Gamecocks' bowl bid needs 1 for the road

Written by JOSEPH PERSON


BCS Championship game, Jan. 7, Pasadena, Calif., 8:30 p.m., Florida

Sugar Bowl, Jan. 1, New Orleans, 8:30 p.m., Alabama

Capital One, Jan. 1, Orlando, 1 p.m., LSU

Outback Bowl, Jan. 1, Tampa, 11 a.m., Mississippi

Cotton Bowl, Jan. 2, Arlington, Texas, 2 p.m., Arkansas

Chick-fil-A , Dec. 31, Atlanta, 7:30 p.m., Tennessee

Liberty, Jan. 2, Memphis, 5:30 p.m., Georgia

Music City Bowl, Dec. 27, Nashville, 8:15 p.m., Auburn

PapaJohn's.Com , Jan. 2, Birmingham, Ala., 2 p.m., South Carolina

Independence Bowl, Dec. 28, Shreveport, La., 5 p.m., Kentucky

Unlike two years ago, South Carolina will not be left home for the holidays this year come bowl season.

Barring the unexpected - Florida losing to Florida International, Alabama falling to Chattanooga or Mississippi State beating Arkansas and Mississippi the next two weeks - the Gamecocks will snag one of the SEC's bowl slots regardless of how they fare against Clemson next weekend.

By defeating the Tigers, USC (6-5) could improve its bowl stock in a muddled middle-of-the-SEC pack. With the possibility that 10 conference teams could finish with at least seven wins, the Gamecocks would be headed to one of the SEC's bottom-run bowls - probably the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham against a Big East team - if they finish the regular season 6-6.

But there should be a spot for them, which was not the case in 2007 when the Independence Bowl took 6-6 Alabama over a USC team with the same record.

USC's omission prompted SEC officials to line up a ninth bowl slot - the so-called Pizza Bowl in Birmingham, where the conference office is based.

"When you looked at the landscape of all bowl games, most every spot now was being taken. There were no at-large (bids)," SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said Wednesday. "To protect ourselves and protect our ninth team ... was important."

As it turned out, the SEC could not fill all of its bowl tie-ins last season when eight teams were eligible. This year the league has nine bowl-eligible teams, with Tennessee (5-5) needing one win in its final two games against Vanderbilt and Kentucky to join the list.

Mississippi State (4-6) would need to upset Arkansas and Ole Miss to reach the six wins required for bowl eligibility.

The SEC will be able to accommodate 10 teams this season because - as was the case last season - No. 1 Florida and second-ranked Alabama are both locks for BCS bowl games.

So where does that leave USC?

The Gamecocks' destination hinges on the Clemson game.

Win, and USC is in the hunt for the Chick-fil-A and Music City bowls. Those games would be attractive to Gamecock fans because of their metropolitan locales in Atlanta and Nashville, and the matchup with an ACC opponent in each bowl.

Chick-fil-A president Gary Stokan said he would prefer an 8-win team from the SEC, but is not sure there will be one available when the Chick-fil-A selects after the Capital One, Outback and Cotton bowls.

USC has not played in the Atlanta bowl since 1969, when it was in its second year of existence and still known as the Peach.

"We think enough of South Carolina's fans that, certainly, if they were to beat their archrival Clemson, South Carolina fans would get excited" about coming to Atlanta for the Dec. 31 game, Stokan said.

The Gamecocks have never played in the Music City and faced Vanderbilt in Columbia this season, so fans would not be making a second trip to Nashville.

A loss to Clemson likely would send USC to the Independence or Papajohns.com, which get the last two picks from the SEC's bowl pool.

The Gamecocks lost to Missouri in the Independence in 2005 in Steve Spurrier's first season. USC officials might have trouble convincing fans to travel to Shreveport, La., if the Gamecocks drop their past four games.

It would be an easier trip to Birmingham, where Spurrier coached his final game with Duke in the 1989 All-American Bowl. Spurrier also coached in two SEC championship games with Florida at Legion Field, site of the Papajohns.com Bowl on Jan. 2.

"South Carolina would be a good match for us," Papajohns.com executive director Mark Meadows said. "I think Spurrier would add a lot to the local interest here in Birmingham."

South Florida, Rutgers and West Virginia are in the running for the Big East slot in Birmingham. Choosing last in the SEC bowl lineup, Meadows said USC might not be available at 7-5.

"If they beat Clemson (and) wind up with seven wins, I think they would certainly be attractive to other bowls as well."

Dawg-gone shame: Late stand halts USC

From The State

Georgia's late defensive stand holds off the Gamecocks in a surprising shootout

By JOSEPH PERSON
jperson@thestate.com

ATHENS, Ga. — It turns out the concerns about South Carolina’s offense were misguided.

It was the Gamecocks’ defense that fell apart Saturday in a 41-37 loss to No. 21 Georgia — a nearly four-hour-long game where both defenses seemed to take the night off.

After a decade of mostly close, low-scoring games in the series, the teams combined for 735 yards and 78 points, the most since the Gamecocks joined the SEC and the second-most in series history. The highest-scoring game in the series was Georgia’s 52-34 win in 1970.

The USC defense, so fast and dominant in throttling N.C. State in a 7-3 season-opening win, failed to show up. The Gamecocks missed tackles, blew assignments and spoiled a career night by USC quarterback Stephen Garcia and the most prolific scoring game by a Gamecocks’ offense against Georgia.

USC (1-1, 0-1 SEC) fell to 5-13 against ranked opponents under Steve Spurrier. Georgia (1-1, 1-0) avoided its first 0-2 start since 1996.

The statistics did not reveal a total Georgia gashing. The Gamecocks ran 30 more offensive plays and outgained Georgia 427-308 in total yardage.

But the Bulldogs scored on all five of their red-zone chances and kept pin-balling off USC defenders who were going for big hits instead of textbook tackles.

“We came out a little sluggish, I guess like we were living in last week,” USC cornerback Akeem Auguste said. “On defense, we like to hit. So every chance we get, we’re going to try to take your head off. But they were bouncing off.”

Garcia set career highs by completing 31 of 53 passes for 313 yards. His completions tied for the fourth-most in school history while his attempts tied for second all-time behind Steve Taneyhill’s 58 against East Carolina in 1994.

The right-hander threw two touchdowns, led USC in rushing (10 carries for 42 yards) and drove the Gamecocks the length of the field in the final minutes.

But on fourth-and-4 from the Georgia 7-yard line, Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran broke up Garcia’s pass for tight end Weslye Saunders at the goal line with 22 seconds remaining.

“We had a great chance to win at the end,” Spurrier said. “Their kid made a good play batting it down.”

It appeared Garcia had a running lane, but he said he decided to pass after seeing Curran coming toward him. Curran thought Garcia likely would have made the first down if he’d kept it.

“I tried to sidearm it to Wes. I thought we’d win the game,” Garcia said. “But then I saw (Curran) put his arm out to tip it.”

Gamecocks kicker Spencer Lanning tied Collin Mackie’s single-game record with five field goals — the first of his career.

Lanning was 5-for-5 on field goals but had an extra point blocked that forced the Gamecocks to go for the end zone on their final drive rather than try a game-tying field goal.

DeAngelo Tyson penetrated the right side of the Gamecocks’ line and blocked Lanning’s extra point, which special teams coordinator Shane Beamer thought was too low.

“Extra points should never be blocked,” Beamer said. “Regardless of penetration, a kick that short should never be blocked.”

The extra point would have tied the score at 38 with 12:56 remaining following Eric Norwood’s 35-yard interception return for a touchdown. Norwood said the block changed momentum.

Georgia answered with a 12-play, 47-yard drive that culminated with a 42-yard field goal by Blair Walsh that pushed the Bulldogs lead to 41-37 with 6:20 left.

The Gamecocks took over at their own 19-yard line with just more than six minutes remaining, but they had to start at their 14 following a false-start penalty.

They converted three third-down situations, the first on a pass interference penalty on Vance Cuff against Tori Gurley. A Garcia completion to Moe Brown gave USC a first down at the Georgia 13 with about a minute left.

But after a completion to Brian Maddox moved USC inside the 10, the drive stalled.

The defense was not the only culprit for USC, which looked defenseless in trying to stop Georgia’s kickoff return team.

Brandon Boykin set the tone with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for the Bulldogs’ first score.

Georgia added a pair of 48-yard returns and finished with a school-record 252 on kickoff returns. By the midpoint of the third quarter, USC kicker Adam Yates had resorted to popping the ball up and forcing Georgia’s up-backs to call fair catches.

Given the recent history in the series — the winning team had not scored more than 20 points in seven of the past eight meetings — most observers predicted a low-scoring, defensive struggle.

Or not.

Ellis Johnson, USC’s assistant head coach for defense, said an ankle injury to defensive tackle Nathan Pepper forced the Gamecocks to use more three-man fronts than he had hoped.

“That’s where a lot of the busted assignments came from,” Johnson said. “We were playing something we hadn’t practiced much.”

But Norwood said it was a failure to execute more than anything scheme related.

“We gotta get right, just plain and simple,” Norwood said. “You can sit here and say it’s Xs-and-Os. But we’ve got to go out and make it happen.”

That did not happen Saturday.

Gameday preview: USC vs. N.C. State

From The State

By JOSEPH PERSON
jperson@thestate.com

Five storylines for South Carolina’s season-opener Thursday against N.C. State; Q&A with safety Chris Culliver; and more.

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Five storylines

1. Can Stephen Garcia stick to the game plan?

The Gamecocks thumped North Carolina State last year despite four interceptions by starting quarterback Tommy Beecher. USC cannot expect to win if Garcia does the same this year. Steve Spurrier still will take chances downfield. What he does not want to see is Garcia abandoning the pocket and throwing “wildly tossed” interceptions. Garcia needs to stay calm, go through his reads, and throw the ball away if nothing develops.

2. Opening-game success

USC has won its past nine openers, including last year’s 34-0 victory against the Wolfpack. Spurrier is 18-1 in season-opening games as a college coach, with the lone loss coming against USC in 1989 during his final season at Duke. The Gamecocks’ defense has come strong in four openers under Spurrier, posting two shutouts and allowing just more than a touchdown a game.

3. USC’s offensive line vs. the Wolfpack’s veteran front

N.C. State starts four seniors on its defensive line, including ends Willie Young and Shea McKeen, a member of Spurrier’s first USC recruiting class who left after a series of off-the-field incidents. The ’Pack sacked Beecher five times last season. If the Gamecocks cannot protect Garcia, it will be a long night for the USC offense.

4. The Gamecocks’ depleted D-line

With half of its starting defensive front suspended, USC will turn to a number of untested linemen. Redshirt freshman Devin Taylor will start in place of Clifton Geathers at end, while the absence of tackle Ladi Ajiboye means Melvin Ingram will see significant playing time.

5. Russell Wilson’s accurate arm

The Wolfpack quarterback has thrown 249 consecutive passes without being picked off — a school record and the longest active streak in the country. Wilson, who sustained a concussion early in a 34-0 loss to USC last year, was picked off once in 2008 — in the second half against Clemson on Sept. 13.

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Five questions with Chris Culliver

The Gamecocks’ free safety went to high school in suburban Raleigh, and might have been on the N.C. State sideline Thursday night if not for the Wolfpack’s coaching change a few years ago. Culliver will start at safety, but could get reps at cornerback, as well.

How have you liked corner?

Corner’s been good. Coach (Lorenzo Ward) wanted me to play corner real bad. I’m up for whatever — corner, safety. Whatever to help my team out is what I have to do.

Which do you think is your better position?

I like playing safety because I can see everything. But as far as playing corner, it’s real good to lock down the receiver. If the ball comes to him, I just try to make a play.

Were you an N.C. State fan?

No, because I wasn’t really raised there. I was raised in Philadelphia.

Did State come after you hard?

Yeah, I was actually committed to them. But then I de-committed. Chuck Amato had left and all that stuff. So I decided to go elsewhere, and (USC is) the best place for me.

Think you would have gone there if Chuck the Chest had stayed?

It’s a possibility. He was on me pretty hard. So it’s a possibility.

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Injury Report

USC — WR Dion LeCorn (leg) and CB Jay Spearman (shoulder) are out; WR DeMario Bennett (shoulder) is probable.

N.C. State — TE Mario Carter (knee), OL Denzelle Good (shoulder), LB Nate Irving (leg), FB Colby Jackson (knee) and QB Everett Proctor (shoulder) are out.

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Game Within the Game: USC OT Jarriel King vs. NCS DE Willie Young

--- About King: The North Charleston native was a part of Steve Spurrier’s first USC recruiting class in 2005, but did not make it to campus until last year. He was inserted into the lineup the second week of the season, and ended up starting 11 games. King underwent surgery during the offseason to correct an irregular heartbeat.

How he’ll win the matchup: The 6-foot-5, 312-pound King should be in good shape if he is able to lock out his long arms on Young. He might get occasional help from a tight end, but the job of protecting Stephen Garcia’s blind side will fall largely on King.

Key number: 3, number of former Georgia Military offensive lineman on USC’s roster (Rokevious Watkins, Steven Singleton).

--- About Young: The 24-year-old Young, the oldest player on the Wolfpack’s roster, graduated in May. Young is the ACC’s active leader in tackles for loss (31.5) and sacks (12.5). He collected 1.5 of his team-leading 6.5 sacks in 2008 against USC.

How he’ll win the matchup: The 6-4, 250-pound Young gave the Gamecocks fits last year with his size and speed on the edge. Young will line up at either end position, but figures to spend a lot of the game lined up across from King. If he can get a step on King, he should be able to turn the corner and go after Garcia.

Key number: 9; espn.com recently rated Young the ACC’s ninth-best player.