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Swamp trek offers next shot at redemption
USC savors chance to correct course from last season’s late collapse
Mike Davis breaks a tackle in the Arkansas defense for a touchdown in the second half. The Gamecocks face Florida next Saturday in the Swamp.
Erik Campos/ecampos@thestate.com
CommentsSteve Spurrier only passingly referred to his alma mater on Saturday. He said he would start worrying about “the next game” today.
But his players made it clear where the attention had turned following a 34-21 victory against Arkansas.
“We gave Florida a couple things to think about us,” sophomore tackle Jarriel King said of the fourth-ranked Gators.
It was natural for the Gamecocks, especially the defensive players, to have Florida on their mind, and not just because Tim Tebow and company are next up.
Last year USC was demolished in consecutive games, 48-36 to Arkansas and 51-31 to Florida. Saturday’s victory against the Razorbacks put the Gamecocks halfway to exorcising those results.
It also left the Gamecocks (7-3, 4-3 in the SEC) with some opposing feelings.
On the one hand, there was wistfulness. Spurrier pointed out that if they had turned around just one of their three 7-point losses, they would be heading to Gainesville with a chance to win the SEC East.
“If we really can put this one down (at Florida), it would be good,” King said. “I thought we had Georgia, we lost by a touchdown. We had LSU and we lost by a touchdown. We had Vanderbilt. We’ve never really had our butts kicked.”
On the other hand, there was a feeling of accomplishment. A seventh win virtually guarantees a bowl spot, so now it’s just a matter of improving their destination.
“It feels good. Now we’ve just got to win these next two and see how good of a bowl game we can get in,” quarterback Chris Smelley said. “It’s definitely going to feel good not sitting at home all Christmastime.”
Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said he has not had time to start worrying about Florida because he was busy with Arkansas. Johnson felt the Razorbacks were the best offensive team USC had faced since Georgia.
Now the follow-up is Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.
“He just beats you running and throwing, and anytime he can do that you’ve got to throw about a fourth or a fifth of your gameplan out the window, or you just take a chance when you call it,” Johnson said.
This will be Spurrier’s second game at The Swamp as USC’s coach. It will be the first for quarterback Stephen Garcia, a native of Tampa.
“It’s going to be huge,” the redshirt freshman said. “I was recruited pretty hard by Florida, and they were up right there in the mix. I chose here because I liked this a lot better. So yeah, this is going to be big for us, I’m going to have a bunch of family members out there. ...
“We’ll definitely be able to sneak up on them. And you never know, stranger things have happened.”
Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.
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