Game Day, Part II

Steve Spurrier’s 75th game as a head coach in The Swamp turned out to be the worst final score of his coaching career.

The Ol’ Ball Coach — who was the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner as the quarterback at Florida before leading the Gators to six SEC titles and the 1996 national championship as the head coach in Gainesville from 1990-2001 — suffered a humiliating 56–6 defeat at the hands of Urban Meyer and Team Tebow.

Now wearing the headset for South Carolina, Spurrier unsuccessfully rotated quarterbacks Chris Smelley and Stephen Garcia during a 50-point blowout loss. The duo combined to complete 19-of-37 passes for 120 yards, zero touchdowns and three costly interceptions — one of which was returned 12 yards for a touchdown by UF linebacker Brandon Spikes.

“We got pushed around on offense. We couldn’t find a play,” said Spurrier, who carries a 68-7 all-time record as a head coach at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

“Our quarterback play struggled. And when you add it all up, you get clobbered.”

The Gamecocks fall to 0-12 all-time in Gainesville, while Spurrier is 0-2 in two trips to The Swamp as South Carolina’s head ball coach. Overall, Spurrier is 1-3 against his former team, with a 30–22 win in 2005. The last time he was in town, South Carolina lost in a 17–16 thriller that ended on a blocked potential game-winning field goal by Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss.

“I felt a lot worse two years ago than I did today,” said Spurrier, after his second game as a visiting coach in Gainesville.

“This (Florida) team is a lot better than the one two years ago. I said they had a chance (at the BCS national title) because they won all of the close ones two years ago. This team that they have now is a lot stronger than that one, in my opinion.”

Florida’s reigning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow led the demolition derby, completing 13-of-20 passes for 173 yards, two scoring strikes and zero interceptions through the air, along with 39 yards and one touchdown on the ground.

But Tebow wasn’t the only Gator who took a bite out of the Gamecocks on the scoreboard. Dynamic receiver-runner Percy Harvin, in particular, stole the show with eight carries for 167 yards and two touchdowns — covering 26 and 80 yards. Harvin has scored at least once in his last 12 games, tying Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree for the longest current streak.

“Percy Harvin, if he was a tailback on somebody else’s team, he’d be a 200-yards-a-game guy,” said Spurrier. “Of course, their other backs are great, too. They’re all pretty good.”

Among the other playmakers who found paydirt, speedy redshirt freshman receiver Deonte Thompson had a 46-yard touchdown catch, true freshman athlete Jeffrey Demps had a 38-yard run across the goal line, sophomore tight end Aaron Hernandez hauled in a five-yard score and medical-redshirt freshman running back Chris Rainey had a three-yard scoring scamper to cap the 50-point win.

Entering the game, South Carolina’s defense ranked third in the nation in total defense (256.5 ypg) and was allowing 101.4 rushing yards per game. Those numbers meant nothing to the Gators, who ran up 519 total yards and 346 rushing yards.

As for Spurrier, the 50-point loss is the worst of his career, topping a 42-point defeat during a 45–3 loss to Tennessee in 1990, which happened to be the coach’s first season wearing a visor on the sideline at Florida. But who cares about the final margin?  

“A loss is a loss, whether it’s by one point or 50 points,” said Spurrier, who has a 170-60-2 record, including a 105-33 mark vs. SEC teams, over 19 seasons as a coach.

“Sometimes getting your butt beat real good is better than a one-pointer or two-pointer. We’ll find out when we play Clemson in a few weeks whether we can regroup or not.”

Meanwhile, the Urban legend is growing in Gainesville. Since losing to Ole Miss, 31–30 on Sept. 27, the Gators have outscored their opponents — at Arkansas (38–7), LSU (51–21), Kentucky (63–5), Georgia (49–10), at Vanderbilt (42–14) and South Carolina (56–6) — by a grand total of 299–63.

With games against The Citadel (Nov. 22), at Florida State (Nov. 29) and in the SEC title game against SEC West champ Alabama (Dec. 6) remaining, Florida — Athlon Sports’ preseason No. 1 team — appears to control its own BCS destiny.

Beaver Fever

Oregon State has not been to the Rose Bowl since Jan. 1, 1965, when the Beavers lost 34–7 to Michigan. But following a 34–21 win over Cal, the Pac-10 title is within reach.

If OSU is able to pull off victories in its final two games — at Arizona (Nov. 22) and in the season finale in-state Civil War against Oregon (Nov. 29) — coach Mike Riley’s team will be smelling roses in Pasadena for the first time in 24 years.

With a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage against USC, thanks to a shocking 27–21 Thursday night win in prime time on Sept. 25, the Beavers could pull off an even bigger surprise by earning a berth in the “Granddaddy of Them All.”

The Rodgers brothers, Jacquizz and James, dominated the Bears. Jacquizz had 27 carries for 144 yards and one touchdown, while older bro James added nine touches for 72 total yards and one score.

Since losing at Utah (31–28), the Beavers are riding a five game winning streak, their longest since 2000. And after starting the season with an 0-2 record — following losses at Stanford (36–28) and at Penn State (45–14) — Oregon State is 7-1 with a legitimate shot at a trip to the Rose Bowl.