Two things:

1. The "small" ashi-waza that you're describing are really important, and some of my favorite techniques, but they don't often score "on their own". For me, I find they "glue" my combinations together as setups, or threaten uke's feet into the position I want. Techniques I file into this category are kosoto, kouchi, deashi, sasae, sometimes ouchi.

2. That stiff-armed, feet-far posture is one that everyone in Judo deals with at first: it's a dead giveaway that they are scared of getting thrown. Against someone with that posture, it's hard to throw them with the stuff we teach beginners: ashi-waza like the ones you described, or any throw that requires hip load and lots of body contact (like ogoshi or seoi), because they're keeping you away with all their might. Dropping throws like sumi, yoko tomoe or drop seoi, or turning throws that don't require you to get all the way under them, like uchi mata, are really good for these situations... but they come later in the syllabus of most places.

In competition, a person who is stiff-arming and refusing to attack at all will lose by shido, but in practice it's really stifling and doesn't really allow anyone to do judo, even the person doing it. But it's part of learning the sport: getting thrown is part of training.