Sept. 27, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier met with the media on Tuesday afternoon as the Gamecocks continue preparation for Saturday’s game at Auburn.

“We are looking forward to going to Auburn and seeing if we can get in a good tight ball game with them. I’m hoping it will be something like the Georgia game, that a play or two here or there, we’ll maybe have a chance to get these guys. They’re a very good team, as we all know. Very comparable to Alabama, Georgia, all the rest of these top SEC teams. It will be a challenge for our guys but we are looking forward to going over there and playing with a few new people. It looks like Antonio Heffner will definitely be our starter. I don’t think Blake is going to be able to play. We’ll go let Antonio throw it around, run it around and see if we can make some plays and stay on the field offensively and slow them down defensively. If we do those things we certainly got to believe that we have a chance to beat Auburn.”

(On Auburn)
“Their coach, I think, mentioned that he felt like, personnel-wise, that they were just as good this year (as last year). I think he said that prior to the season. They did lose a lot of good players just like Georgia did but they obviously recruited extremely well the past three, four years so they don’t really miss those guys that much.”

“They’re doing a lot of the same things, although they do have a new defensive coordinator. They do a lot of good things defensively with outstanding athletes at really all of their positions. If you can gain a few yards, hit a few passes, you have to earn it against these guys.”

“It’s a new stadium, a new environment for I think just about all of our players. We had asked if anybody had been there before, Charles Silas raised his hand. He said he played there a junior college game against their JV team, three or four years ago, so I think he’s the only guy that has been there.

(On running and passing this week vs. Auburn)
“Antonio is an excellent runner with the ball. Everybody knows that. I think he’s probably run the ball about 50 percent of the plays he’s been on the field, something close to that. We have to let him throw. He’s a good passer, I’ll tell you what, and he looked very good at practice last night throwing it around. Pass protection, these Auburn guys are excellent rushers now. I think they lead the nation in scoring defense. They have pass rushers all over the place, cover guys, a very talented group of players. No different than Georgia or any of the other top teams we will play. You have to execute, move the ball and try to score some points.”

(On Antonio Heffner)
He’s a quarterback but you have to utilize his running ability as well as throwing. We’ll try to get him free running the ball as well as handing it off and throwing. It will be a little different style offense then I’m used to coaching. We’ve been actually practicing a lot of these plays all year and we might have a chance to use them in this game.”

(On the offensive line)
“Jamon Meredith was getting some action last night. There’s a chance he can play some at right tackle. We’re going to keep playing James Thompson and William Brown struggled in the game just as much as James did the other night. We just have to keep playing our guys and hopefully they will be improving as we go along.”

(On Daccus Turman)
“He’s going to get some carries. Of course had the big run the other night, which was by far the best run of the year. They blitzed a guy, we didn’t touch him, he juked him, hopped through the line, shook off a guy at the line of scrimmage, couple guys hit him at the four and the two and he went in standing up. That was by far the most impressive run by a Carolina running back this year. We’ve got to get him the ball as much as we can. He’s also very valuable as a fullback for the other guys, like Mike Davis and so forth. We’ll see how it all plays out. We know we need to make yards running the ball.”

(On Time of Possession)
“I used to not worry about it that much, because we were, hopefully, a quick scoring team. It’s important to us now because our defense is not as strong as we hope it’s going to be some day. We are giving up a ton of yards rushing and we are not making many rushing, so our time of possession is not going to be very good. It would be helpful if the offense could stay out there awhile and give the defense some rest. If you have a real strong defense, time of possession is not all that important, if your offense can score quickly. It depends on what type of team you have as to whether that statistic is very important or not.”

“It’s a challenge, something different and something new. We knew we were going to be the underdogs to these big, top SEC teams. We have to try to find a way to beat them. A wonderful opportunity, a wonderful challenge for us. We really talk about how we can play our best and how we can improve week to week.”