GAMECOCKS FALL SHORT 24-17
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Kenny Irons ran
for 117 yards and two touchdowns in his return to South Carolina and No. 2
Auburn knocked away a last-chance pass to keep its unbeaten season alive with
a 24-17 victory over the Gamecocks on Thursday night.
Along with Irons' ground game and their
rock-solid defense, the Tigers (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) displayed a
passing game that helped them take every snap of the third quarter.
``I think that's a first for me,'' South
Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. ``I haven't a seen a game where one team
had it for the entire quarter.''
Brandon Cox completed nine of 13 passes for
125 passes in the third period to keep Auburn moving and the South Carolina
offense off the field.
On the opening drive of the second half, Cox
hit Lee Guess for 12 yards on third-and-11. The quarterback later connected
with Tommy Trott on an 11-yarder that set up John Vaughn's 24-yard field goal.
Then with the Gamecocks (3-2, 1-2) feeling
good about holding Auburn out of the end zone, coach Tommy Tuberville took a
page from Spurrier's book and stunned the Gamecocks with a perfectly executed
onside kick. No South Carolina player was within 3 yards of the ball when it
landed, and Jerraud Powers recovered for Auburn.
Cox came out firing again. He had an 18-yard
pass to Taylor, an 8-yarder to Robert Dunn on fourth-and-6 and a 25-yarder to
Taylor on third-and-21.
Irons finished the drive on the first play of
the fourth quarter, scoring on fourth-and-goal from the 1 to put Auburn ahead
24-10.
``We ran the ball pretty good,'' Tuberville
said. ``We controlled it.''
Still, it took Auburn's defense to save this
one.
South Carolina closed to a touchdown on
Syvelle Newton's 25-yard pass to Jared Cook with 8:25 to go. Then the
Gamecocks got the ball back one last time, driving to the Tigers 6. However,
on fourth down, Newton's floater to Sidney Rice was batted away by Patrick Lee
with 19 seconds left.
``It's like I told the guys, we're not good
enough to beat a team like Auburn,'' Spurrier said.
Auburn has won 19 of its past 20
regular-season SEC games.
For Irons, it was a much sweeter time at
Williams-Brice Stadium than his last game here. He was on the Gamecocks'
sideline watching the team's 63-17 loss to Clemson and clearly in coach Lou
Holtz's doghouse. Irons decided it was better to leave than remain buried on
the Gamecocks' depth chart.
Irons got going early. He had 38 yards on
Auburn's first drive, finishing it off by stretching the ball over the goal
line while caught in the arms of linebacker Jasper Brinkley.
Irons led Auburn to its other first-half
touchdown. He had runs of 24 and 11 yards, and fullback Carl Stewart broke off
a 20-yard run to the Gamecocks 7. Two plays later, Cox connected with Trott
for a 9-yard touchdown pass and a 14-3 lead.
THE GOOD
South
Carolina played tough against an Auburn team with national title hopes and
hung with them the entire game and driving for the tying or winning score down
to the very end.
THE
BAD
Jared Cook dropped
a sure touchdown pass late in the 4th quarter that would have at least tied
the game with the extra point or take the lead with a 2-point conversion.
THE
UGLY
The ugly truth is
that it still counts as a loss no matter how close it was. To improve, the
Gamecocks much close out the game and find a way to win these types of games.
