Oct. 24, 2009

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

South Carolina

• Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Improves to 176-64-2 as a collegiate head coach, 34-24 in his fifth year at South Carolina. He is now 15-2 against Vanderbilt, snapping a two-game losing streak to the Commodores. With his 34th Carolina win, he passes Lou Holtz for sixth all-time at South Carolina. Next on the list are Billy Laval and Joe Morrison with 39 wins each.
• Among the Greats: Steve Spurrier got his 105th conference victory as an SEC head coach, tying him with Vince Dooley for third all-time in league history. Only Bear Bryant (159) and Johnny Vaught (106) have more.
• Record: South Carolina is 6-2 on the year, guaranteeing at least a .500 record and making the Gamecocks bowl eligible for the sixth straight year. It’s the first time to accomplish that feat since 1928-34.
• Against Vanderbilt: The Gamecocks are now 15-4 all-time against Vanderbilt, 7-2 in games played in Columbia. For only the second time, the Gamecocks defeated Vanderbilt when being held under 20 points (2-4 all-time).
• Still Streaking: Tonight marks the Gamecocks’ seventh consecutive victory at Williams-Brice Stadium, dating back to the Tennessee win last season. The Gamecocks have defeated five straight SEC opponents at home for the first time ever.
• Bringing the Wood: Senior LB Eric Norwood had 2.0 tackles for loss in tonight’s game, giving him 51.5 for his career. He now stands tied for eighth in SEC history, tied with Florida’s Derrick Harvey and passing Florida’s Huey Richardson (50.5) and Tennessee’s Reggie White (51.0) tonight.
• Moving Up the Charts: QB Stephen Garcia was 22-of-33 for 312 yards and two TDs, falling just one yard short of his career high. He now has 2,606 career passing yards, moving past Mike Fair (2,486) and Dan Reeves (2,561) for 14th all-time in South Carolina history.
• Moving Up the Charts, Part 2: Chris Culliver had 49 yards on three kickoff returns tonight, moving him to fifth all-time in SEC history with 2,169 kickoff return yards, passing LSU’s Domanick Davis (2,168). Next on the list is Vanderbilt’s Mark Johnson (2,263). Mississippi State’s Derek Pegues is the all-time leader at 2,498 yards.
• Another Premium Performance: Alshon Jeffery had his second 100-yard receiving game of the year, setting a career high with 161 yards and a touchdown on eight catches. His yardage total was the most for a Gamecock receiver since Sidney Rice also went for 161 against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 23, 2006. He now has 443 yards on the season, which leads the team.
• Ground and Air Delivery: For the third time this season, South Carolina had a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game. And for the second time, it was freshmen Alshon Jeffery and Kenny Miles. Jeffery’s 161 receiving yards combined with Miles’ 102 rush yards (including none for negative yardage) to lead South Carolina offensively.
• New Captain: With senior captain Moe Brown sidelined for tonight’s game after suffering a concussion at Alabama, senior center Lemuel Jeanpierre assumed his role as game captain. The other three captains – Eric Norwood, Patrick DiMarco and Cliff Matthews – remained the same.
• First Start: WR Stephen Flint made his first career start as the Gamecocks opened in a 3-WR set.
• Firsts: Redshirt freshman WR D.L. Moore caught his first career touchdown pass in the second quarter from Stephen Garcia, a 35-yard reception which is also a career-long. He finished the night with two catches for 44 yards.
• More Firsts: Tonight is the first time this year that the Gamecocks have been tied at the half. It also marks the first time this season that Carolina won after trailing at the end of three quarters.
• Up Next: South Carolina will look to win its second straight game over SEC Eastern Division rival Tennessee on Halloween Night, Oct. 31, in Knoxville. Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m. on ESPN.

Vanderbilt

With the loss, the Commodores move to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the Southeastern Conference play. The loss snaps Vanderbilt’s two-game winning streak over South Carolina.

Team Superlatives

• Vanderbilt’s defense put together another strong effort as it limited South Carolina to 14 points. The Commodores join Alabama as the only two teams in the Southeastern Conference to keep the USC offense under 15 points.

Individual Superlatives

• Freshman tailback Warren Norman: Freshman running back compiled 186 all-purpose yards: He rushed 15 times for 83 yards and had a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
• Strong safety Sean Richardson: recorded a team-high 12 tackles in the effort to go along with one pass break up. The 12-tackles for Richardson marks a career high.
• Linebackers Patrick Benoist and Chris Marve registered seven tackles while Myron Lewis had six.
• Quarterback Larry Smith finished the game 17-for-34 passing for 132 yards. Smith’s 17 pass completions were the most since he completed 23 passes in Vanderbilt’s 36-17 win over Rice on Sept. 26.
• Punter Brett Upson: Had eight punts for 384 yards (48.0 average) including three punts over 54 yards and a long of 64. Upson pinned the Gamecocks inside the five-yard line twice in the second half.
• Freshman Eddie Foster earned his first career start at nickel back.
• Senior Steven Stone received his first action of the season at defensive end. Stone missed the first seven games after suffering a foot fracture in preseason camp. Another defensive end, junior Theron Kadri, also saw action early in the game after the previous three games with an ankle sprain.

First Half

• Vanderbilt missed an apparent forced fumble by linebacker Chris Marve during South Carolina’s opening drive. Officials overturned the USC fumble on replay.
• Senior Jared Hawkins saw his first action in three weeks at tailback, catching two early passes for nine yards and rushing for a 2-yard first down.
• Though Vanderbilt did not score in the first quarter, sophomore QB Larry Smith hit on all six of his pass attempts in the first quarter. He also had 22 rushing yards in the quarter.
• This marks the fourth time this season that Vanderbilt has held an opponent scoreless in the first quarter.
• Vanderbilt’s first trip inside the SC red zone ended unsuccessfully when Ryan Fowler missed a 25-yard field goal attempt.
• Vanderbilt tied things up at 7-7 with 7:38 remaining in the second quarter when freshman Warren Norman returned a kickoff 99-yards for a touchdown. The kickoff return was his second of the year, marking the first time a Vanderbilt player has returned two kickoffs for a touchdown in the same season. Norman’s 99-yard kickoff return was also the second longest return in school history, behind only a 100-yard effort by Preston Brown in 1977. Norman also becomes the first Commodore to ever return two kickoffs for touchdowns.
• With 5:07 left in first half, senior tackle Greg Billinger stopped a SC possession with a quarterback sack. He tops the Commodores with 3.5 sacks on the season.
• Though the Commodore offense had several positive moments, it failed to register a first-half touchdown for the fourth consecutive game.

Second Half

• Upson pinned South Carolina at its own 1-yard line early in the third quarter with a 57-yard punt. After forcing a Gamecock punt, the Commodores started its second possession of the second half at the SC 43-yard line. After 39 yards on five consecutive rushes by Norman, Vanderbilt took a 10-7 lead on Fowler’s 21-yard field goal.
• Senior DE Broderick Stewart had a 4-yard tackle for loss and deflected pass on Carolina’s second possession, helping force a quick Gamecock punt. On the ensuing possession, Smith hit TE Brandon Barden for a career-long 43-yard pass to get Vanderbilt inside Gamecock territory. The Commodores would punt three plays later, with WR Udom Umoh knocking Upson’s effort out of bounds at the SC 1-yard line.
• The Vanderbilt defense limited South Carolina to 35 total yards in the third quarter.