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Nov. 27, 2010

Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery media-icon-photogallery.gif

  • Head Coach Steve Spurrier: Improves to 186-71-2 (.722) as a collegiate head coach, 44-31 in his sixth year at South Carolina. He improves to 4-5 all-time against Clemson, including a 3-3 mark as South Carolina’s head coach.
  • Records: South Carolina improves to 9-3 overall and remains 5-3 in SEC play. Clemson falls to 6-6 overall, 4-4 in ACC play. The Gamecocks improve to 39-65-4 against Clemson, including a 9-16-1 mark at Memorial Stadium. Carolina is now 35-11 in non-conference games since 2000; the Gamecocks have won 5 of their last 6 against Atlantic Coast Conference foes.
  • It’s Been a While: With tonight’s win, South Carolina has won two in a row against Clemson; the Gamecocks defeated Clemson 34-17 in Columbia last season. This is the first time for Carolina to beat Clemson two straight years since a stretch of three straight victories from 1968-70. The Gamecocks have also won two out of three games in “Death Valley”, including a 31-28 win in 2006.
  • Road Warriors? Yep: Believe it or not, South Carolina has won three straight road games, defeating Vanderbilt, Florida and Clemson to wrap up the 2010 regular season. The Gamecocks had lost seven straight games away from Williams-Brice Stadium before the win at Vanderbilt on Oct. 23. During that stretch, Carolina has outscored its opposition 86-28. The last time South Carolina won three consecutive road games was the 2006 season when the Gamecocks beat Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt to open the season.
  • Nine is Just Fine: With tonight’s win, South Carolina has won nine games for just the third time in school history, matching a nine-victory season in 2001 and coming within one victory of the school-record 10, which came in the “Black Magic” 1984 season.
  • As a Ranked Team: The Gamecocks are 14-12 when ranked in the top 25 under Spurrier, improving to 8-3 this year. Carolina is 4-8 on the road as a ranked team under Spurrier; 3-2 this year.
  • Turnover Battle: For the third straight game, South Carolina won the turnover battle, forcing three Clemson turnovers and committing none in the game. The Gamecocks are now plus-six in turnover margin this season, and are 5-0 when winning the turnover battle in 2010 (19-4 in the Spurrier Era).
  • Margin of Victory: South Carolina’s 29-7 victory (22 points) marked the biggest against Clemson since a 33-7 victory here at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 19, 1994.

OFFENSIVE NOTES

  • WR Alshon Jeffery became the eighth Carolina receiver to top the 2,000-yard mark for his career in tonight’s game, passing the milestone with his 37-yard reception in the first quarter. His next catch would also go for 37 yards and a touchdown. On the night, he passed Phillip Logan (2,063 yards) for seventh on the all-time career receiving list at South Carolina; Jeffery now has 2,114 yards for his career.
  • Jeffery topped the 100-yard mark for the seventh time in 12 games this season, finishing with 141 yards on five catches. He now has 10 games of more than 100 receiving yards in his career, and is one 100-yard game short of tying the school record in that category; Sidney Rice had 11 games of 100+ yards in his Carolina career.
  • TE Patrick DiMarco scored for the second time in his career against Clemson and hauled in his second touchdown pass of the season (also last week vs. Troy). DiMarco scored one of Carolina’s only two touchdowns in the 2008 contest at Clemson (Brian Maddox had the other).
  • QB Stephen Garcia improved to 2-0 as a starter vs. Clemson and 17-11 overall as Carolina’s starting quarterback. It was Garcia’s fourth road win in 10 tries as the starting signal-caller for South Carolina. He finished the night 14-of-30 for 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and had his third-straight interception-free game.
  • RB Marcus Lattimore racked up 89 all-purpose yards, rushing for 48 (23 carries) and catching a career-high five passes for 41 yards.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

  • Clemson was held to 61 rushing yards, the ninth time in 12 games for Carolina opponents to be held under the century mark. South Carolina is 8-1 this year when keeping an opponent under 100 yards on the ground; they are 21-3 under Steve Spurrier when shutting down the opponents’ ground game.
  • The Tigers had only 251 total yards, the third-lowest total by a Carolina opponent this season (Florida 226, Vanderbilt 250). Carolina is 5-0 this year and 22-4 under Spurrier when holding opponents under 300 total yards.
  • SPUR Antonio Allen picked off his first career pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter. Carolina has now scored six defensive touchdowns this season (five interception returns, one fumble return), and six different players have scored – Stephon Gilmore, Devin Taylor, D.J. Swearinger, Chaz Sutton and Allen have recorded pick-six plays, and Byron McKnight returned a fumble for a score against Arkansas.
  • CB Stephon Gilmore led the Gamecock defense with seven tackles on the night, the fourth time this year he has held or shared the team lead in that category.
  • Travian Robertson, Cliff Matthews and Byron Jerideau all recorded sacks, running Carolina’s school-record total to 39 this season. Matthews now stands at 14.5 career sacks and passed Phil Ellis for eighth all-time in Gamecock history with his sack tonight. Robertson recorded the 10th sack of his career, and Jerideau now has 2.0 on the season. Robertson also recovered a fumble after Matthews’ sack.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES

  • Spencer Lanning made his first two field goals of the night to run his streak to nine made field goals in a row, but missed a 49-yarder as the first half expired to snap the skein. It was the second-longest streak of consecutive successful field goal tries of his career; he hit 12 in a row during the 2009 season. Lanning finished the night 3-of-4, his fourth career game with three or more made field goals (5 vs. Georgia ’09; 3 vs. Ole Miss ’09, Florida ’10)
  • Lanning also had a stellar night punting the ball, averaging 42.7 yards on 7 kicks. Four of those were downed inside the Clemson 20, including a stellar attempt in the third quarter that rolled out of bounds inside the Tiger 1-yard-line.
  • Brian Maddox had his first career fumble recovery to set up the Gamecocks’ first touchdown after Clemson fumbled the snap on a punt attempt in the first quarter. He returned it for four yards to the Clemson 5; Carolina scored one play later. It was the 14th fumble recovered by the Gamecocks this season.
  • DS Charles Turner, after sitting out last week, returned as the starting deep snapper for the Gamecocks tonight. He made the most of it, recording his third tackle of the season on a punt return in the first quarter. PK Jay Wooten also posted the first tackle of his career.

UP NEXT
The Gamecocks will play for their first Southeastern Conference championship next Saturday, Dec. 4, as they face the No. 2- ranked Auburn Tigers in the SEC Championship Game. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with a national broadcast on CBS.

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