COLUMBIA, S.C. – Tank Bigsby rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown, and Shedrick Jackson set career highs with 111 receiving yards on seven catches, but South Carolina defeated Auburn 21-17 Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
"I thought we played hard," Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said. "In any game it comes down to execution. It comes down to putting our guys in the best position to be successful, and we didn't do that enough tonight for us to win the game."
With 2:11 to play in the fourth quarter, Auburn forced a punt that South Carolina downed at the Tigers' 20-yard line, but replay overturned the call on the field, ruling that the ball first contacted an Auburn player, giving the Gamecocks possession and allowing South Carolina to run out the clock.
In his first start, T.J. Finley completed 17 of 32 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.
"He did some good things," Harsin said. "I thought he led on the sideline. I know he worked hard leading into it, and we didn't get the result we wanted."
Derick Hall recorded Auburn's fourth sack to force a punt early in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers' drive stalled at midfield.
After forcing a three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half, Auburn drove 63 yards in nine plays to take a 17-14 lead on Ben Patton's first career field goal, a 37-yarder.
Bigsby's 29-yard run, Auburn's longest gain of the night, set up Patton's field goal.
Bigsby averaged 7.5 yards per rush on 22 carries, logging his fifth 100-yard game of the season and ninth of his career.
"He had a good night," Harsin said. "He ran hard. Thought he did some good things, thought the O-line did some good things."
South Carolina answered with a 67-yard touchdown drive, taking a 21-17 lead on Jason Brown's third touchdown pass, a 7-yarder to Josh Vann on third-and-goal at the 4:57 mark of the third quarter.
Auburn drove 67 yards in 15 plays, including a 19-yard pass to Jackson on fourth-and-16, but the Tigers missed a 25-yard field goal attempt with 14:10 remaining in the game.
Auburn built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, forcing a three-and-out on South Carolina's first possession thanks to Eku Leota's third-down sack that gave the Tigers possession at midfield after a Gamecocks punt.
Auburn drove 49 yards in six plays, scoring on Finley's 10-yard touchdown pass to Demetris Robertson for a 7-0 lead. Finley was 3-for-3 for 36 yards on the drive.
Donovan Kaufman ended South Carolina's next drive with his first career interception at Auburn's 1-yard line, returning it 38 yards.
The Tigers then marched 61 yards on seven plays, with Finley connecting twice with Jackson for 42 yards to set up Bigsby's 7-yard touchdown run that made it 14-0 late in the first quarter.
"Focusing and trying to be consistent," Jackson said. "T.J.'s a good playmaker. I knew that since day one when he came in, getting extra work with him in practice. I believe in him, the whole offense believes in him, the team believes in him."
Auburn ended the quarter with back-to-back sacks by Roger McCreary and Tony Fair.
The Gamecocks scored on a 28-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-three with 6:15 to play in the half, then tied the score at 14-14 on Brown's second TD pass, a 3-yarder to Trai Jones with 24 seconds remaining.
Auburn (6-5, 3-4) returns to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday to host Alabama in the Iron Bowl.
"We've got to go back and look at things we can do better," Harsin said. "We have got to find a way to have that show up in games and play four quarters. That was the mindset coming into this game. We just didn't have enough opportunities at the end to finish out the four quarters of football like we wanted to. As coaches, we've got to put our guys in a better position to be successful."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer