Primetime College Football: Cocks vs Tigers

TALENT

This game goes down on the ESPN network and it features the University of South Carolina Gamecocks taking on Auburn University Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier takes his Gamecocks down to Auburn 3-0 and 1-0 in the SEC. The South Carolina offense is led by junior quarterback Stephen Garcia, 508 yards 2 touchdowns and 2 INTs, who has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes. Garcia though hasn’t been nearly impressive on the road as he’s just 2-7 in games he starts outside of Williams-Brice Stadium and had thrown 5 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.

The Gamecocks have gotten a spark on offense out of freshman running back Marcus Lattimore, 333 yards 5 touchdowns. Lattimore has fueled the attack, but others have stepped up like sophomore wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, 19 catches 306 yards, to help the Gamecocks to average 32 ppg.

South Carolina’s defense has been the real surprise for the Gamecocks as they are limiting opponents to just 2.2 ypc and 12 ppg. The pass defense for South Carolina has been a little more generous with 267.7 ypg but has recorded 11 sacks and 3 interceptions. The top play-maker on the defensive side is safety sophomore DeVonte Holloman who has a team-high 20 tackles, one interception and one forced fumble. Sophomore defensive end Devin Taylor, 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and junior tackle Travian Robertson, 9 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, have created the havoc on the line.

Auburn’s head coach Gene Chizik has his Tigers also 3-0 and 1-0 in the SEC after outlasting Clemson in a 27-24 brawl in overtime. The Tigers are lead by junior quarterback Cameron Newton, 525 passing yards 7 touchdowns with 3 INTs and 309 rushing yards 2 touchdowns, has the ability to move the ball both on the ground and through the air.

Like Lattimore in Columbia, the Tigers have a freshman running back who is just as dynamic in Michael Dyer, 212 yards one touchdown, who has averaged 5.4 ypc. He’s joined in the backfield with sophomore Onterio McCalebb, 225 yards one touchdown, and his 7.3 ypc. Newton has thrown touchdown passes to five different players thus far, with junior wide receiver Darvin Adams, 214 yards 2 touchdowns, leads the team.

The Auburn defense has allowed a rather generous 21 ppg but has also had 25 tackles for a loss and 8 sacks. Senior middle linebacker Josh Bynes leads the squad with 23 tackles but it’s on the line that most of the production that counts has come from. Junior defensive tackle Nick Fairley, 16 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, and senior defensive end Antoine Carter, 14 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, have done well beyond their part for the Tigers.

This is the ninth all-time meeting, with Auburn holding a 6-1-1 advantage and the Tigers have won four straight, including a 24-17 victory in the last meeting in Columbia in 2006.

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