Despite both teams meeting for the first time 90 years ago, the Auburn Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks have only faced off 12 times in series history.
The first time these two teams ever met was on November 27, 1930 in Columbus, Georgia. Auburn was coached by Chet Wynne in his first season while South Carolina head coach Billy Laval was finishing up his third season. The Gamecocks had a successful season under Laval having defeated LSU and Duke that year, but they ran into trouble in their 25-7 loss to the Auburn Tigers.
Fast forward to 2005 where the Tigers celebrated their largest victory over the Gamecocks. Former Florida Gators head coach Steve Spurrier was coaching his first season for the Gamecocks and had already lost to both Georgia and Alabama coming into this game (brutal start to conference play right there, even with Mike Shula as head coach for Alabama). This game gave the Head Ball Coach fits, he probably threw his headset too before it was all said and done.
Tommy Tuberville’s 2005 Auburn squad absolutely shut out the Gamecocks 48-7. The Gamecocks were only able to muster seven total first downs and the Tigers struck fast scoring on five of their first seven possessions. Quarterback Brandon Cox threw for 245 yards including one touchdown pass to Ben Obomanu. Brad Lester and Kenny Irons rushed for a combined 80 yards and four touchdowns while Carl Stewart rushed for 15 yards and a touchdown.
Perhaps the most important game between these two teams occurred in the 2010 SEC Championship Game. The two teams had already met once in the regular season during which Auburn had to crawl back from behind to win 35-27, but the SEC Championship Game was dominated by Cam Newton. Newton passed for a career-best 335 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns. Piling on to Newton’s success was Mario Fannin, Emory Blake, and Onterio McCalebb who each rushed for one touchdown each. Darvin Adams finished with 217 receiving yards and two touchdowns while defensive back T’Sharvan Bell picked off Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia for a 10-yard pick-six to put the Tigers up 42-14.
Auburn leads the series 10-1-1 with their current win streak of eight games. The Gamecocks have not defeated the Tigers since 1933. The stakes are high right now for head coach Will Muschamp whose coaching seat is the hottest in college football right now. Let’s face facts, this team is desperate for a win and Saturday they’ll host a hot mess of an Auburn team who they could very easily pull an upset over.
The Tigers aren’t walking in to Williams Bryce Stadium with the same personnel they had in 2005 or 2010, and they’ll need more than luck to win this one.