Oct. 3, 2009

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

South Carolina

• Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Improves to 174-63-2 as a collegiate head coach, 32-23 in his fifth year at South Carolina. He is now 2-0 against South Carolina State. Spurrier is now 38-0 all-time against schools outside of BCS automatic qualifier conferences. With his 32nd win at Carolina, he is now one win away from tying Lou Holtz (33) for sixth all-time at South Carolina.
• Back to .500: With tonight’s win, South Carolina’s all-time football record is 531-531-44, making the Gamecocks a .500 team in 116 years of intercollegiate football.
• Streaking: South Carolina has won five consecutive games at Williams-Brice Stadium, dating back to the Tennessee win last year. In that stretch, the Gamecocks have also defeated Arkansas, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss and South Carolina State.
• And They Shall Receive: South Carolina has received the opening kickoff to begin all five games this season, whether by choosing the option or the opponent deferring to the second half. Tonight, SC State deferred to the second half.
• First Start: Sophomore C.C. Whitlock made the first start of his career, replacing the suspended Akeem Auguste at cornerback. In addition, sophomore Kyle Nunn made his first career start at right tackle, and redshirt freshman Kenny Miles made his initial start at tailback.
• Still Streaking: Spencer Lanning connected on his only field goal attempt of the night, knocking through a 30-yarder early in the second quarter. Lanning has now hit 10 straight field goals over a stretch of four games, and stands only five short of the school record for consecutive field goals made (15 by Collin Mackie).
• Power Outage: A major power outage hit Williams-Brice Stadium approximately 10 minutes before kickoff, knocking out all video and TV production and also causing other problems throughout the stadium during the first half. Relative order was restored by the second half.
• Bringing the Wood: Eric Norwood blocked a Bulldog field goal midway through the third quarter, the first since Jordin Lindsey blocked one last season at Kentucky (which was returned 81 yards for a touchdown by Captain Munnerlyn). Norwood also was credited with a blocked punt in last week’s win over Ole Miss. Later, in the fourth quarter, Norwood picked off a Bulldog pass, the second interception of his career.
• Nice Return: Stephon Gilmore’s returned a punt for 35 yards in the third quarter. It was only the second return of his career, and it was the longest runback of the season for the Gamecocks (it matched last season’s long return; a 35-yarder by Captain Munnerlyn against UAB).
• More Returns: Chris Culliver had three kickoff returns in the game, extending his school-record total to 81 for his career. He amassed 42 yards on those returns, giving him 1,909 for his career. He is only 37 yards shy of the school record of 1,946 career kickoff return yards, held by Dick Harris.
• Big Brown: Senior Moe Brown turned in the first multi-touchdown game of his career, scoring on a 40-yard pass from Stephen Garcia, then again on a 9-yard reception, both in the third quarter. Brown finished the night with 100 yards on six catches, the second 100-yard game of his career (Georgia, 2008).
• Firsts: Reid McCollum hit Alshon Jeffery for a 20-yard touchdown with 5:39 to play in the fourth quarter, the first career touchdowns for both players. Following the score, Adam Yates connected on the extra point attempt, also a career first.
• Up Next: South Carolina will resume Southeastern Conference play next Saturday, Oct. 10, as Eastern Division rival Kentucky visits Williams-Brice Stadium. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. with a regional broadcast on FSN.