Auburn and South Carolina have had front-row seats for Alabama's and Florida’s stampede through the SEC the past few years.

It’s been a while since anybody has taken the Tigers seriously in the league race. Their last trip to the SEC championship game was 2004, the year they went unbeaten and were squeezed out of the BCS national championship picture.

The Gamecocks have never been a serious player in the league race. That is, if you don’t count inflated preseason expectations.

This season, though, has a different feel to it.

Yes, Alabama is as strong as ever. But if somebody’s going to unseat the Crimson Tide this season, Auburn and South Carolina are perched among the top contenders.

They both get a shot at Alabama later this season.

But first, they have to go through each other in a preliminary bout of sorts this Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium (ESPN, 7:45 p.m. ET).

“If we’re going to have any kind of big season, we must win on the road. We all know that,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. “This is our first test, to see how we match up. It’s going to be loud, but we’ve played in loud environments before. We’ve got to take care of the ball, play smart and give ourselves the best chance to win.”

Both teams still have to prove themselves against the big boys before they can be taken seriously in the league race.

The Gamecocks (3-0, 1-0) are just 8-15 against nationally ranked teams under Spurrier and 3-6 in road games against nationally ranked foes since the Head Ball Coach took over in 2005.

The Tigers (3-0, 1-0) have only played three games against nationally ranked opponents under Gene Chizik (a total of 16 games) and lost two of those. Overall, they’ve lost six of their last seven games against nationally ranked foes going back to the 2008 season.

And the reality is that despite what happens in this game, both teams have to prove they can finish a season.

That’s been a problem in both camps.

Auburn, which has solved some of its depth issues from a year ago, lost five of its last six SEC games after starting out 5-0 overall in Chizik’s first season.

South Carolina is just 4-8 in SEC games played on Oct. 31 or later under Spurrier.

So there’s obviously a long way to go regardless of which team survives Saturday, but the winner certainly puts itself in a position to make a run this season.

“It’s going to be a physical SEC game,” Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley said. “They’re going to come to town looking to beat us, looking to run the ball inside a lot and basically trying to run it down our throats. We’ll see what we’re made of.”

The Gamecocks should be as healthy as they’ve been defensively for this game. Junior outside linebacker Shaq Wilson has practiced this week and says he plans to play after missing the first three games with hamstring problems. Ellis Johnson, the Gamecocks’ assistant head coach for the defense, has called Wilson the quarterback of their defense.

One of the things to watch for in this game is how much pressure the Gamecocks can get from their defensive ends -- Cliff Matthews and Devin Taylor. The Tigers will be starting a new right tackle (John Sullen) with A.J. Greene out. Also, Auburn left tackle Lee Ziemba didn’t appear to be 100 percent last week in the overtime win against Clemson after hurting his right knee a week earlier against Mississippi State.

Looking on down the road, both Auburn and South Carolina still have a lot of work to do if they're going to be in Atlanta the first weekend in December. The Gamecocks get a bye next week before Alabama comes to Columbia on Oct. 9. They also have to play at Florida and get Arkansas at home.

The Tigers are in a stretch that has them playing five of six games at home. The only away game is at Kentucky on Oct. 9. It’s a stretch they had better take advantage of if that Alabama game to end the season is going to mean something.