The Southeastern Conference title game matchup may be set Saturday.
South Carolina (6-3, 4-3) and Florida (6-3, 4-3) kickoff at 6:15 CST in a de-facto SEC East title game. The winner will play for the conference championship on Dec. 4 in the Georgia Dome.
Auburn (10-0, 6-0) can join the winner by beating rival Georgia at home on Saturday to clinch the West.
The Gamecocks have never represented the Eastern Division in the championship game.
“We’d hoped to be in this game and play for the Eastern Division championship,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said in a teleconference Wednesday. “I told our guys, ‘We’re going on a big stage, fellas. If you’re scared, we’re all in trouble.'”
Spurrier won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as Florida’s quarterback and coached the Gators to six SEC titles and a national championship in his 12 years at the helm in Gainesville.
This is his third trip to The Swamp as head man for the Gamecocks. Spurrier downplayed his career in the orange and blue, but current Gator coach Urban Meyer understands the shadow Spurrier stills casts over the program.
“He is Florida. He’s a Heisman Trophy winner here, and there’s never been any attempt whatsoever to change that,” Meyer said. “He’s a hall of fame coach and a hall of fame player, and he’s a good guy.”
Meyer and the Gators are attempting to be the first team to reach the SEC championship game three consecutive years since Spurrier’s Gators did it five stright times from 1992-1996.
On The Plains of Auburn, Ala., Gene Chizik’s Tigers will play “The Oldest Rivalry in the South” against the Georgia Bulldogs (5-5, 3-4). An Auburn win keeps BCS championship aspirations alive and clinches the Western Division title, but rumors about quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Cameron Newton’s recruitment continue to swirl.
ESPN.com has reported that two Mississippi State sources said Newton and his father, Cecil, talked of a pay-for-play plan. One of the sources told ESPN.com that Cecil Newton told Mississippi State that it would take “more than a scholarship” to get Cameron Newton.
Cecil Newton spoke to FoxSports.com Tuesday but declined to comment.
“I’m not going to confirm nor deny nothing that has been taking place,” Newton said.
Chizik said Wednesday that Cam Newton will play Saturday amid all of the allegations and that he has been given all of the first team repititions in practice this week.
An Auburn loss leaves the door open for LSU (8-1, 5-1) to make a push for the Western Division crown. The Tigers would have to beat Ole Miss and Arkansas and hope for another Auburn loss at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide for a shot at the SEC championship.