Oct. 30, 2006

The University of South Carolina football squad (5-3, 3-3 SEC) began its preparations for Saturday night’s 7:45 p.m. ESPN tilt with 12th-ranked Arkansas (7-1, 4-0 SEC) by working out at the Bluff Road practice fields on Monday night. Several players were held out of practice, including quarterback Syvelle Newton (headaches), center Chris White (headaches), and special teams players Curtis Rice (sprained left foot) and Jerod June (right hamstring). Newton, White and June are all listed as probable, while Rice is doubtful for the Arkansas contest. Following the practice session, head coach Steve Spurrier met with the media:

On some questionable officiating calls in Saturday’s loss to Tennessee: “Most of the plays that cost us were self-inflicted. We did it ourselves, so we don’t need to blame the refs about anything.”

On getting over the loss to Tennessee: “We’ve had two days. We’re over it. It’s history. We’re not going to win every close game we play, especially when there’s an interception for a touchdown, a punt run back to the five, a lot of stuff happened that makes it tough to win. Hopefully we can learn from it and move on.”

On Arkansas’s running game: “They’re the best running team in the conference. We’ll try to tackle them the best we can. We’ll get everybody up in there and try to make them throw some. We’ll do our best against them.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Tuesday afternoon.