South Carolina Auburn Betting – Gamecocks And Tigers Try To Find A Winning Identity
The South Carolina Gamecocks and Auburn Tigers have a lot of potential. They’ll try to fulfill that potential this Saturday.
NCAA football betting: South Carolina Gamecocks @ Auburn Tigers
Online Betting Odds: Auburn -3
Why To Bet On South Carolina
The one trump card, the ace in the hole, possessed by the visitors from the Palmetto State is a young man who has stamped himself as 2010’s best freshman running back. Marcus Lattimore ran through the front seven of the Georgia Bulldogs in Carolina’s last game against an FBS opponent (the Gamecocks played FCS-based Furman on Sept. 18). Lattimore carried South Carolina on his back against Georgia, rumbling for 182 yards and continuously gaining yards after the first point of contact. Lattimore’s performance was made all the more remarkable by the fact that his offense generated just 17 points. South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia was less than fully impressive in that game, and his fumble deep in Georgia territory gave the Bulldogs a chance to tie the game late in the third quarter. However, a Georgia fumble on the Carolina 2 enabled the Gamecocks to survive in a must-have SEC opener.
Just imagine what Lattimore could do if Garcia passes the ball with distinction and avoids the turnover bug. The Gamecocks have the running game and the go-to guy in the backfield they’ve lacked throughout the Steve Spurrier era in Columbia. Now that Carolina has its hammer, it can pound away against Auburn’s defensive front and shorten this game on the road.
Why To Bet On Auburn
The Tigers were inconsistent last week against Clemson, but they were also very resilient. Not many people gave them a chance to come back from a 17-0 second-quarter deficit. Auburn scored all of 17 points in week two against Mississippi State, so it represented quite an accomplishment for coach Gene Chizik’s team to get off the deck, grab a 24-17 lead, and ultimately make one final defensive stand en route to a 27-24 victory.
That display of resilience against Clemson should feed Auburn with a great deal of confidence against South Carolina. Moreover, Auburn gets this game at home and should be able to find even more belief. Yet, as big as those two factors are, the best reason to take Auburn is that South Carolina still shows signs of being a middle-tier SEC team that’s not ready to move upward in the conference pecking order. The Gamecocks led FCS-based Furman by only 12 points (31-19) midway through the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game, and Furman was driving with a chance to cut its deficit to just five points. Only then did the game get salted away for Carolina, courtesy of an 80-yard pick-six. Gamecock quarterback Stephen Garcia remains extremely inconsistent, and on the road against a physical Auburn defense, he’s very likely to commit a few turnovers. If Auburn gets three takeaways, it will very likely win this game.
How The Game Will Play Out
South Carolina, plainly put, is not yet ready to win this kind of game on the road. There will be a lot of running between the tackles and a ton of hard hits, but in the end, Auburn will make fewer mistakes and emerge victorious at home.
South Carolina Auburn Betting Pick: Auburn
