Final thoughts, prediction as South Carolina seeks postseason berth against Auburn
Lights, camera, action.
Seriously, someone turn on the lights at Williams-Brice Stadium. Why even turn them off at all really? On Saturday, South Carolina (5-5, 2-5 SEC) will play its sixth night game of the season in Columbia when Auburn (6-4, 3-3 SEC) comes to town.
The Gamecocks are 4-1 at home this season and a win against the Tigers would give USC five wins in the friendly confines of Willy-B for the first time since 2018.
Seeking bowl eligibility for the second consecutive week, USC misfired in a major way last week at Missouri. The offensive issues that plagued the Gamecocks all fall returned. Quarterback Jason Brown was sacked three times. The running backs — albeit slightly better than the beginning of the year — mustered just 107 yards against a defense that had been surrendering almost triple that on the ground.
After a dazzling debut in which Brown connected on 12 of his first 15 passes in a romp of Florida, the third-stringer-turned-starter completed just a smidge over 50% of his throws at Missouri and tossed three interceptions — though two were called back due to Tiger penalties.
Brown conceded postgame he didn’t hang in the pocket long enough to deliver throws as he did against the Gators. Head coach Shane Beamer and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield echoed similar sentiments after the 31-28 loss. South Carolina shouldn’t have to rely on Brown to go out and win it games, but a more productive night than last week would go a long way.
The aforementioned run game wasn’t perfect Saturday, but it has shown some progress. ZaQuandre White has rushed for 230 yards over his past three games and is averaging almost 7.5 yards per touch in that span. Kevin Harris, too, has looked closer to the form we expected out of the 2020 Southeastern Conference rushing leader. Harris’ numbers (399 yards on 100 carries) haven’t been as gaudy as White’s, but he’s hitting holes and bouncing off tacklers with more effectiveness of late.
South Carolina’s defense should again have its hands full with Auburn running back Tank Bigsby. Bigsby was a major USC target in the class of 2020. The Georgia native ultimately ended up at Auburn, where he’s run for over 1,600 yards and is averaging 5.5 yards per touch in his one-plus seasons.
Defensive coordinator Clayton White said this week stopping the run effectively comes when a defense operates as one. Defensive tackle Zacch Pickens noted there has been a renewed emphasis on physicality and plugging gaps in practice heading into the Auburn game.
USC watched Missouri running back Tyler Badie scamper for his fourth 200-yard game of the season last week. Plenty of that came purely from Badie’s skill, but the Gamecocks didn’t exactly help themselves with one of their worse tackling displays of the year.
With Bo Nix done sidelined for the foreseeable future, Auburn will rely on LSU import T.J. Finley under center. Beamer compared Finley to former Bayou Bengal quarterback JaMarcus Russell given his size and throwing ability. The Louisiana native completed 17-of-21 passes for 265 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in LSU’s rout of South Carolina last season.
Given Finley’s passing acumen, expect Auburn to air it out plenty. The Tigers currently rank third in the SEC in pass attempts per game and are averaging 42 throws per contest in November. The Tigers are also on pace to average more throws per game this year than at any point since at least 2009.
South Carolina and Auburn’s head-to-head history is somewhat limited given the Gamecocks’ late addition to the SEC and each squads’ current spots on opposite sides of the conference. That said, South Carolina only has two wins since the teams first met in 1930 — the first came in 1933, the second was just last year.
The Gamecocks blew a massive opportunity to get bowl eligible in last week’s trip to the other Columbia. This weekend’s batch of Tigers limp into the contest after somehow squandering a 28-3 lead (Insert Atlanta Falcons joke here) at home against Mississippi State.
Florida game aside, South Carolina fans may wish the lights were turned off at Williams-Brice Stadium if the Gamecocks turn in an offensive performance reminiscent of last week.
Give me Auburn by a couple scores in this one.
— Auburn 31, South Carolina 10 —
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
