Nov. 7, 2009

Recap | Final Stats

South Carolina

• Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Falls to 176-66-2 as a collegiate head coach, 34-26 in his fifth year at South Carolina. He is now 5-3 against Arkansas, 2-3 against the Razorbacks as South Carolina’s head coach.
• Records: South Carolina falls to 6-4 overall, 3-4 in Southeastern Conference play. Arkansas improves to 5-4 overall, 2-4 in the SEC. The Gamecocks are now 7-11 all-time against the Razorbacks, 2-7 in Arkansas (1-4 in Fayetteville).
• Quick Score, Sort Of: Spencer Lanning’s 23-yard field goal in the first quarter marked the first time in seven games that the Gamecocks scored on their first possession. The last time came in the Florida Atlantic game on Sept. 19. But it was also the Gamecocks’ longest scoring drive by plays (14) of the season and the third-longest of the Spurrier era at Carolina.
• Another Quick Score: Stephen Garcia hit Alshon Jeffery for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of the second half, giving the Gamecocks a score just 13 seconds into the second half. It was the longest career completion for both players and the longest offensive play for South Carolina since an 88-yard touchdown run by Bobby Wallace against Middle Tennessee State on Nov. 18, 2006.
• EWood40.com: Eric Norwood picked up a sack and two tackles for loss in today’s game, giving him 29.0 career sacks and 53.5 career TFLs. In career sacks, Norwood is now tied for seventh in SEC history along with Georgia’s Richard Tarditis. In the tackles for loss category, he is now alone in seventh place, having passed Derrick Harvey (51.5) and Leonard Little (53.0) in today’s game. He totaled eight tackles on the day.
• QB Stephen Garcia: Completed 20-of-34 passes for a career-high 327 yards and a touchdown along with one interception. He also rushed for a touchdown in the game. Garcia is the only quarterback in the SEC to have four 300-yard passing games during the 2009 season; Arkansas’ Ryan Mallet, who threw for 329 today, has three.
• Moving Up the Charts: Stephen Garcia now has 3,236 passing yards in his career, moving past four former Gamecocks in the all-time record book. During today’s game, he passed Ron Bass (2,933), Garry Harper (2,971), Mike Hold (2,981) and Chris Smelley (3,210) to move into 10th all-time at South Carolina in passing yardate. His 19 career passing touchdowns also ties him for 10th (Harper).
• WR Alshon Jeffery: Had his third 100-yard receiving game of the season, amassing 116 yards on five catches and scoring a touchdown on an 80-yard reception on the first play of the third quarter. He now has 613 yards on 33 catches for the season, an average of 18.6 yards per catch. Over the last five games, he has caught 28 passes for 552 yards (110.5 per game) and five touchdowns.
• First Start: OG Garrett Chisolm made his first career start at left guard. He is the 18th different Gamecock to make his initial career start in 2009; he is the 10th different offensive line starter and the fifth different player to start at left guard.
• The Last Time: Arkansas’ safety in the third quarter was the first scored against a Gamecock team since the 2006 contest against the Razorbacks.
• No Fakes: Arkansas attempted a fake punt in the second quarter that was stopped for negative yardage by Quin Smith. Opposing teams are 0-for-3 on the season when attempting fake punts or field goals against the Gamecocks (Ole Miss and Kentucky were the other two that tried the trickery and were unsuccessful).
• Coin Toss First: For the first time all season, South Carolina did not elect to receive to begin the game. The Gamecocks won the toss and deferred to the second half.
• Up Next: South Carolina returns home to take on the top-ranked Florida Gators on Saturday, Nov. 14. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium with a national broadcast slated for CBS.