Auburn South Carolina Betting – Tigers Try To Advance To National Championship Game
The Auburn Tigers will try to win their first SEC championship since 2004 on Saturday afternoon. The South Carolina Gamecocks will try to win their first-ever SEC title.
NCAA football betting: Auburn Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks
Online Betting Odds: Auburn -4.5
Why To Bet On Auburn
The Tigers simply have the best player in college football on their team, and South Carolina doesn’t. Cameron Newton is a freak of nature, a huge and powerful athlete who also has a full repertoire of shifty, artful and creative juke moves in the open field. Auburn can run the ball from any place on the field and at any time in the game. Moreover, Newton can throw the ball when asked to do so; this was not the case in the first three weeks of the season, but it’s definitely true now. South Carolina also has a very suspect secondary that got torched by the Arkansas Razorbacks, but also by lower-rung SEC teams such as the Kentucky Wildcats and the Tennessee Volunteers. If the bottom half of the SEC East could damage South Carolina’s secondary, Newton and Auburn should be able to roll up huge numbers as well. If Newton could lead his team back from a 24-0 deficit on the road at Alabama, and if he can lead his team back from a 20-7 deficit he faced when these two schools met on Oct. 2, he can surely lead Auburn to yet one more win, an SEC championship, and a spot in the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 11, 2010, in Glendale, Arizona.
Auburn’s defense isn’t fantastic, it has to be said, but the Tigers held Alabama to just three second-half points last Friday in a 28-27 win that kept their national-title hopes alive. Defensive lineman Nick Fairley is a pass-rushing monster whom South Carolina will have a hard time dealing with. Auburn’s defense has been very good in second halves this season, and that’s when ballgames are generally won.
Why To Bet On South Carolina
The Gamecocks played Auburn close when these teams locked horns roughly two months ago in Auburn. As mentioned above, South Carolina actually led that game 20-7 before Auburn roared back. What’s important to note from that game is that Gamecock quarterback Stephen Garcia committed two huge fumbles versus Auburn, one of which allowed the Tigers to take the lead after the Gamecocks had produced a big defensive stand near their own goal line. Garcia has not turned the ball over in each of his last three games. If Garcia plays yet another turnover-free game, the chances are minimal that Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore – a sturdy and dependable ballcarrrier – will cough up the pigskin himself. Therefore, a no-mistake game from Garcia, which is possible, would put South Carolina in position to exploit Auburn’s secondary. Carolina will use its best receiver, Alshon Jeffery, early and often at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. If Jeffery makes 10 catches and can get behind Auburn’s defense at least two or three times, this game could be very interesting until the final seconds.
How The Game Will Play Out
South Carolina can pull the upset, but the feeling here is that Garcia won’t be able to play a mistake-free game. Newton and the Auburn defense have such immense self-confidence and internal belief, and those qualities are going to matter a lot on Saturday in Atlanta. Take Auburn minus the points.
Auburn South Carolina Betting Pick: Auburn
