The South Carolina Gamecocks won the Auburn Tigers for the first time since 1933.
The Gamecocks’ 30-22 victory over the Tigers ended a historic drought. Auburn won the last eight clashes between the two schools, including the 2010 SEC Championship Game. It is true that the programs have only met nine times since 1996 (including today), but it is still a feat for Gamecocks, to say the least.
South Carolina’s victory came despite the fact that they were outperformed in several categories. They had less first descents, run yards, YPC, passing yards, total yards and yards per move. However, they won the TOP battle once again, overtaking Auburn by less than three minutes in that regard. And the big battle that South Carolina won was the turnover battle. They caught Bo Nix three times while Jaycee Horn pulled two of those interceptions, while Jaylin Dickerson went out with the other.
It certainly wasn’t Bo Nix’s day. Despite a whopping 272 passing yards, they had a completion rate of just 51.1 (24 to 47) and he was fired three times in the afternoon. He only released a touchdown pass to Eli Stove and was enigmatic many times during the game. In the future, he will have doubts, as he apparently hasn’t made much progress after a somewhat promising freshman season, in which he won the SEC’s freshman award of the year.
Collin Hill, meanwhile, played efficiently. He shot for only 144 yards, but was 15 to 24 in the air. He launched a touchdown pass for Shi Smith, who stood out with eight receptions for 76 yards. The ground game hit SC again, with Kevin Harris running to score two points and advance 85 yards. Deshaun Fenwick also stood out, going 68 yards on just 12 loads.
With both teams now 2-2, they have reached a crossroads this season truncated. Auburn will face Ole Miss Rebels next week, while Gamecocks seek to do this three times when playing against the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge.