It was a gutsy performance from South Carolina, who outgained, outhustled, and beat Auburn in just about every statistic, including time of possession, but couldn't come on top on the scoreboard.

"It just didn't work out," said South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier. "I'm really proud of the effort, but some of our guys are still making stupid mistakes, mistakes that are costing us."

Spurrier emphasized the onside kick Auburn successfully pulled in the third quarter, with the Tigers up 17-10 at the time.

"We teach our players not to run back on kicks," Spurrier said. "I guess we don't teach them well enough."

Tuberville was elated over the kick, which he decided to try for two reasons.

"We needed to control the clock more and tire their defense," said Tuberville, "and with the wind swirling around, it was really the right time to try that sort of kick."

Tuberville praised the Gamecocks for their effort as well.

"South Carolina played their tails off," he said. "We were fortunate that we came up with one more play than they did. We ran the ball well; played pretty good there. But we didn't have an answer to South Carolina's offense. Thankfully, they didn't have an answer to ours either."

Auburn's player of the game, in Tuberville's mind, was QB Brandon Cox.

"Brandon was more clutch today than he's ever been," said Tuberville. "He made the key third down plays when we needed him. As for our team, sometimes we played good, sometimes we played bad. We're just glad to get out of here with a road win, and we have 10 days to prepare for our next game."

As for Spurrier, when asked if this could be described as a moral victory, he quickly rejected the thought.

"I don't take much from this game at all," he said. "All this tells me is that we can play football a little bit, that's all. We have a long ways to go, and we have to get a lot better."