Oct. 3, 2006

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier met with the media on Tuesday afternoon as the Gamecocks prepare to face Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7 pm in Lexington, Ky.

Opening Statement
“We were figuring it out, Kentucky and us are very similar right now. Same record, 3-2, their two losses, Louisville and Florida, ours Auburn and Georgia, I think all four of them are in the Top 10. Something is going to give on Saturday night. I’m sure they feel the opportunity to get a victory and hopefully we feel like we have a chance too. It should be a heck of game. Their offense has really come around and they are playing extremely well. Their defense has struggled at times but they play well at times also. They held Florida to about six points with about a minute left in the first half and Florida didn’t really go up and down the field much at all, although Central Michigan did last week. Kentucky is a pretty good team and probably like us so it should be a heck of a game.”

On the team heading into the Kentucky team
I wish we were as seasoned as some of these other teams. If we had four offensive linemen that were in their fourth year and fifth year, I would feel pretty good going into the game. We are just not there; we are not a seasoned, veteran offensive line by any means. We played pretty well last week and hopefully we can continue to improve with our guys. Nothing is really easy for us. It’s going to be a struggle. We anticipate a down to the wire game and hopefully we will execute a little bit better in the closing minutes than we did last week.”

On adding more plays to game plan for Syvelle Newton
“Not trying to add too much, we need to get him out of the pocket a little bit more probably. It gives our protection a lot better of a chance. That’s about it; get him out of the pocket occasionally. If he is going to throw, which he is doing pretty well right now, we are not going to run him sideline to sideline and tire him out so much. We have running backs who can run and if he runs occasionally, that is probably what is best right now.”

On the importance of this week’s game
“These are big games, they all count just as much. This one, the one the week after with Vandy, they are all very important. Like I said before the beginning of the season, we get ready to play every team pretty much the same way. There is no extra emphasis this week. It is big-time emphasis every week, we are trying to improve week to week, and I think we have but we haven’t put it all together yet. I don’t know if we will by the end of the season, but that’s where we are and we are going to try and put it together.”

“They could have beat us last year just like Vandy could have beat us. We know that, it worked out we won. We are not going to toss in the towel if we don’t come out a winner. We are going to play all 12 of them the best we can and that’s all you can do. When it’s all over we will see if we have at least six wins, if we don’t, it will be a disappointing year because we should win at least six, this team should I think.”

On the Auburn game
“It was an unusual game. We only punted once, but some how or another, we made some first downs. We didn’t exactly go up and down the field. We hit some third downs, Kenny McKinley made some big grabs. Defensively, we struggled, we forced two punts and got no turnovers. But there were only like six or seven possessions, each team. Auburn scored on four and we scored on three. We were one for four in the red zone. I don’t know how much confidence we gained out of the game. We got into the shotgun and we did run the ball pretty well. Auburn played a three-man line half the game and just dared us to run.”

On play-calling during the game
“We thought hanging the ball up to Sidney was a good idea so we get actually about the right opportunity. They sort of screwed up their coverage, had that linebacker guy covering. Syvelle made a beautiful pass at that point, Sidney drifted on the ball and the other guy ran in there and intercepted it. That was a dumb play call. We thought that Sidney could go up and fight the guy and we were wrong. I was wrong. Other than that, Syvelle hasn’t played enough to know when they are blitzing to know when to throw the ball away. I should have trained him a little bit better in where to throw it when they are coming. He held on to two of them there that kind of hurt.”

On playing on the road after four home games
“We enjoy playing at home and don’t mind playing on the road. We had four in the row at home, which was nice. I look forward to all of them, home, road, no difference. You have to look forward to every game. We only play 12 a year. We train, practice, work out, for those 12 games. When they are all over, whatever your record is how you did for the rest of the year. Hopefully we will be on the top side again.”

On similarities between this year and last year heading into Kentucky game
“I just said (to our team) that this is about where we were last year. We beat who we were supposed to and lost to three big teams (Alabama, Auburn) and Georgia. We played decent against Kentucky last year on offense and defense. They started fumbling to us and that was a big key. They fumbled about three in a row there and we got some nice calls, an interference call. We didn’t play real super on offense by any means but we hit a few balls here and there. I think Ko (Simpson) picked one off and scored. That was one defensive score last year, it worked out. That game they had a lot of yards and Blake threw one interception. One of their kids caught I think 16 passes but we kept them out of the end zone most the day.”

I think we are a little better. Syvelle has made our offense better. He is able to get away from guys and scramble and make some first downs when protection breaks down. That gives us hope there and he’s throwing the ball pretty well. Blake will get his shot when it comes, I think he will be better prepared after watching a little bit. Syvelle has played well and I think improved each game. If he can continue making decisions, getting him a little more comfortable in the offense. I think what surprised everyone is his passing ability. He throws it right where you can catch it. He made some beautiful passes the other night. The only wide open guy we got was Jared Cook going down the middle, the rest of them were harder routes and good throws and so forth.”

On returning to Lexington
(The last time) That was our (Florida’s) game after 9/11 so I remember a little bit of the ceremony and so forth. I’ve been very fortunate to go up there and win several close games that they had a chance to get us. In fact, the 1993 season, very similar to the one we (Florida) won here (Columbia) when we were down 17-0 and came back to win. We were down 20-17 (in Lexington) and Danny Wuerffel hit Chris Doering for a touchdown that won that game with about eight seconds left. That was the biggest last second victory that I have ever coached and been a part of. Of course that team went on and won the conference. It’s interesting that when you have a playoff, like we do now, the best team doesn’t always win the conference. LSU and Auburn fought it out last year and the Auburn kid missed all the field goals. LSU won the game and that got beat by Georgia, who lost to their two biggest conference rivals (Florida, Auburn) and they’re the conference champs. Getting the breaks along the way helps but that is the same with all sports that have a tournament at the end.”

On Syvelle Newton
“Just a little bit surprised in his passing ability. I didn’t realize that when the game is on the line he has a knack of throwing it where our guys can catch it. He has a quick release. I’m just teaching him now, what three weeks.”

“We are still working on (his fundamentals) a little bit. The only time he has trouble is when he sort of faces the guy and goes up and down instead of rotating his shoulders. We haven’t tried to do too much really, just sort of look in the area and let him go play. Don’t have too much for him to think about, but he has good common sense about football. He knows a lot, like I said, I should have had him a little more prepared. Throw it away, throw it away. When you feel them coming and the guy is not there, just sail it out of the end zone and you don’t have to worry about intentional grounding.”