Auburn Tigers at South Carolina Gamecocks Betting Odds

Opening point spread odds - total lines at 5Dimes : Auburn -5 / South Carolina +5 O/U 61

Time: 4 PM EST Saturday, December 4, 2010 on CBS

The SEC Title game between Auburn (12-0) and South Carolina (9-3) not only has BCS implications, but if the Tigers can win they will be playing for the National Championship. It looked as if Auburn would lose out on their chance to play for the national title last week, but they came back from a 24-0 deficit to beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl. South Carolina won the SEC East and they come into this game on a 3-game winning streak, but can they contain Heisman favorite Cam Newton?

In their last games Auburn beat Alabama 28-27 and South Carolina beat Clemson 29-7.

This season Auburn is 8-4 ATS and South Carolina is 7-5 ATS. Betting on the Tigers may seem like a good idea since they are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 SEC games, but South Carolina is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog.

The Auburn offense is all about Cam Newton, who leads the Tigers in rushing yards as well as passing yards. The Tigers and their 6th ranked rushing attack also features RB Michael Dyer and if the Gamecocks can keep these 2 guys from having big games and force Newton to beat them in the air they have a better chance to win this game. South Carolina has the nation’s 5th ranked rushing defense, but their pass defense only ranks 99th. Newton came up with some big pass plays in the win over Alabama and he will be facing a Gamecocks’ pass D that has had their issues this season and has given up some big plays through the air.

South Carolina uses a well-balanced attack on offense ranking 43rd in passing yards per game and 58th in rushing yards per game. Gamecocks’ QB Stephen Garcia may be the key player in this game, as the Auburn defense ranks 10th in the nation against the run, but only 106th against the pass. In the Alabama game the Auburn D came up with some big plays and if they keep Garcia in check they should have no problem winning this game. RB Marcus Lattimore will be facing a great Auburn run defense and he has over 1,000 rushing yards this season, but he has to play better than he did last week against Clemson only rushing for 48 rushing yards averaging 2.1 yards per carry.

If Newton plays like he did in the 2nd half last week and Garcia cannot move the chains through the air the Tigers will easily win this game and head to the National Championship.

Here are some other betting trends for this SEC title game:

Auburn is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 games.

South Carolina is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog of 3.5-10 and has an Over record of 7-3 in their last 10 games.

Our Selection : Yes this game is played at a neutral site (Georgia Dome) and the Tigers did have the advantage of playing at home in their earlier meeting. However, a home crowd or a loud crowd on the road does not have much of an impact on calling run plays and that's what the Gamecocks will see in the SEC Championship. Auburn ran the ball down the throats of South Carolina, amassing 334 yards on the ground. The 334 yards were 196 yards more than the second highest total the Gamecocks allowed to the Arkansas Razorbacks which just happened to be another one of their 3 losses this season. Take the Tigers -4.5 at 5Dimes.


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