Sept. 13, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
– Game Captains: #9 Moe Brown, #40 Eric Norwood, #47 Patrick DiMarco, #83 Cliff Matthews.
– Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Falls to 171-63-2 as a collegiate head coach, 29-23 in his fifth year at South Carolina. He is now 12-5 against Georgia; 1-4 at South Carolina.
– Carolina History: South Carolina is now 528-531-44 in its 116th year of intercollegiate football. Against Georgia, the Gamecocks trail the all-time series, 46-14-2.
– High Scoring: This was the 2nd-highest scoring contest in the 62-game Caroina-Georgia series. The highest was a 52-34 UGA win in 1970. Carolina’s 37 points marked the most the Gamecocks have ever scored against Georgia.
– SEC Openers: Since joining the league in 1992, the Gamecocks are now 7-11 in SEC opening games.
– Career Day for Garcia: Stephen Garcia set career highs in completions, attempts, touchdowns and yards with his 31-for-53, 313-yard, 2 TD performance. His 31 completions tied for the fourth-most in a single game in Carolina history; his 53 pass attempts equaled the second-most in Gamecock annals. It was the first time a Gamecock player attempted 50+ passes since Nov. 3, 2007 (Blake Mitchell, 51 vs. Arkansas). It marked the most passing attempts by a Carolina quarterback in the Spurrier era. Garcia was also the leading SC rusher with 42 yards on 10 carries.
– Record Day for Lanning: Junior kicker Spencer Lanning was 5-for-5 on field goal attempts, tying a school record held by Collin Mackie, who kicked five field goals against West Virginia in 1990. Lanning was 0-for-1 in his career on FG tries. Lanning also had his first career rushing attempt on a fake punt that gained 12 yards.
– Career Day for Saunders: Weslye Saunders caught eight passes for 96 yards, both easily surpassing his previous career highs. Saunders had 4 catches two previous times and gained 58 yards against Clemson last season.
– And They Shall Receive: Nine different players caught passes for Carolina tonight. Saunders (8 for 96) led the way, followed by Tori Gurley (4-46, 1 TD), Patrick DiMarco (4-35), Brian Maddox (4-28, 1 TD), Jason Barnes (3-40), Moe Brown (3-24), Jarvis Giles (3-19), Dion Lecorn (1-13), D.L. Moore (1-12).
– Opening Defense: For the second straight game, the Gamecocks forced a fumble on their first defensive series. Akeem Auguste forced a fumble on Georgia’s second play that was recovered by Chris Culliver.
– Last Time: Georgia returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. It marked the first time the Gamecocks had allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown since Sept. 24, 2005, when Leodis McKelvin of Troy accomplished the feat.
– Last Time, Part 2: Carolina’s 17 points in the first quarter marked the most scored by the Gamecocks in the opening stanza since Sept. 15, 2007, when Carolina scored 17 against South Carolina State.
– Last Time, Part 3: The last time South Carolina gave up 31 points in the first half was Oct. 1, 2005, at Auburn. Carolina lost that game, 48-7. Tonight, Carolina allowed only 10 points in the second half.
– Last Time, Part 4: The safety in the 3rd quarter was the first for Carolina since the Arkansas game in 2007.
– Eric Norwood’s interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter was his first career pick and third career defensive touchdown; he returned two fumbles vs. Kentucky in 2007.
– Darian Stewart equaled a career high with 11 tackles on the night. – Bryce Sherman got his first two career carries and tallied 27 yards with a long run of 23 at the end of the second quarter.
– Chris Culliver had four kickoff returns for 122 yards…he is now two returns and 155 yards short of the school records in both categories.
– Next Up: South Carolina plays its first home game of the year as Florida Atlantic comes to Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 19. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on pay-per-view/ESPN360.com.
