANANAS! WHAT’S GOING ON!?”

“Shea, he has to kick the football in between those two poles after his team scores a touchdown. He kicked the ball horribly and it didn’t go in which is a good thing for Auburn.”

“MOMMM NOW ONE OF OUR GUYS KICKED THE BALL LIKE A ROCKETTE AND WE GOT THREE POINTS!”

“Great, that’s a field goal.”

You can imagine how the rest of these questions went, but she answered all of them. By the beginning of the fourth quarter I was yearning for an Auburn touchdown. I knew that meant that a guy in a blue uniform had to run into the “magic rectangle” which I now refer to as the end zone.

Ronnie Brown had an amazing 20-yard run and I just knew Auburn was going to win the game once the Tigers converted on 4th and 12 with a 14 yard catch by Courtney Taylor.

I wasn’t aware that Anthony Mix fumbled the ball on the play prior to Auburn’s game winning touchdown. I was too busy actively learning the game and all I was looking for was a touchdown. Thank you, Courtney Taylor for giving us this.

My dad called us when the game was over. He was hoarse. I definitely didn’t see him on TV but if there’s one thing we all know about Jordan Hare, it’s that every voice is amplified. I excitedly told him about how I watched the entire game and that I’d learned what touchdowns, field goals, punts, and first downs were.

One month later my dad took me to Auburn to catch the Tigers’ game against Arkansas. We’d been to several Auburn games before, but this one was special. I came to the realization when we were walking to Toomer’s Corner after that game that I was no longer just an Auburn fan, I was head-over-heels in love with everything about Auburn.

And to think, it all began 16 years ago when Auburn defeated LSU.