South Carolina makes some history with win over No. 15 Auburn
It took nearly 90 years, but the South Carolina football team has picked up its second ever win over Auburn — and the third ranked win of coach Will Muschamp’s tenure — as the Gamecocks took down the No. 15 Tigers 30-22 on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
And much like USC’s last victory over any ranked opponent, a little more than a year ago against No. 3 Georgia, the Gamecocks (2-2) leaned heavily on a standout day from a star cornerback to get the win over Auburn (2-2).
Junior cornerback Jaycee Horn entered the game as a well-respected SEC defender, but still without a single interception, a strange drought that puzzled both him and his coaches and teammates. He ended Saturday with two interceptions, a deflection that led to a third and four total pass breakups.
“If there’s a better corner out there, I wanna see him,” coach Will Muschamp said of Horn. “The guy’s an outstanding football player.”
All three of those interceptions from the hands of Auburn quarterback Bo Nix set up short fields that led to South Carolina touchdowns.
Sophomore running back Kevin Harris got the first one, plunging in from 3 yards out early in the second quarter, while graduate student QB Collin Hill sneaked in for the second from 1 yard out just before halftime. Harris got his second score of the day on an easy 8-yard run late in the third quarter to put the Gamecocks up 27-19.
Horn’s stellar play proved especially vital as the Gamecocks were missing key secondary pieces — junior Israel Mukuamu, who had three interceptions in that win over Georgia last season, was out with a groin injury, and redshirt freshman Cam Smith didn’t play for undisclosed reasons.
Early on, it appeared that those losses would be crucial, as Auburn took a 9-0 lead to the end of the first quarter and attacked soft coverages. But Horn’s first interception, on the first play of the second quarter, set up a massive swing in momentum that allowed the Gamecocks to go into the halftime break down just 16-14 despite being outgained in yardage more than 2-to-1 in the first half.
“We were not playing well as an offense. Defense really did a great job of creating turnovers and keeping us in it,” quarterback Collin Hill said. “ ... Going into half down two points, it was very — weird to say — encouraging for us to know that we haven’t even really scratched the surface of what we wanted to do offensively, but we were still right there.”
And in the second half, the Gamecocks offense showed some signs of life even without the benefit of turnovers. Led by the one-two punch of Harris and redshirt sophomore tailback Deshaun Fenwick, USC drove down the field on its first possession, setting up a 10-yard leaping highlight-reel grab by senior receiver Shi Smith to give the Gamecocks their first lead of the game and energize the 15,766 fans in the socially distanced Williams-Brice Stadium.
Hill threw an interception off a deflection on the next offensive possession, but Horn’s second interception quickly negated that mistake and ensured the momentum remained on Carolina’s side, setting up Harris’ second touchdown.
“I really don’t feel like it was my best game. Statistically, yes, but I feel like I’ve played better ball, it’s just the ball don’t get thrown my way too many times. And today I got a lot of targets, so I’m glad Bo Nix threw it at me a lot today,” Horn said.
Auburn did get one final drive to potentially tie the score, but the Tigers failed to convert inside the Gamecocks’ 15-yard line and the clock ran out for USC’s first win over the Tigers since 1933, and its first as a member of the SEC.
“We’ve gotta continue to progress and improve, but we needed to win a game like this — against a really good football team, at home, defensively or offensively, to be on the field to win the game at the end of the game, and we did it on defense,” Muschamp said. “I’m really proud of our football team.”
USC-Auburn game moments
Star of the game: Horn entered his postgame press conference toting the game ball, for obvious reasons. Opposing teams frequently don’t even bother throwing toward the receiver he’s covering, and he reminded everyone why Saturday. A performance like that can only help his NFL Draft stock.
Play of the game: Shi Smith made not one but two elite catches — his touchdown, and a ridiculous 32-yard grab that he tipped to himself on the sideline while falling down to set up a field goal that made it 30-22.
Stat of the game: 86 — that’s all the yards South Carolina needed to put up on its three touchdown drives following the interceptions combined. On a day when the offense put up a subpar 4.4 yards per play, short fields made all the difference.
NEXT USC FOOTBALL GAME
Who: South Carolina at LSU
Where: Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
When: 7 pm Saturday, Oct. 24
TV: ESPN
South Carolina vs Auburn scoring summary
First Quarter
AUB—FG Carlson 35, 8:32.
AUB—Stove 11 pass from Nix (run failed), 4:33.
Second Quarter
SC—Harris 3 run (P.White kick), 12:49.
AUB—Bigsby 2 run (Carlson kick), 10:24.
SC—C.Hill 1 run (P.White kick), :35.
Third Quarter
AUB—FG Carlson 38, 10:22.
SC—S.Smith 10 pass from C.Hill (run failed), 6:31.
SC—Harris 8 run (P.White kick), :54.
Fourth Quarter
SC—FG P.White 39, 9:13.
AUB—FG Carlson 22, 6:36.
South Carolina vs Auburn game stats
RUSHING—Auburn, Bigsby 16-111, Nix 15-69, D.Williams 4-17, Stove 1-12. South Carolina, Harris 25-83, Fenwick 12-68, Joyner 1-14, (Team) 1-(minus 5), C.Hill 4-(minus 7).
PASSING—Auburn, Nix 24-47-3-272. South Carolina, C.Hill 15-24-1-144.
RECEIVING—Auburn, Stove 7-60, Schwartz 6-59, S.Williams 4-74, Capers 3-40, D.Williams 2-26, S.Jackson 1-9, Deal 1-4. South Carolina, S.Smith 8-76, Muse 2-29, Harris 2-21, Vann 1-11, Prentice 1-10, Joyner 1-(minus 3).
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 3:44 PM.
