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Auburn escapes thanks to Irons and onside kick
By Joseph Person
The State
Published: September 29, 2006When USC had the
ball Thursday night, the Gamecocks gave No. 2 Auburn all it could handle.
The problem for the Gamecocks was they did
not have the ball long enough and Auburn tailback Kenny Irons had it too much.
Irons rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns
against his former team, leading the Tigers to a 24-17 victory in front of a crowd of 74,374 at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The
Tigers (5-0, 3-0), who have won 19 of their past 20 SEC regular-season games, kept their dreams of a national championship
alive.
Meanwhile, USC (3-2, 1-2) had its hopes of defeating a top-five team fall short. The Gamecocks have lost 20
in a row against schools ranked in the top five of The Associated Press poll.
Irons transferred from USC at the end
of the 2003 season when he was buried in Lou Holtz's doghouse and at the bottom of the depth chart. The senior said his return
to Williams-Brice was a closer game than he wanted.
"Actually, I envisioned 250 yards and, like, four touchdowns, and
me sitting down and us winning 34 to nothing going into the fourth quarter," Irons said. "But they're a great ballclub and
they play hard."
Irons, a 5-foot-11, 200-pounder from Dacula, Ga., carried 27 times for a 4.3-yard average and plunged
in for a pair of 1-yard touchdowns, both of which were reviewed ח and upheld by the SEC's replay official.
Irons
passed when asked if he had a message for Holtz, now an ESPN analyst who recently listed Irons as a dark-horse candidate for
the Heisman Trophy. But Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville took a subtle jab at Holtz while complimenting Steve Spurrier and his
staff.
"With the hand that he was dealt from the last group that coached here, they did a great job," Tuberville said.
Irons'
second touchdown gave Auburn a two-touchdown lead on the first play of the fourth quarter after the Tigers held the ball for
the entire third quarter.
USC quarterback Syvelle Newton hit Jared Cook for a 25-yard touchdown to make it 24-17 with
8:25 left, then had the Gamecocks in position to tie it in the final minute.
On fourth-and-1 at 5-yard line with 26
seconds left, Auburn cornerback Patrick Lee broke up Newton's fade pass for Sidney Rice in the corner of the north end zone.
With Auburn blitzing on the play, Spurrier said he should have run a slant.
"The kid covered well and it didn't work
out," Spurrier said. "I told the team we're just not good enough to beat Auburn right now. Hopefully, some day we will be."
Newton
completed 21 of 35 passes for 240 yards and ran for 44 yards despite spending the third quarter on the sideline.
USC
had a nearly eight-minute edge in time of possession in the first half, outgaining the Tigers 181-151 in total yardage and
recording 13 first downs to Auburn's seven. But that time advantage disappeared when Auburn played keep-away for the entire
third quarter.
The Tigers went 85 yards on 17 plays before settling for a 24-yard field goal from John Vaughn that
increased their lead to 17-10.
Tuberville stunned the Gamecocks by ordering an onside kick that the Tigers' Jerraud
Powers recovered at the Auburn 48. Tuberville's staff noticed that one of the Gamecocks' front-line players on its kick return
team often would take off early.
"Our kicker did a good job with it. It just worked. Sometimes they do," Tuberville
said. "I could also be sitting here explaining why it didn't."
On the ensuing drive, Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox
completed four passes and converted a third-and-21 with a 25-yard strike to Courtney Taylor to set up Irons' touchdown.
Auburn
was 3-of-7 on third down and 2-of-2 on fourth down in the second half.
"The third quarter killed us. I'm going to stop
talking about it. I don't know what we need to do," Spurrier said. "We may blitz the first five plays in the third quarter
from now on and either stop them or let them score."
When the Gamecocks took the field for the first time in the second
half with 14:42 remaining, Newton had to loosen up his arm again. Spurrier said it was the first time in his career that he
went a quarter without calling an offensive play.
USC cornerback Fred Bennett, one of the few remaining Gamecocks who
played with Irons, praised his ex-teammate.
"I thought we did a pretty decent job on him," Bennett said. "But he had
the upper hand."
And the last word after a week when he had kept surprisingly mum.
"I didn't want to give them
anything to feed off of during the game. So I just kept quiet. I kept everything under the radar," Irons said. "But it's a
great feeling, a great win. Coming out here and being in Columbia for the first time for a long time and grabbing a win is
just wonderful."
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.
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