Dec. 10, 2010

Photo Gallery

Head Coach Steve Spurrier, Athletic Director Eric Hyman and members of the Chick-fil-A Bowl staff met Friday afternoon to formally invite South Carolina to participate in the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Head Coach Steve Spurrier
On the Chick-Fil-A Bowl matchup with Florida State
It should be a heckuva matchup. We’re excited. We didn’t play our best last time in the Georgia Dome. We’ll see if we can compete and look like a first class team the way we were most of the season. We’re fired up about it. Florida State is a great team. It’s almost the exact same year they’ve had that we’ve had (at) 9-4 and (they) lost the conference championship game. Jimbo Fisher is a heckuva coach. He’s a good guy. I’ve gotten to know him a bit the last several years. Our coaching background is similar. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jimbo and what they’ve done in Tallahassee this year.

On hoping for a 50-50 split of fans after Auburn had a larger contingent in the SEC Championship game
Sometimes that championship game gets tilted because usually Alabama and Florida fans buy them during the summer. Auburn people were a little quicker jumping on those Alabama people than we were, but that wasn’t our problem. We’re fired up that it’s an easy driving distance to Atlanta (from Columbia). Also it’s a big-time recruiting area because there are so many high school players in the area. It will be an opportunity for both schools to show who we are.

Director of Athletics Eric Hyman
On accepting an invitation to play in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl
We couldn’t be more excited to play in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. In the time I’ve been here, I’ve had our fans come up to me and express a high level of interest in playing this game. It’s been a long time since we’ve been down there. We look forward to participating in your bowl game. We want to make these opportunities a lot more closer together than they have been in the past. When our site-team went down this week and visited with the Chick-Fil-A folks, they came back with rave reviews about the hospitality and professionalism of your people. We’re appreciative of that. I know our student-athletes will have a good time.

L.J. Yankosky – Sponsorships/Event Marketing Manager Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Inc.
On the Chick-Fil-A Bowl’s history of charitable contributions
Something we’re very proud about is the bowl leads all bowls in charitable contributions. Of all the accomplishments of the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, that’s the one we’re most proud of.

Gary Stokan – President & CEO Chick-Fil-A Bowl
Opening Comments
We’re in our 43rd year. This is an interesting year for us. We will pay out $6.7 million this year which breaks the 100-million dollar mark for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. One-hundred million has been given back to universities over that 43 year turn. It’s been 1969 since the last time South Carolina has played, and we’re glad to have them back again this year. Hopefully its not another 40 years before we get them back next time. We’re one of four non-BCS bowls with two ranked teams, so it will be a great matchup. We’re one of four bowls that has two division champions playing in its game so we’re in elite company.

On selection criteria
We select bowl games and teams by who plays themselves into our game or out of our game. Our game is not the national championship game. We’re a reward for the players. That’s our theme throughout. We do everything we can to make sure our players have a memorable experience.

On South Carolina vs. Florida State
Obviously having No. 19 verses No. 23 is something special when you get two ranked teams in your game. This is a very big opportunity for South Carolina and for Florida State because either team can get to that 10-win mark which is a phenomenal mark. We expect to have our 14th straight sellout.

On playing a game with no other matchups in the same time slot
We will play December 31st at 7 p.m. in an unopposed (television spot). That’s big because household numbers at night are huge. We’ve had three of the top 10 broadcasts ever for ESPN in college football.

On the Chick-Fil-A Bowl’s theme of “Live, Laugh and Learn”
We have a theme that we use: live, laugh and learn. We want the players to live very well. They stay in a great hotel, travel first class and play in a first class facility. They eat very well so we have first class accommodations for them. Laugh – we don’t have banquets; we have a family feud. We have a competition throughout the week for players on both teams because these guys love to compete. Whether it’s shooting basketball or doing other things … Bobby Bowden will be our FCA speaker. That’s part of the learn process. We take the (players) to the children’s hospital. These kids won’t get out for Christmas; they’ll never get out of the hospital. We also take them to the Martin Luther King Center.

On fan opportunities
For the fans we have a few opportunities. We are the number one bowl in social media so feel free to facebook or twitter. We have on our website where you can “U-Post” our competition and there will be tickets to win for people on our website.

On the Chick-Fil-A Bowl Challenge
Lastly I should mention you’ll see Coach Spurrier on TV with the Chick-Fil-A Bowl Challenge on December 29 on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. The Chick-Fil-A Bowl Challenge – Sterling Sharpe and Steve Spurrier will be on that. It’s a tournament we run every year where we give 500,000 dollars back to the community.