State of euphoria

USC drops Florida; Clemson drills Florida State Streaking USC wins fifth straight

Published on 11/13/05

COLUMBIA — All week, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said Saturday's game with Florida was just another game.

He kept right on downplaying any self-satisfaction in beating his former team after South Carolina delivered a 30-22 victory over the No. 12 Gators, offering it up as a gift for the Gamecocks' long-suffering fans. And hinting at better things to come.

"That was the most important thing to me of the whole day," Spurrier said. "The 80,000-plus, and I know the fans here have been disappointed so many times. When the team has some momentum, they go crazy. I tried to low-key it all week."

He was disappointed when his players gave him a water bucket shower and stopped them when they tried to carry him off the field after one of the biggest victories in school history.

"The guys hit me with a dang ice bucket after the game," he said. "They don't know you're not supposed to do that after a regular-season win. I've got to coach them up a little bit on that.

"You should only be carried off the field after winning a conference championship."

A crowd of 83,421 at Williams-Brice Stadium watched the Gamecocks (7-3 overall, 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference) win their fifth consecutive conference game for the first time in school history and clinch at least a second-place finish in the SEC East for the first time with their victory over the Gators (7-3, 5-3).

Those were just two of the more significant facts in a dizzying day of firsts for South Carolina's football program.

It was South Carolina's first victory over the Gators since 1939 and broke a 14-game Florida winning streak against the Gamecocks.

South Carolina has now beaten Tennessee and Florida in the same season for the first time in school history.

"I told you guys we had a lot of history we could set at South Carolina," Spurrier said. "I didn't know we could set this much this year."

Spurrier put his personal feelings aside against Florida, the school where he won a Heisman Trophy and where he coached for 12 seasons, delivering six SEC titles and a national championship.

"I didn't look over there much," he said. "Didn't look over there much in pre-game warm-ups. I was just trying to find a play or two here and there to try and help our team. I didn't think about it that much at all, to tell you the truth. I just called the plays for South Carolina and didn't look at the opponent."

He came up with the biggest play when the Gamecocks needed it most — after Florida had come back from a 20-5 deficit to cut South Carolina's lead to 20-19.

A pass play from Blake Mitchell to Sidney Rice delivered a 64-yard gain, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Mike Davis with 5:59 to play in the third quarter that put the Gamecocks ahead 27-19.

It was the defense that delivered the biggest play in a first half that saw USC take a 20-12 lead.

Linebacker Dustin Lindsey tipped a Chris Leak pass that fell into the hands of defensive tackle Chris Tucker, who lumbered 48 yards to the Florida 5-yard line, setting up Mike Davis' 5-yard touchdown run.

That put the Gamecocks ahead 7-0, but more importantly gave them a huge emotional lift.

"I think that helped our guys believe we could play with those guys," said South Carolina co-defensive coordinator John Thompson. "It was a huge play."

South Carolina stayed in front of the Gators all the way, with a pair of touchdown runs from Daccus Turman helping put the Gamecocks ahead 20-12 at the half.

After Josh Brown's 37-yard field goal with 9:04 to play in the game put the Gamecocks ahead 30-19, it was up to the defense to make it stand up. They did.

Florida managed a 43-yard field goal with 2:51 to play, but the Gators failed to convert on an onside kick attempt.

They never got the ball back, even though they had the Gamecocks stopped with 1:05 to play.

A 15-yard penalty for having too many players on the field on a fourth-down punt by Brown gave the Gamecocks a first down and enabled them to run out the clock.

South Carolina senior tackle Na'Shan Goddard wasn't necessarily buying Spurrier's story that this win didn't mean more to the head coach than other victories.

"It's got to," Goddard said. "I don't know. He does a good job of hiding it. I mean, we're happy, we're all over the place. Maybe when he gets home, he'll probably tell his wife, 'we got 'em.' But he has won a lot of big games and we haven't. This win means everything to me. It's real big. I can't wait to get on the phone to call my family."

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