SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 25, 2014
No. 6 Auburn 42, South Carolina
35: Nick Marshall accounted for 228 yards of offense and four
touchdowns to lead the host Tigers to a high-scoring win over the
Gamecocks.
Marshall was 12-of-14 for 139
yards and a touchdown and rushed 10 times for 89 yards and three
scores for Auburn (6-1, 3-1 SEC), which finished with 395 yards on
the ground. Cameron Artis-Payne had 25 carries for 167 yards and a
score, while Ricardo Louis rushed three times for 102 yards and a
touchdown.
Dylan Thompson was 29-of-50 for
402 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions for South Carolina
(4-4, 2-4), which did most of its offensive damage through the air.
Pharoh Cooper had seven catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns,
while Mike Davis had 85 yards receiving and a touchdown, and 88 yards rushing for the
Gamecocks.
South Carolina came out fast, marching 75 yards in seven plays on its opening possession, capped by
Thompson's 32-yard touchdown pass to Shaq Roland, but Auburn
responded when Marshall found Brandon Fulse from 3 yards out late in
the first to tie the game. The teams traded touchdowns throughout
the second quarter, with Thompson throwing touchdown passes to Cooper
and Davis for the Gamecocks, while Artis-Payne and Marshall ran for
scores for the Tigers.
The back-and-forth scoring
continued throughout the third, with Marshall running for his second
touchdown and Louis going 75 yards for a score for Auburn, while
Thompson found Cooper on a 51-yard scoring strike and Nick Jones from
10 yards away as the game went to the fourth tied at 35. Marshall's
third rushing touchdown of the game - from 9 yards out - put the
Tigers ahead early in the fourth quarter, and the Gamecocks had two
drives in the quarter stall inside the Auburn 20 before an
interception in the end zone on the game's final play ended any South
Carolina hopes.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Louis' 75-yard
touchdown run tied the longest play from scrimmage for Auburn under
coach Gus Malzahn. กญ Each of Auburn's scoring drives spanned at
least 75 yards, including two of more than 90 yards. กญ South
Carolina went for it on fourth down six times, converting
its first five attempts.