South Carolina at Auburn Preview

By William Robinson  |   Friday, September 30, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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On Saturday Steve Spurrier will bring his South Carolina Gamecocks to the
Plains to face the Auburn Tigers. The last time Spurrier was in Auburn was in 2001
when his Gators were favored by 23 points and suffered a huge upset at
the hands of Tubberville's Tigers. After two conference losses so far
South Carolina is looking for their first SEC win with Spurrier at the
helm, while Tubberville tries to keep the Tigers unbeaten in conference
play.

The South Carolina Gamecocks one dimensional passing style offense has its hands full
going up against a stingy Auburn Tigers defense that has surrendered only 10
points per game so far this season. South Carolina ranks last in the
SEC in rushing, averaging only 65 yards a game. Normally a one
dimensional offense will not get you far in the SEC, but if anyone knows
how to win with an offense that can't run the ball its Spurrier. The
only problem is that his star quarterback Blake Mitchell is injured and
will not play.

South Carolina has not been able to protect their quarterback so far
this season, having already allowed 13 sacks. This does not match up
well with an Auburn pass rush that has piled up 12 sacks in just 4
games. Things could get ugly if the Tigers pass rush gets into a
groove.

Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox will return this week after sitting out
last weeks game with a stomach virus. The Auburn offense has continued
to improve game by game as the season has progressed and coach
Tubberville will accept nothing less than that this week. In
particular, after a slow start the Tigers running game has sprung to
life in the past three weeks giving them the much needed balance that
now has them sitting at the top of the SEC in scoring, averaging just
over 35 points a game.

Tigers junior Kenny Irons has emerged as the team's number one running
back, gaining 286 yards on only 42 carries in the past three games.
Irons transferred from South Carolina two years ago and looks to have a
big day against his old team. While Irons should get a good share of
the carries, look for emerging freshman Brad Lester and sophomore
bruiser Carl Stewart to run a little as well.

This is a pivotal game for Auburn, who could creep back into the top 25
with a convincing victory. Spurrier is no newcomer to the atmosphere of
coaching on the Plains and while his Gamecocks have shown flashes of
good play it seems like Auburn has the more complete and well rounded
squad.
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