Five Keys to USC/Auburn Match-Up

South Carolina will welcome the defending BCS National Champions, the Auburn Tigers, to Williams-Brice Stadium tomorrow in front of a national TV audience at 3:30 on CBS. It’s a day/night SEC doubleheader as Carolina & Auburn get the lead-in game to the Alabama/Florida game at eight o’clock. Last year Carolina played once in the 3:30 CBS time slot and boy was it a memorable performance as the Gamecocks shocked the college football world and defeated then #1 defending 2010 BCS Champions Alabama Crimson Tide. Auburn brings a 3-1 (1-0, SEC record) overall record into the contest. The Tigers suffered their lone blemish two weeks ago versus Clemson as the Upstate Tigers halted the 17-game Auburn win streak 38-24. Both Auburn and USC seem to be offensively challenged in 2011, but the Tigers from the Plains are really experiencing growing pains on defense through four games. You would think Carolina fans would be licking their chops to take a turn at walloping the Auburn piñata, I mean defense, but after last week’s performance by the offense versus Vanderbilt, Carolina fans might feel like wearing a blind fold when USC is on offense! I expect both teams to play well and another Rolaids rollercoaster at the cockpit! Do you remember the 2006 Thursday night contest against Auburn when the Tigers had possession of the ball the entire 3rd quarter? Nobody has forgotten the beat down Auburn dished out to Carolina in the SEC Championship last December! Auburn owns a six-game win streak versus USC. It’s time for payback on Saturday!

You can’t spell success without USC so let’s look at the recipe for victory against Auburn University.

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid): Last year this team was multiple on offense, less predictable and produced good numbers. The elevator ride that is Carolina’s offense in 2011 just needs a few tweaks to bring back a little cohesion. Speed up the offense with more zone read plays involving both Garcia and Lattimore, shorter passes (slants or quick WR/RB screens) and most importantly a quicker tempo. Quit standing around the line of scrimmage, looking over at the sidelines trying to audible to a perfect play and line-up and set the rhythm for the offense. Auburn is ranked 110th out of 120 teams in the FBS in Total Defense yielding almost 478 yards per game. Clemson rolled up 624 yards of total offense against Auburn two weeks ago and 236 rushing yards, per ESPN.

Achilles Heel: By now every media talking head has taken a turn at dissecting the problems of Stephen Garcia. Garcia is not a game manager. He is a gamer! The kid shows up to play every Saturday, injured or not, and displays a toughness that his teammates respect. Don’t ask Garcia to be a pocket passer and dissect defenses because the end result is turnovers (seven interceptions), which we all know is a slow painful death for a quarterback struggling with confidence in the SEC. In Greek mythology, the principal hero, Achilles, of the Trojan War was invincible except for his heel. Stephen Garcia’s heel is interceptions! Limit Garcia’s throws early in the game to 10 yards or less to build his confidence, and then when the Tigers are lulled to sleep with short slants & screens, SOS can slip in a Trojan horse deep down the field and hopefully catch the Tigers off guard.

Fearsome Front Four: USC’s defensive line played its best game of the season last week as it terrorized an inferior Vanderbilt o-line. Last year, Auburn started five seniors – that is not the case this year. Carolina’s d-line has accumulated 86 of the 287 total team tackles (30%), 14.5 tackles for losses, eight sacks (Clowney leads the SEC with four), six QB Hurries, three pass break-ups, three forced fumbles (Clowney owns all three), one fumble recovery (Ingram), one interception (Ingram) and two TDs (Ingram), per The State. The key will be can USC’s d-line control Auburn’s o-line. The Auburn o-line has only given up three sacks all season. Last week versus Florida Atlantic, the Auburn quarterback was hit 15 times (three sacks) on 62 plays, per TheBigSpur. Last week, the Carolina front four continued to make strides towards the preseason hype placed upon this unit. The Gamecocks d-line has now played six consecutive quarters of spectacular football, and Saturday’s test provides another challenge in defending against the Gus Malzahn spread offense.

Lattimore vs. Dyer the Trilogy: These two running backs were nearly teammates at Auburn until Lattimore spurned the Tigers for his home state Gamecocks back in February 2010. Lattimore & Dyer rank one (Lattimore) & three (Dyer) atop the SEC Rushing leaders. Last year, Lattimore enjoyed little running success versus Auburn when Nick Fairley was patrolling the line of scrimmage, but this year without Fairley Auburn is giving up nearly 226 rushing yards per game. The Auburn defense has only given up two rushing touchdowns to USC since 1996, per The State. The Auburn defense will sell out (8-9 players near line of scrimmage) to stop Lattimore, but IMHO the Duncan, SC native will eclipse the century mark against Auburn in the second half. I see a similar game plan as was the case versus UGA when Lattimore took control in the 4th quarter and piled up the yardage. Dyer is a fantastic running back in his own right, but without Cam Newton this year, IMHO, the Carolina defense can zero in on Dyer, slow down the Auburn rushing attack and make it difficult for Dyer to exploit the USC defense.

Minimize Malzahn Mayhem: Gus Malzahn is the Offensive Coordinator at Auburn. He uses a lot of formations and trickery to fool his opponents. Unfortunately, Ellis Johnson and the USC defense got a double dose of defeat at the hands of Malzahn & company last year. The spread offense has been a bugaboo for the USC defense for several years. The Auburn offense is not as potent in 2011, as it is replacing Heisman QB Cam Newton with Barrett Trotter and five new faces along the o-line. Also, the 2nd leading wide receiver (Trevon Reed) is out this game with an injury. If there was ever a year for USC to finally break through the Auburn ceiling, this is the year, but that Gus Malzahn offense can still score points, and until USC shows it can slow down a spread offense I am a skeptic.

A win versus Auburn moves Carolina to a 5-0 start (6th time in school history) for the first time since 2001, per The State.

Spurspective’s Prediction: Carolina 34 -27

My next blog will be posted Saturday morning with my top ten games for Week Five.

Go Gamecocks!