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Another fast team awaits USC

Gamecocks plan to applylessons learned in loss to fleet-footed Gators

Written by JOSEPH PERSON

jperson@thestate.com
Posted on 11.26.08
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GAMECOCKS AT TIGERS

WHO: South Carolina (7-4) at Clemson (6-5)

WHEN: Noon Saturday

WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Clemson

TV: ESPN2 (cable channel 27 in Columbia)

SportSouth Replay: Sunday at 3:30 p.m.; Wednesday at 11 p.m.

RADIO: WNKT-FM 107.5, WISW-AM 1320, ESPN Radio, 93.1 FM

LINE: Clemson by 1

SERIES RECORD: Clemson leads 64-37-4 (in Clemson, the Tigers lead 15-8-1)

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier figures Clemson tailback C.J. Spiller would win a footrace with Florida's fastest players, but he believes the Gators would beat the Tigers in a relay.

However, the more pertinent question, in the wake of the Gamecocks’ 56-6 loss to Florida, is this: Could the Gamecocks stay on the track with either team?

Anyone looking for evidence that speed kills in college football need search no further than USC's Nov. 15 trip to Florida, where the fleet-footed Gators ripped off nine plays of 20 yards or more, including four of their eight touchdowns.

The Gamecocks entered the Swamp with the SEC's top-ranked defense and left looking for the jersey numbers that had run by them.

After getting nabbed in the speed trap in Gainesville, USC gets a shot at redemption Saturday against a Clemson team the Gamecocks view as the second-fastest on their schedule, behind the Gators.

"Florida's got about five like Spiller. Clemson's got, what, a couple maybe? Two or three of them? I'm not sure," Spurrier said. "Spiller's in a class of his own, speed-wise, I would think, over there."

Spiller, who leads the Tigers in all-purpose yardage, was an indoor track All-American last season, when he finished 10th in the country in the 60-meter dash. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior has run 100 meters in 10.33 seconds, and he went 80 yards in a blink against the Gamecocks two years ago on a touchdown run that was Clemson's longest against its instate rival.

"Certainly, C.J. Spiller is a fast guy that, if he gets loose, nobody is going to catch him," Spurrier said. "He got loose, actually, two years ago a couple times in the game we won (31-28), and we couldn't catch him. The key is don't let him get behind us in the open field."

Clemson has a couple of other burners, including wide receiver Jacoby Ford, another track athlete who caught a 76-yard touchdown pass against the Gamecocks in 2006. Ford has faster 100-meter times than Spiller, clocking his career best of 10.21 seconds last year at the NCAA East Region meet.

Then there is tailback James Davis, the between-the-tackles thunder to Spiller's lightning. Davis has a pair of 100-yard rushing games against USC.

But the Gamecocks believe they have some speed, as well.

Receiver Moe Brown was part of a shuttle hurdle relay team at Westside High in Anderson that broke a couple of national records, while Emanuel Cook thinks fellow safety Chris Culliver could hold his own in a race against Clemson's speedsters.

Plus, USC's defensive players say they will show up at Clemson in a bad mood after the Florida debacle — the Gamecocks' worst loss since a 63-7 defeat to the Spurrier-coached Gators in 1995.

USC surrendered a season-high 519 yards — more than twice its average heading into the game — and dropped to fourth in the SEC defensive rankings. The Gamecocks fell out of the top 10 nationally in total defense (11th at 280.4 yards per game), although they are second behind Southern Cal in pass defense at 156.7 yards per game.

And though the offense and special teams put the Gamecocks in a 21-0 hole against Florida with three turnovers in a two-minute stretch in the first quarter, the defense believes it has something to prove.

"We always want to go out and erase that memory from our mind, even though it's not going to be erased," said middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley, who called the Florida defeat the worst of his USC career. "We have the opportunity to go out and show the world that we haven't lost anything. We just had a bad week."

"A lot of teams lost a lot of respect for us," Cook said. "We've just got to gain that back."

In a hurry.

Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.

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