Auburn outduels South Carolina in 42-35 shootout

AUBURN – Steve Spurrier busted out his entire arsenal to try and upset Auburn and Gus Malzahn dug into his bag of tricks too.

The two offensive innovators didn't hold anything back for this shootout.

The Head Ball Coach fired every bullet in his chamber, sending his South Carolina squad out for six fourth-down conversion attempts, a trick play and an onside kick. Malzahn matched wits, resorting to a trick play of his own and relied on Auburn's backfield to carry the Tigers to victory.

In an game that was tied five times and featured 1,086 yards of offense, with South Carolina throwing for season-high 416 and Auburn rushing for a season-high 395, the Tigers defense came through on the final play. Auburn's Jonathan Jones intercepted a 41-yard Hail Mary pass by South Carolina's Dylan Thompson to seal a 42-35 win for No. 5 Auburn over South Carolina at a sold out Jordan-Hare Stadium.

"We practice (Hail Mary plays) every (Thursday)," said Jones, who also had an interception earlier in the fourth quarter. "We all went up for the ball and somehow I came down with it."

Auburn (6-1, 3-1 SEC) should've been penalized on the final play for having two players with the same jersey number, No. 1 D'haquille Williams and Montravius Adams, on the field at the same time, but officials did not notice the penalty, which the SEC acknowledged on Sunday.

The Tigers turned turned to their running attack, which included wide receiver Ricardo Louis on Saturday, against one of the worst rush defenses in the SEC, and it paid dividends over and over again.

Nick Marshall had four touchdowns, with three coming on the ground, Cameron Artis-Payne had 167 yards and a score, Louis added 102 yards, including a 75-yard scoring run, and Roc Thomas contributed 34 yards.

"We knew it was going to be a shootout and we knew they were going to get their best," said Marshall, who was 12-for-14 for 139 yards and a touchdown and added 10 carries for 89 yards and three scores and had a 17-yard reception from Jonathan Wallace on a trick play. "I believe it was my best game. I made great decisions in the passing and the run game. … I knew I could beat them to the sideline with my speed."

Marshall's one passing score went to the unlikeliest of targets, H-back Brandon Fulse, on a three-yard toss. It was the first career touchdown for Fulse, a senior, whose two receptions for 27 yards were also his first multi-catch game and topped his career total of 24 yards receiving in three seasons.

South Carolina (4-4, 2-4 SEC) was able to respond over and over again, due in large part to Spurrier letting it ride on fourth down.

"They went for everything. That was the hard thing," Malzahn said. "They executed when they had to, and they did it time and time again. That is the reason it was a close game and the reason it went down to the very end."

The Gamecocks were 5-for-6 on fourth down, and got the benefit of three Auburn penalties that led to first downs, but were just 2-for-5 in the red zone.

"We knew we had to try and stay on the field," Spurrier said. "We almost did it, but we couldn't quite do it because we messed up. We messed up in the red zone a couple of times or else we had a chance. We got the onside kick, so we stole that possession right there, and that gave us a fighting chance. We were only two-for-five in red zone chances, and that's the worst we have been all year. That's why we got beat."

Spurrier came into Saturday's game saying all South Carolina had to lose was a ballgame and played very much like that, gambling on nearly every opportunity.

"I felt as a defense, as a linebacker, I felt disrespected," said Cassanova McKinzy, who had six tackles and an interception. "At the same time, they had nothing to lose, they were trying to knock us off."

Thompson, who was 29-for-50 for 402 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions, became the first player responsible for five touchdowns against Auburn since Johnny Manziel.

Eleven different Gamecocks caught a pass, including Thompson, who had a 14-yard catch from Pharoh Cooper on a trick play. Cooper had seven receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns, Mike Davis had 88 yards rushing and 85 yards receiving with a score, and Shaq Roland and Nick Jones each hauled in touchdowns for South Carolina.

"Out wide I trust our receivers with anyone in the country," Thompson said. "They kept playing against man, and when you play man on offense you have to make the defense pay. For the most part I felt we did that but it wasn't enough so there is no point in talking about it."

Tied at 21 at halftime, the teams traded scores twice in the second half but the Gamecocks could never regain the lead after the break.

Jones came up with his first interception in the end zone to preserve a tie game and Marshall scored on a nine-yard run to cap the ensuing drive.

South Carolina had two more shots to tie, but could not convert on a fourth-and-19 and then got 44 yards to the Auburn 41-yard line for the final play, and Jones sealed the win.

With the running game back to being the dominant force of the offense, Auburn's backs are eager to carry the load once again.

"Hopefully this turns into a snowball effect like it did last year," Artis-Payne said, "and we can repeat this performance every week."