Saturday's SEC championship game will be Auburn's first since 2004. It'll be the Tigers' first game in a dome this season. And it'll be their first game on a neutral field.
But the game also represents another important first that may have a more definitive role in the outcome. It'll be the first time a Cam Newton-led Auburn offense has squared off with a defense it has already faced.
That may mean nothing. But it may also give South Carolina a head start in preparing for the most dynamic offensive player in the country.
The Gamecocks game-planned for him before, and they know what parts of that plan didn't work in a 35-27 loss to the Tigers on Sept. 25. They've tried to corral him in the backfield before, and they know how difficult that is. They've tried to tackle him before, and they know from experience how tough he is to bring down.
"We never had a guy that big and that fast that ran that offense until we got to that game," South Carolina defensive tackle Travian Robertson said of Newton. "The type of offense, we saw it before, but we never saw a kid like Cam Newton run, and run the offense.
"It wasn't a surprise as far as what they ran. It was just him. He's a great player."
Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said this week his defense has improved greatly since Newton carved it up for 334 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. It's improved, Spurrier said, since giving up more than 400 yards each in ugly losses to Kentucky and Arkansas.
Of course, that defense didn't have anywhere to go but up from there.
Spurrier's players believe the experience of defending Newton during their first game with Auburn will help them find a way to slow him down in the second.
But it isn't some masterful defensive scheme they've drawn up. It's not some elaborate blitz package or the gratuitous use of a spy. Robertson said the plan to stop Newton is simple: Play better.
"We missed a lot of assignments when we played them the first time. We missed a lot of tackles," Robertson said. "From that first game, you know, going back and watching film, I probably should have done a lot of things different just to get him down."
Well, sure. Everyone who's played Auburn this year has missed assignments, missed tackles. Alabama's defense probably tackles as well as any in the country, and even it couldn't make a 24-point lead hold up.
It's one thing to understand that. It's another to fix it. What's worse? Not knowing what hit you, or knowing exactly what's coming and being unable to stop it?
South Carolina may get a chance Saturday to find out.
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