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Gamecocks Upset No. 11 Bulldogs

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The Associated Press

Published: September 9, 2007

ATHENS, Ga. - Steve Spurrier tried to downplay his latest win over Georgia. Of course, he couldn't resist one little dig at the Bulldogs.

'I guess I have won two out of three here,' the ol' ball coach said Saturday night, clearly savoring another victory between the hedges.

Spurrier, who beat the Bulldogs regularly while at Florida, guided South Carolina to a 16-12 upset of No. 11 Georgia that may indicate the Gamecocks are finally ready to contend for their first Southeastern Conference title.

That's just why they hired Spurrier, who won plenty of titles during his days with the Gators and suddenly sounds a whole lot more confident about his chances at South Carolina.

'This was not a shock,' Spurrier said. 'We came here thinking that we matched up pretty well with Georgia.'
Ryan Succop kicked three field goals, Cory Boyd ran for the game's only touchdown and South Carolina's defense held the Bulldogs out of the end zone.

That was hardly the formula Spurrier used to beat Georgia 11 out of 12 years during his dominating run at Florida, which captured six SEC championships and one national title with the coach's Fun 'n' Gun offense.

Spurrier knows he doesn't have that kind of high-scoring talent at South Carolina (2-0, 1-0 SEC), forcing him to rely on a stout defense and Succop's accurate right leg to hold off the Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1).

'We won an ugly game,' Spurrier said.

Georgia was the highest-ranked team that South Carolina has beaten in Spurrier's three years as coach, and there was certainly no team he enjoyed beating more during his days in Gainesville.

South Carolina lost to Georgia the last two seasons with Spurrier on the sideline, including last year's ugly 18-0 defeat in Columbia - only the second time one of his teams has been shut out.

The Bulldogs, coming off an impressive 35-14 victory over Oklahoma State, were held without a touchdown for the first time since a 14-9 loss to South Carolina in 2001, when Lou Holtz was the coach and Spurrier was in his final season at Florida.

Succop connected from 41, 35 and 34 yards, the last of those giving the Gamecocks a 16-6 lead with 9:25 remaining.

TENNESSEE 39, SOUTHRN MISSISSIPPI 19: Erik Ainge threw two touchdown passes, Arian Foster ran for two scores and No. 24 Tennessee defeated Southern Mississippi.

Ainge completed 23 of 36 for 276 yards, and got a lot of help from his developing receivers. Austin Rogers caught seven passes for 112 yards and Lucas Taylor adding 118 yards on five catches. Josh Briscoe also caught a touchdown.

The Vols made a key conversion on third-and-short with when Ainge connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass to Briscoe with 41 seconds left in the second quarter to send Tennessee into the locker room with a 17-16 lead.

After trailing Southern Miss most of the first half, the Vols held the lead after the Briscoe TD, capitalizing on three Southern Miss fumbles.

ALABAMA 24, VANDERBILT 10: Terry Grant ran 24 times for 173 yards and two touchdowns, and Alabama made Nick Saban the latest coach to oversee the Crimson Tide's dominance of Vanderbilt.

Leigh Tiffin kicked three field goals, and Alabama (2-0) won its Southeastern Conference opener with a 20th straight victory in a series it now leads 59-19-4. The Tide improved to 18-3-1 when opening SEC play against the Commodores (1-1, 0-1).

KENTUCKY 56, KENT STATE 20: John Conner had two of Kentucky's six rushing TDs - the first two of his career - as the Wildcats' offense overcame their porous rushing defense to defeat Kent State.

Conner scored on Kentucky's opening drives of both halves, including a 16-yard scamper four minutes after halftime that gave the Wildcats (2-0) the lead for good. Coming into the game, Conner had only two other carries in his career.

Tony Dixon, Andre Woodson, Alfonso Smith and Derrick Locke each added TD runs, Locke's from 67 yards out on just his second career carry. Kentucky racked up 266 rushing yards, but Kent State did even better on the ground.

Coached by Kentucky alumnus Doug Martin, the Flashes diced the Wildcats' defense for 215 rushing yards in the first half - including 124 from Eugene Jarvis and 79 from quarterback Julian Edelman. The Golden Flashes ran for 324 yards in the game.

MISSISSIPPI STATE 38, TULANE 17: Michael Henig passed for one touchdown and ran for another and Mississippi State outscored Tulane 21-0 in the second half on its way to victory.

Henig, who tied a school-record six interceptions in a 45-0 loss to No. 2 LSU in the season opener last week, completed 20-of-31 for 223 yards and threw one interception. He rushed six times for 23 yards.

Anthony Dixon rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. He gained 101 of his yards and scored both of his touchdowns in the second half as the Bulldogs wore down the Green Wave.

Tulane was playing its first game under Bob Toledo, who was last a head coach with UCLA in 2002.

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