Oct. 11, 2010
With their 35-21 win over No. 1 Alabama, the South Carolina Gamecocks (4-1) are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week for games of the weekend of Oct. 9. In addition, the Gamecocks historic win earned the United States Sports Academy’s College Football Game of the Week accolades.
Stephen Garcia threw three first-half touchdown passes as the 19th-ranked Gamecocks jumped out to a 21-3 lead. Alshon Jeffery was on the receiving end of two of those scoring passes and finished the day with seven receptions for 127 yards. Marcus Lattimore scored two times on the ground as part of a 93-yard rushing effort and Garcia finished the day completing 17-of-20 passes.
The win ended Alabama’s 19-game winning streak and was South Carolina’s first-ever vs. a top-ranked team as the Gamecocks posted the most points given up by an Alabama defense since 2007.
“Our guys played their hearts out, a lot of outstanding individual plays,” said South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier after the game. “And we held on and got a few breaks here and there. That is the best our offense has played ever since I’ve been here, without a doubt.”
No other teams were nominated for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week this week.
The Football Writers Association of America has named a national team of the week since the 2002 season. This is the seventh season that the award has been sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
Members of the FWAA All-America Committee decide the weekly honor. Each remaining Monday during the 2010 college football regular season, the FWAA will name the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week.
Founded in 1971, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has hosted six games that have decided the college football national championship, including three Bowl Championship Series title games. This season, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will host the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 10, 2011 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be played on Jan. 1, 2011 in Glendale and the Insight Bowl will be played on Dec. 28, 2010 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
For more information on the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, go to footballwriters.com or fiestabowl.org.
The College Football Game of the Week, voted upon by a national panel of experts, is nominated for the College Football Game of the Year at the end of the regular season.
Daniel Moore, the American Sports Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) 2005 Sport Artist of the Year, is commissioned by the Academy each year to create a painting honoring the selected College Football Game of the Year. The Academy donates the painting to the winning university, along with $5,000 for its general scholarship fund.
