Bryan Harsin came into Saturday’s nights game at South Carolina wanting to be aggressive and taking several early shots down the field.

Auburn misfired on a couple but did connect on a 28-yard pass from T.J. Finley to Shedrick Jackson to set up its second touchdown of the first quarter and a 14-0 lead.

Leading 14-7 in the second, however, Harsin decided to take that aggressiveness to another level when he opted to go for it on 4th and 1 at AU’s 35-yard line.

It didn’t turn out well.

Quarterback T.J. Finley faked a toss to Jarquez Hunter and tried to loft a pass to Demetris Robertson but it sailed out of his reach at the USC 42-yard line.

Tank Bigsby, who finished the night with 164 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries, watched the turnover on downs from the sidelines.

Six plays later, the Gamecocks scored the tying touchdown as they rallied from 14 down to beat the Tigers 21-17.

“Well, you saw we took a shot on that. Being aggressive and trying to extend that drive,” said Harsin. “We could run it, and we had the shot right there, so we took it. That was part of being in that situation — maybe not in particular that yard line right there, but that play, trying to take a shot on fourth down.

“You know, you were on the road and you want to give yourself a chance, hopefully hitting a big play, and we felt like we needed to hit some explosive plays in this game. Felt like in practice, that play was a good play for us, and we felt like it was a good opportunity there to be aggressive and take that shot opportunity.”

Auburn will wrap up the regular season in the Iron Bowl next Saturday. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.