Oct. 9, 2012

The third-ranked University of South Carolina Gamecock football team returned to the practice fields Tuesday afternoon on a chilly fall day in Columbia.

The Gamecocks (6-0, 4-0 SEC) will be putting their FBS-leading 10-game winning streak on the line when they travel to Baton Rouge to face the No. 9 LSU Tigers (5-1, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday night. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit calling the action and Heather Cox working the sidelines. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium.

Special teams coach Joe Robinson knows he has a special player in punt returner Ace Sanders, who this week was named co-SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season. “We’ve said it since the first week, he’s a courageous young man. He can do some special things if we’ll help him out a little bit. And we’re seeing some good things. But we were very sloppy,” continued Robinson. “He had another return which we committed two fouls on. So we’ve got a guy back there that does some good things and he’s courageous, but the rest of the team’s got to play along. If we do the right things, we can have a positive impact on the team and if we don’t it could be negative. We’ve got to clean up some things.”

Robinson knows the return team will be challenged by LSU punter Brad Wing, one of the nation’s best. “There’s always an opportunity,” noted Robinson. “We have an opportunity to come after the punt and we have an opportunity to try to return it. Obviously, Brad is a fine punter. But there’s always an opportunity out there. There’s always a play to be made. There will be a chance if we execute.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Wednesday.