Oct. 20, 2006
Players to Watch:
#13 Syvelle Newton: Senior QB (6-0, 210). Newton has been solid since moving into the starting quarterback slot for South Carolina in the Gamecocks’ week three game against Wofford, completing 61 of 96 passes overall in four starts for 877 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions. His quarterback rating of 161.53 is the third best mark in the SEC. Originally recruited by former South Carolina Head Coach Lou Holtz as a wide receiver, Newton has amassed 2,035 career passing yards, 646 rushing yards and 666 receiving yards, making Newton one of only four players in Division I-A history to compile more than 600 yards in each category.
#3 Cory Boyd: Junior RB (6-1, 201). Boyd, the Gamecocks’ leader in all-purpose yards with 521, established career highs in both carries and yards rushing in South Carolina’s 24-17 win at Kentucky last week when he ran 25 times for 113 yards. On the season, Boyd has rushed 62 times for 339 yards for an average of 65 yards per game on the ground, sixth-best in the SEC.
#4 Sidney Rice: Sophomore WR (6-4, 202). Rice is South Carolina’s leading receiver in 2006, having caught 26 balls for 419 yards, with a team-leading five touchdown receptions. Rice did most of his damage during a two game stretch in South Carolina wins over Wofford and Florida Atlantic, catching a combined 16 passes for 312 yards. All five of his touchdown receptions came in South Carolina’s 45-6 win over Florida Atlantic Sept. 23, a school record for touchdowns in a game.
#11 Kenny McKinley: Sophomore WR (5-11, 174). McKinley is second on the team in receptions, having caught 20 passes overall this season for 347 yards and a touchdown. The true sophomore has the best game of his collegiate career Sept. 28 against Auburn when he made eight catches for 110 yards and a score. He followed that performance up last week when he caught three passes for a team-high 63 yards against Kentucky, including a 44-yard reception.
#8 Fred Bennett: Senior CB (6-1, 198). Bennett leads South Carolina’s pass defense, having amassed two interceptions, which is tied for the team lead with his secondary mates Chris Hampton and Stoney Woodson.. Bennett is also tied for first in the SEC with eight passes defended.
Talking Points:
South Carolina’s pass defense ranks 13th in the nation, having allowed an average of just 152 passing yards per game thus far in 2006.
South Carolina has won both of its road SEC contests, having beaten Mississippi State 15-0 in Starkville, Miss. to open the season Aug. 31, and Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. 24-17 last week. Dating back to last season, the Gamecocks have won four straight SEC road games, a school record.
South Carolina ranks just 10th in the SEC in scoring offense at 21.3 points per game, but the average of 14.2 points per game the team’s defense allows ranks fourth in the conference.
Saturday will mark the 16th time that South Carolina and Vanderbilt have met in football, with the Gamecocks owning a 13-2 advantage in the series, including wins in the last six meetings between the two teams. South Carolina has not lost to Vanderbilt since dropping an 11-10 decision in 1999, the only the Gamecocks have ever lost in Nashville.
South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier’s 13-0 career record against Vanderbilt – spanning stints at Duke, Florida and South Carolina – is his second best record against any single opponent. He improved to 14-0 in his career against Kentucky last week.
Since Spurrier’s arrival at South Carolina last year, the Gamecocks are 7-0 in SEC action when they score first and 0-5 when their opponents score first.
Spurrier has been named the Coach of the Year in the Atlantic Coach Conference twice as the head coach at Duke, and six times in the SEC as the head coach at Florida. South Carolina’s win at Kentucky last week was the 200th overall in Spurrier’s coaching career, improving his overall record to 200-86-2, including time spent as the coach of Tampa Bay in the now defunct USFL and the Washington Redskins in the NFL.
South Carolina is 2-0 when leading or tied after the first quarter, and in all four of its wins has been leading at halftime.
South Carolina has amassed 44 victories in the first decade of the 21st century, already three more than they had in all of the 1990’s. The Gamecocks record for most wins in a decade is 63 in the 1980’s.
South Carolina has just six seniors on the current roster that came into the program as scholarship players, and of those six only two – center Chris White and tight end Andy Boyd – are in their fifth year in the program.
South Carolina has scored just 13 times in 22 opportunities in the red zone so far this season, and the team is averaging just 3.4 points per trip into the red zone.
South Carolina has committed nine turnovers this year, while forcing their opponents into only 10 turnovers. But the Gamecocks have scored 23 points off turnovers while allowing just six points off turnovers.