The South Carolina Game

Auburn 35...University of South Carolina 27

The state of South Carolina sent it's second consective representative to Auburn seeking football supremacy. The result was similar to last week's...close but not close enough. Michael Dyer won the battle of the superstud freshmen running backs, mostly because Ted Roof's defensive scheme prevented USC-East from running the ball effectively.

We had another hot tailgate and there was more chicken to eat than I've ever seen. The Colonel would have been proud. Cocky would have fainted!

The late arriving crown seemed more concerned with what certain other teams were doing instead of what was happening later in the evening in Auburn...it was a little irritating.

As has become habit, Auburn fell behind early in the game, rallied to go ahead, then hung on to win.

Behind The Head player of the game...Cam Newton. Cam garnered every offensive award possible this week with good reason. Cam ran for 3 TDs and threw for two others. He totally frustrated USC's defense.

Runnersup...Mike Blanc and Philip Lutzenkirchen. Mike led the defense that shut down USC's rushing game, while Philip (3 catches, 1 TD) proved one again that the tight end position can be productive in Auburn's offense.

Nova made his stadium entrance just above us. This shot almost landed me on my head several rows down. It seems I don't turn and shoot overhead as easily as I once did!

Still no blue pants, but plenty of fanfare.

Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina's freshman phenom running back made an 11 yard run in the Gamecocks first drive. It was a third of his total rushing yardage. Not too special...sort of an Emmitt Smith type performance against Auburn.

Auburn's first drive was 80 yards. 54 of those yards were on this amazing Cameron Newton quarterback draw. I think Gus Malzahn calls it the "Cam Do Something, We Need A Touchdown" play. It was successful 5 times against South Caolina.

South Carolina countered with a Stephen Garcia to Alshon Jeffery 30 yard touchdown completion. Jeffery gave Auburn defensive backs trouble all night.

Mario Fannin gave the ball back to the Gamecocks and Lattimore gave them six points.

Will the real Steve Spurrier please throw your visor?.

After another Auburn fumble and another USC touchdown, Auburn began to get untracked as time ran down in the first half. Here, Newton hit Darvin Adams with this 10 yard pass, only to see it called back.

Onterio McCalebb hit for a quick 23 yards on this draw play.

How do you defense a giant magician? Someone may figure it out, but South Carolina sure didn't. This "scramble" was good for 9 yards and the half ended seconds after Newton scored his second rushing touchdown. USC led at the half, 20 - 14.

Although Auburn shut down Carolina's running game, it is easy to see how the Gamecocks piled up over 300 yards passing. Patrick DiMarco, USC's tight end, caught one pass for 11 yards all night. He damn sure wasn't catching another one on this play. Alshon Jeffery was another matter...69 yards worth of matter on this play.

In a shocking turn of events, Newton threw the ball to Philip Lutzenkirchen for a 7 yard gain. Does Gus know he is a tight end?

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Super Cam flew over the goal line from 25 yards out only to be whistled for traveling. Wes Byrum clanged the subsequent field goal attempt off the right upright...still 27 - 21.

Lutzenkirchen caught this 7 yard touchdown toss from Newton to propel Auburn into the lead...for good.

Michael Dyer help set up Auburn's final touchdown. This was but 6 of his 100 rushing yards for the evening. Emory Blake finished off the drive with a 12 yard run after a pass into the right flat by Newton.

Josh Bynes ended the next-to-last USC drive by picking off Conner Shaw's errant offering.

Demond Washington ended the last drive with another Shaw interception...with a little drama thrown into the mix. Jeffery had both hands on the ball in the end zone until Zach Etheridge interrupted his concentration. As you can see in the picture, Washington was casually observing the play until the ball popped free. Demond scooped up the ball just before it hit the ground, ending the contest.

First We Licked Da Pussies, Now We Beat Da Cocks!

South Carolina State Champs!