Sept. 3, 2009

Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery

• Game Captains: #9 Moe Brown, #40 Eric Norwood, #47 Patrick DiMarco, #83 Cliff Matthews
• Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Improves to 171-62-2 as a collegiate head coach, 29-22 in his fifth year at South Carolina. He is now 4-1-1 against NC State, 1-0-1 at Carter-Finley Stadium. Spurrier has passed Warren Giese (28 wins) for sole possession of seventh all-time among South Carolina coaches. Lou Holtz is next on the list with 33 wins at Carolina. Spurrier is now 19-1 all-time in season openers as a collegiate head coach, 5-0 at South Carolina.
• Carolina History: South Carolina is now 528-530-44 in its 116th year of intercollegiate football. Against NC State, the Gamecocks now hold a slight 27-26-4 advantage. Against Atlantic Coast Conference foes, South Carolina is 192-240-22.
• No Opening Jitters: The Gamecocks have now won 10 straight season openers, dating back to the 2000 season. The last season-opening loss came right here at Carter-Finley Stadium, a 10-0 setback to NC State in 1999.
• Thursday Night Lights: South Carolina is now 5-2 in the Spurrier era in Thursday night contests, with four of those victories coming in season openers.
• First Start: Seven Gamecocks made their first career starts: #3 Akeem Auguste, #5 Stephon Gilmore, #25 Alonzo Winfield, #55 T.J. Johnson, #72 Quintin Richardson, #81 Tori Gurley, #98 Devin Taylor.
• First Appearance: 19 Carolina athletes played in their first game in a Gamecock uniform: #1 Alshon Jeffrey, #3 Jarvis Giles, #5 Stephon Gilmore, #21 DeVonte Holloman, #22 Bryce Sherman, #23 Brandan Davis, #31 Kenny Miles, #32 Reginald Bowens, #36 D.J. Swearinger, #44 Tony Straughter, #46 Dalton Wilson, #55 T.J. Johnson, #81 Tory Gurley, #81 Adam Yates, #82 D.L. Moore, #87 Justice Cunningham, #90 Chaz Sutton, #90 Foxy Foxworth, #98 Devin Taylor.
• Streaking: With the win, South Carolina snaps a 3-game losing streak encompassing the final three contests of the 2008 season. Carolina now has two straight wins over NC State for the first time since 1987-88.
• Devin Taylor’s first play as a Gamecock – he forced a fumble that was recovered by Eric Norwood, leading to a Brian Maddox touchdown in first quarter (it proved to be the winning score). Later in the quarter, he blocked a punt on NC State’s second possession. It was the first blocked punt for Carolina since Chris HaIL blocked one against LSU last season (10/18). Taylor also had six tackles on the night including a sack and three tackles for loss.
• Brian Maddox’s first-quarter touchdown gave South Carolina its first lead since the end of the Arkansas game, a span of 12-plus quarters of football encompassing games against Florida, Clemson and the Outback Bowl against Iowa.
• Eric Norwood had 2.0 sacks in tonight’s game, moving past John Abraham for second place on the all-time Carolina list with 24.0. Andrew Provence is the all-time leader with 26.0, and Norwood needs just 3.5 more to move into the top 10 in all-time SEC history. He had eight total tackles on the night.
• Brian Maddox surpassed his career highs in carries (23) and rushing yards (66). He also scored his second career touchdown. Patrick DiMarco also set career highs in both categories (19 yards on 5 attempts).
• NC State’s field goal late in the third quarter ended a streak of just less then eight scoreless quarters for the Wolfpack against South Carolina. NC State’s last score came in the 1999 game in Raleigh early in the fourth quarter.
• South Carolina held NC State to 133 total yards of offense, the lowest total by an opponent since the same two teams met last year in Columbia and the Wolfpack gained 138.
• Next week, South Carolina will have the opportunity to win back-to-back road games to open the season for the first time in school history when the Gamecocks travel to Georgia. Carolina has opened with two straight road games seven times in history and has never won both of them. The last time to open the season with two road games was 1999, when the opponents were also NC State and Georgia (both losses).