Auburn survives shootout with South Carolina in Jordan-Hare

AUBURN, Ala.–Auburn returned home after its bye week to a surprising shootout that ended with a 42-35 win over South Carolina Saturday.

“Obviously, this is a big win for us at home,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “Lot of adversity we faced but our guys found a way to win.”

This game was a battle of wits on the offensive side with South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier going for it on six 4th downs, consecutively converting the first five. With a 4-3 record — now 4-4 — the Gamecocks played with nothing to lose, and it showed. South Carolina called everything from a double-reverse pass play with the wide receiver throwing it to the Gamecock’s quarterback, to a successful onside kick midway through the third quarter.

“We knew they weren’t kicking field goals. We knew it, they knew it, everyone knew it,” Malzahn said. “They’re a very good team. [Spurrier] is one of the best coaches to ever walk the sideline. When you’re against a guy like that and he’s on his A game, it’s pretty tough.”

This was a game full of defensive blunders and an inability to stop clearly superior offenses, but we’ll focus on the positives. The offensive display all around — with both teams gaining over 500 yards of total offense — was staggering. Every time Auburn would go up, South Carolina would counter.

“We knew it would be a shootout,” Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall said. “We knew we would get South Carolina’s best effort from everybody on the offensive and defensive side.”

Marshall led the charge the entire game, operating the read option perfectly at times. He wasn’t asked to pass very often, finishing with 139 yards and one passing touchdown, but he was efficient. He didn’t turn the ball over and crushed the Gamecocks with his legs, gaining 90 yards on the ground and three crucial touchdowns. Auburn pounded the ball on the ground and South Carolina couldn’t do much about it. Running back Cameron Artis-Payne had 167 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Ricardo Louis had 102 yards and a touchdown.

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Auburn. South Carolina took the lead three times and tied the game twice after Auburn had gone ahead. The Gamecocks were always fighting and competing, taking advantage of the opportunities when they presented themselves. South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson threw five touchdowns and wide receiver Pharoah Cooper had 127 yards and two receiving touchdowns on only seven receptions.

But Auburn proved to be too good, intercepting Thompson twice in the end zone in the fourth quarter, most importantly on a game-ending hail mary attempt.

“When it’s going back and forth like that,” Auburn wide receiver Quan Bray said, “our confidence is higher because we know we can score in any moment in the game.”

Auburn got to celebrate its last-second win and will carry that momentum into next week when it travels to Oxford, Miss. to take on the recently defeated (losing tonight to LSU) Ole Miss Rebels.

Tonight showed once again that the Tigers are able to push through adversity when it counts.

“It felt great,” Marshall said. “We’re back to playing Auburn football.”