Jan. 2, 2010
South Carolina
- Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Falls to 177-68-2 as a collegiate head coach, 35-28 in his fifth year at South Carolina. Today was his first meeting with UConn. His record in bowl games stands at 7-9, including a 1-3 mark at South Carolina. Spurrier is now 3-3 against teams from the Big East Conference.
- Records: South Carolina finishes the season 7-6 overall while Connecticut improves to 8-5 on the season. Today marked the Gamecocks’ first meeting with Connecticut; Carolina is now 8-11-1 against schools that comprise the Big East Conference.
- In Bowl Games: South Carolina is now 4-11 all-time in bowl games and has dropped two straight postseason contests.
- Attendance: Today’s attendance of 45,254 – a wide majority of them clad in Garnet and Black – set a record for the four-year-old PapaJohns.com Bowl.
- Streak Continues: South Carolina avoided being shut out for the first time in 50 games; the last was an 18-0 defeat at the hands of Georgia on Sept. 9, 2006.
- One Last Time: Nine seniors put on the Garnet and Black for the final time today. Fifth-year players Lemuel Jeanpierre, Nathan Pepper and Gerrod Sinclair and four-year seniors Garrett Anderson, Moe Brown, Eric Norwood and Darian Stewart all competed in the game while former walk-ons John Guerry and Scott Spurrier were in uniform.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
- QB Stephen Garcia finished the day 16-of-38 for 129 yards and one interception. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 56 yards on 15 carries. With his 38 attempts today, he tied Todd Ellis for the Carolina single-season record with 432 pass attempts. He is now 304-for-554 (.549) for 3,694 yards in his career, which ranks eighth in school history.
- WR D.L. Moore’s 38-yard reception late in the fourth quarter was a career-long, surpassing a 35-yarder against Vanderbilt earlier this season.
- RB Brian Maddox scored his eighth touchdown of the season, a three-yard plunge in the fourth quarter. It was the 10th touchdown of the junior’s career.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
- Ladi Ajiboye set a career high with 10 tackles on the day, including one for loss.
- Eric Norwood finished with 10 tackles in his final game for Carolina. He completes his record-setting career with 255 total tackles along with 29.0 sacks and 54.5 tackles for loss. He leaves as the school’s all-time leader in sacks and TFLs and ranks 17th in Carolina history in total tackles.
- Nathan Pepper became the first Gamecock to compete in four bowl games – the 2005 Independence Bowl, 2006 Liberty Bowl and 2009 Outback Bowl were the others.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
- Quin Smith partially blocked a UConn punt in the fourth quarter, the first of his career and the fifth blocked kick of the season for the Gamecocks, which leads all Southeastern Conference schools to date.
UP NEXT
South Carolina opens the 2010 season on with a nationally televised ESPN Thursday night broadcast as the Southern Miss Golden Eagles visit Williams Brice Stadium on Sept. 2.
