This Saturday, the No.1 ranked Auburn Tigers will take on the No.19 South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC championship game.
It will be a second meeting between these two teams, with Auburn winning 34-27 at home back on Sept. 25. The game will be played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and while South Carolina is playing simply for a spot in a BCS bowl game, the Tigers are trying to keep their national championship hopes alive.
To no surprise, the oddsmakers have favored Auburn in this one, as the current college football odds have the Tigers 4.5-point favorites over the Gamecocks.
South Carolina (9-3, 5-3 SEC)
There is no question that the Gamecocks will come into the game feeling like they have what it takes to beat the Tigers.
In the earlier matchup this season, South Carolina jumped out to a 20-14 halftime lead and were up 27-21 heading into the fourth quarter. Things then went terribly wrong for the Gamecocks, as they fumbled twice leading to two touchdowns for Auburn, and then were intercepted on their final two possessions as they tried to tie it up.
Quarterback Stephen Garcia was 15-of-21 for 235 yards with three touchdowns, but after fumbling twice in the fourth quarter, he was replaced by Connor Shaw.
Shaw proceeded to drive the Gamecocks down the field, only to throw two interceptions in the final minutes of the game, and you have to wonder if pulling Garcia was the right move.
Alshon Jeffery had a huge game, catching eight passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns, and with the way Auburn has struggled against the top receivers in this conference, expect another big game from Jeffery this weekend.
Star freshman running back Marcus Lattimore finished the regular season with 1,114 yards and 17 touchdowns, but he wasn’t much of a factor against the Tigers earlier this season. Lattimore had just 33 yards on 14 carries but did score on a one-yard run late in the first quarter.
Hard to imagine Lattimore having a lot more success this time around, as the Tigers just got done holding Alabama’s strong rushing attack to just 69 yards.
Auburn (12-0, 8-0 SEC)
The Tigers have to feel lucky that they were able to escape with a win last week at Alabama.
Auburn fell behind 24-0 and didn’t look like they had any chance of slowing down the Alabama offense. The Tigers rallied with 21 unanswered points to pull it to 21-24, and after Alabama added a field goal, Cameron Newton hit Philip Lutzenkirchen from seven yards out for his third touchdown pass of the game, and the Tigers were able to hold on for the win.
Newton finished up an amazing regular season throwing for 2,254 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 1,336 yards and 18 scores on the ground. Newton showed everyone that he doesn’t have to run for a ton of yards to be effective, as he had just 39 yards on 22 attempts last week against Alabama.
Newton threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns and added another 176 yards and three scores on the ground against South Carolina earlier this season, and if the Gamecocks don’t find a way to slow down Newton this week, the Tigers are going to roll right into the National Title game.
Freshman running back Michael Dyer played a huge role in the Tigers win over the Gamecocks this season, as he carried it 23 times for 100 yards, but over the last eight games, Dyer has only received more than 10 carries in three games, and it will be interesting to see if Auburn goes back to giving him a heavy workload this weekend.
Looking at the Odds
I actually think South Carolina has a good chance of not only covering the spread, but winning this game outright.
Auburn is coming off an extremely emotional win over Alabama to keep their national title hopes alive, and I just don’t think they have the secondary to keep Garcia and Jeffery in check. I look for both teams to go back and forth, with the Gamecocks sneaking out the win late.
My final score prediction is South Carolina 38, Auburn 35.