South Carolina eked out an ugly, unimpressive 7-3 win over N.C. State in its season-opener Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C. – a sloppy game in which head coach Steve Spurrier’s offense continued to sputter against what should have been a vastly inferior foe.
The Gamecocks amassed only 256 yards worth of total offense and scored just once – on a 1-yard Brian Maddox touchdown run following an N.C. State turnover – but a stellar defensive effort lifted South Carolina (1-0, 0-0 SEC) to the season-opening victory.
Preseason All-SEC linebacker Eric Norwood flashed his NFL-caliber skills with two sacks and a near fumble recovery, while freshman cornerback Stephon Gilmore helped seal the win late in the fourth quarter with a critical pass deflection on the Wolfpack’s final fourth down play. South Carolina held N.C. State (0-1, 0-0 ACC) to just 133 yards of total offense – including a measly 74 yards passing from star quarterback Russell Wilson.
On the other side of the ball, things weren’t so pretty. Starting quarterback Stephen Garcia completed 13 of 22 passes for 148 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. The sophomore did “ice” the win late in the fourth quarter with a 33-yard completion to senior wideout Moe Brown, who made a leaping catch to give Carolina a critical first down with just over two minutes remaining on the clock. On the ground, Maddox paced South Carolina with 66 rushing yards on 23 carries, but after a promising first quarter the Gamecock rushing attack was bottled up the rest of the way by the Wolfpack.
Indeed, with the exception of a strong showing in the first quarter from Spurrier’s squad, the game was a see-saw battle back-and-forth between what appeared to be evenly-matched opponents.
That bodes poorly for USC in Southeastern Conference play, which will kick off for the Gamecocks ten days from now against Georgia.
Spurrier, whose offenses have grown increasingly inept over the years, called an extremely conservative game as Garcia made his fourth career start at South Carolina. The Gamecocks did find the end zone once through the air, but freshman wide receiver Tori Gurley was called for offensive pass interference on the play. South Carolina also failed on two field goal attempts – although one was due to a botched snap.
Despite playing football in the vastly-superior Southeastern Conference, Spurrier’s Gamecocks came into Raleigh as four-point underdogs Thursday night, no doubt due to the abysmal finish the team had in 2008. South Carolina was blown out in its final three games last season, losing to Florida, Clemson and Iowa by a combined score of 118-30.
By contrast, N.C. State – which was shut out by Carolina 34-0 in last year’s season opener – won its final four conference games to earn a bowl bid in 2008.
The Wolfpack’s Wilson, who was a first-team All-ACC performer a year ago as a freshman, completed just 12 of 23 passes. Hurried all night long, he also appeared to have lost a step on the ground as South Carolina’s speedy defenders were able to effectively pursue him out of the pocket. Wilson did manage to set an ACC record for consecutive pass attempts (272) without an interception.
As good as Carolina’s defense was, expect it to get better as the season progresses. After all, the Gamecocks were playing without two defensive starters, junior defensive tackle Ladi Ajiboye and junior defensive end Clifton Geathers.
Ajiboye will miss the first three games of the season, while Geathers is expected to return for next Saturday’s game against Georgia in Athens.
By Wes Wolfe September 3, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Oh, come on. You don’t give a damn about football unless you’re fellating Peyton Manning. Don’t act like that’s not the case.
By old bike dude September 4, 2009 at 12:18 am
Former BHS star Devon Taylor made an immediate impact tonight with one caused fumble, a blocked punt and 6 tackles and he’s mild mannered and humble to boot. Geathers et al could learn a lot from this kid. Taylor was awarded the Terminix defensive player of the game by the Gamecock broadcasters.
Otherwise the game sucked, Spurrier and son (ba dah bun dah da)need to find an O line and come up with 2 more plays to go with the 3 they ran tonight. Kicking game sucked.
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By Calhoun Fawls September 4, 2009 at 6:24 am
I will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.
By Skidmarks September 4, 2009 at 8:25 am
Not as many boneheaded plays last night. Garcia saw the field much better.
Wait til next year.
By Todd September 4, 2009 at 8:28 am
Spurrier did the right thing using this game as a conservative, basic skills scrimage to prepare for Georgia. Good for you, Spur. A win is a win.
By CNSYD September 4, 2009 at 9:12 am
The biggest surprise was how inept Russell Wilson was. He looked as bad as he did at the beginning of last year. All this talk of how he was the top conference quarteback was just more smoke being blown by the tobacco road media. NCSU would be better served to go with Glennon and take their lumps as Wilson ought to concentrate on baseball. I am still not convinced that Garcia is the answer at QB but don’t know if there are any other choices.
By Commonman September 4, 2009 at 11:05 am
The Head Ball Coach must have a lot of offense left in that genius mind. The win was ugly, but then we were the underdogs on their home field and still won. We showed Georgia absolutely nothing in the way of offense that they did not already know, which is a good thing. The Wild Cock Offense is still in the bottle. We tried no trickery, not even a reverse or option. Spurrier has them coached up and ready for the Bulldogs. It will be a great day for the Cocks between the hedges. The sun will shine on the Gamecock Nation this year.
By Danny September 4, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I am a Clemson Grad. So by no means am I a sc fan. I did, however, watch a good defensive football game last night. Norwood, the class act of the gamecocks, played a good game. Garcia did what he was probably asked to do… don’t lose the game. Passes, for the most part, looked precise and well thrown. Sloppy… no… good defense. Like Todd said… a win is a win.
By Eric September 4, 2009 at 12:23 pm
A great defense will always keep the teams in the games. I think they will win 7 or 8 this year which will be a good year considering the experience.
By Billy Bob September 4, 2009 at 1:12 pm
The “vastly inferior” ACC had a plus record against the SEC in 2008. Look em up.
By CNSYD September 4, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Billy Bob, not only that the poor little ACC school that usc east plays every year has beaten the mighty SEC power 10 of the last 12. How can that be?
By Sir Big Spur September 4, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Billy Bob – the SEC won the last three national championships.
Stats are for losers.
Championships are for winners.
By CNSYD September 4, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Sir Big Spur, And the championship usc east won is?
By Sir Big Spur September 4, 2009 at 9:08 pm
CNSYD – I’ll be the first to admit that Clemson has better football and basketball programs than USC. But USC has beaten Clemson in 8 of the last 10 Sears Cup Championships.
The ADs formed the Sears Cup to recognize the best athletic programs in the nation.
Please don’t give me that crap that you only care about football. Winners compete in everything they do. I want to be better than Clemson in every sport not just football! According to the Sears Cup, we do a pretty good job of it.
By CNSYD September 5, 2009 at 9:54 am
Sir Big Spur, I will concede that USC east does a much better job than Clemson in women’s softball and riding horses. But did you or did you not “win” a CHAMPIONSHIP in the Sears cup? You already implied that being a champion is all that matters and stats are for losers and yet you want to justify your position using stats.
By Sir Big Spur September 5, 2009 at 10:34 pm
CNSYD – The Sears Championship is not a stat anymore than the BCS is. There is a difference between a ranking and a stat.
You are a typical Clemson fan. You only care about the sports with the lowest GPA (football and basketball). The future leaders of our country will come from the non-revenue sports. Just compare the non-revenue athletes GPAs and majors to those of the revenue sports. But most Clemson fans don’t care about academics.
You prove once again that its “culture versus agriculture” when you’re dealing with USC and Clemson.
By CNSYD September 6, 2009 at 10:15 am
Sir Big Spur, is GPA a statistic or a ranking when you use it for comparisons? Your “argument” reminds me of Bill Clinton saying, “It depends on what the definition of is is”. So let me understand. The school that has the higher overall average SAT requirement for entrance is not a better school than one who admits students with a lower overall average SAT because that would be using statistic. Is that how it works in your “logic” scheme? IRT your “culture vs agriculture” I must remind you to not criticize farmers with your mouth full.
By Sir Big Spur September 7, 2009 at 8:43 am
CNSYD – First, you are cherry-picking statements on different topics to suit your purpose.
Next, let’s get back to the basics.
The University of South Carolina has a better overall athletic program than Clemson. The Sears Cup rankings proves it.
Clemson will never be the flagship university of this state. There is a reason we are called the University of South Carolina. We have a Medical School, a Pharmacy School, a Law School, and a top ranked International Business program.
When Clemson gets a Medical School, a Pharmacy School, a Law School, let me know and I’ll be glad to continue discussing this with you.
P.S. Don’t criticize USC when your doctor, lawyer, and pharmacist graduated from there.
By CNSYD September 7, 2009 at 12:59 pm
All the doctor’s I know went to the REAL Medical University in Charleston. As for lawyers, at one time there was no choice as USC was the only law school. But lawyers are not a group to which I would want to compare myself unless it was to show how low they rank on the ethical chain. Pharmacists? I believe you will find more pharmacists graduated from MUSC than USC. Also where did your dentist come from? Probably MUSC. So you see there is a big world outside of Richland County. BTW all my doctors, dentists and pharmacists graduated from Clemson and then MUSC. This so called “flagship” may wave in Vatican City but no further.
By sir big spur September 15, 2009 at 3:46 pm
CNSYD – did you even graduate from Clemson?
I bet not ….