Skip to main content
Partner logo
Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link Mobile Icon Link Gamecocks+

SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH LOU HOLTZ

“We felt we had to play conservatively, to keep them off the field as much as we could. It was
17-10 and we missed a field goal. Then it all fell apart. I can’t tell you why. They kicked a field
goal, and we should have sat on it. That put us down 27-10. We just couldn’t stop them.
Everything they tried worked. They ran and threw. They are an excellent team.”

“We are really beat up. We lost Petty, Kalimba, Watson, Garrison, lost about five or six people
for next week. I feel terrible for the fans that showed up with all the excitement. We just got beat
by a far superior team. Give them credit.”

“Three on defense are out. Not sure about Derek. We may have lost more. We are going into the
most important game of the season. We are so beat up. Just disorganized. This was devastating,
physically, mentally every which way. I am still in a state of shock. I’m sure the players are too. I have never been through anything like that. It was an awesome display by them.”

“We felt Corey Jenkins could do some things. We didn’t want to run Petty all the time.”

“Almost every time I injure a quarterback, it is when he is throwing. Rarely does one of my
quarterbacks get hurt running. That is what happened to Petty. Petty is doubtful for next week. I
don’t think Kalimba needs surgery. We will do an MRI and see.”

“We had some man under three deep, and thought we covered them pretty well. But every time
we did it the quarterback crambled. It has happened all year.”

FLORIDA HEAD COACH STEVE SPURRIER

“I told Coach Lou (Holtz) that I thought that was our best game of the year thus far and
hopefully we can keep on and play a little better as the season progresses. That’s what both
teams hope to do and we hope to play better next week and better the week after next.”

“I’m really proud of our guys. Even though we fumbled there in the beginning, we just kept
playing. Our guys had a wonderful attitude coming into this game and we just kept playing
through the full sixty minutes. We looked forward to Saturday night in Columbia. We knew the
fans would be really loud and we really looked forward to coming here to Columbia. I’m really
proud of our guys.”

“Obviously the game with Tennessee will be for the Eastern Division. This was not for the
Eastern Division, although I read some of the South Carolina media people said it was, but it
wasn’t. It was just a stay in contention game for the Eastern Division. We’re fortunate enough to
stay in contention, but Tennessee is going to be tough.”

“Jeff Chandler was very important with his kicking all of those field goals, going four for four on
field goals tonight.”

“We messed up a bunch, got away with a few bad plays now and then, but Rex [Grossman]
threw some beautiful balls. Our receivers caught about everything and we had a lot of good
fortune tonight.”

“Our defensive effort was outstanding, with the exception of South Carolina’s final drive at the
end of the game. I was proud of all of them, they all played well and we’ll push them and see if
we can play a little bit better next week.”

“Our first goal right now is to win the Eastern Division, but right now our thoughts are on
Florida State and to beat FSU would be a major accomplishment.”

SOUTH CAROLINA PLAYER QUOTES

QB Corey Jenkins

“Next week’s game is going to be tough after this game tonight. We’ll be fine … it’s not our
first loss. We know how to deal with it, and in order to be successful in the SEC, you have to
bounce back. It’s tough, especially here at our house. We will regroup and bounce back.”

WR Ryan Brewer

“They have great team speed … Florida is just a great team. We are good enough to come
back next week. We have to bounce back.”

NG Langston Moore

“Just like I said … it’s really hard to stop them. We knew what they were going to do and
they did it. We just couldn’t stop them. They (Florida) are a very good football team.”

FLORIDA PLAYER QUOTES

PK Jeff Chandler

“It’s a wonderful performance for me. I thought we had the best week of practice and its
good to get on track and help the team out. Its one thing to do it in practice, and its another to do
it in a game, everything is coming together.

On “Blackout”- Maybe they (the fans) should cheer louder and worry less about what they’re
wearing”

QB Rex Grossman

“It’s a huge victory, if we don’t win today, then the season is finished. They are still a good
team, they didn’t show their best tonight, they’re a much better team.”

LB Andra Davis

“We just wanted to come in and play hard. They ran well, and we knew we would make
mistakes. We run around and fly to the ball well, its all effort. The crowd was really into it, but
our offense did a good job of putting up points, it made their offense one dimensional”

SS Marquand Manuel

“I got an opportunity and made the most of it, big time players make big time plays. Not
taking anything away from them, but everything the did we gave them.”

WR Jabar Gaffney

“We executed pretty well, coach wanted us to execute our assignments and we did.”
On Blackout- Its always fun. They think it pumps them up, but it pumps us up too.”

DE Alex Brown

On breaking up pass before halftime

“It feels great, all the work we put in, all the little things, getting a score feels good.”
It’s a big play, it helped turn the momentum even more in our favor. I swiped at it and disrupted
it, Marquand made the play.”

Difference between Florida and South Carolina

“Confidence. Not that they don’t have it, but we practice hard, we play hard and we expect
to win, that’s the biggest difference.”