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Garcia, Spurrier Coming Home

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By JOEY JOHNSTON

jjohnston@tampatrib.com

Published: December 8, 2008

TAMPA - South Carolina redshirt freshman quarterback Stephen Garcia, home for the weekend in Tampa, got the phone call he had been expecting Sunday afternoon.

It was Coach Steve Spurrier's wife, Jerri.

"She said, 'We're going to Tampa!'" Garcia said.

To the Outback Bowl.

"If I had dreamed up the story myself, I couldn't have written it any better," he said.

Garcia, from Jefferson High, already had been named South Carolina's starting QB for the bowl game. But now he will lead the SEC's Gamecocks (7-5) against the Big Ten's Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4) at Raymond James Stadium on Jan. 1.

Spurrier, too, will have something of a homecoming. He was the first quarterback in Bucs' franchise history (1976) and also spent three seasons as head coach of the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits before the league folded. And, of course, he remains a luminary in the state where he led the Florida Gators to a national title and six SEC championships.

"This is a great, great day for the Outback Bowl," said Jim McVay, the bowl's CEO. "I think we've hit a home run with these teams. We couldn't have better local story lines than Steve Spurrier and Stephen Garcia coming back to Tampa.

"Plus, when you consider the fans bases of Iowa and South Carolina, I think there's going to be significant interest in getting tickets to this game."

Particularly because Iowa and South Carolina did not qualify for bowls last season.

"We are looking forward to this," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "It's a good reward for our program and we're back on the upswing. It was frustrating not going to a bowl game last season, but now things are headed in the right direction."

Iowa, making its third trip to Tampa, has won five of its past six, including a 24-23 victory against Rose Bowl-bound Penn State (11-1). The Hawkeyes are led by running back Shonn Greene, the nation's second-leading rusher with an Iowa-record 1,729 yards and 17 TDs..

The Hawkeyes are hot. In reality, the Gamecocks are not.

South Carolina, also making its third trip to Tampa, arrives with a sputter after dropping games against Florida (56-6) and state rival Clemson (31-14).

"We've just got to play better and hopefully the Outback Bowl can be the start of that," Spurrier said. "We're giving the ball to Stephen. We're going to coach him as hard as we can and give him this opportunity. And that's what this is - an opportunity to finish our season on the right note."

Garcia sees it as an early shot at preparing for 2009.

"We were not happy losing to Florida and Clemson," said Garcia, who is joined in the South Carolina lineup by another Tampa starter, cornerback Stoney Woodson (Middleton). "It left a bad taste in our mouths. We're going to work hard to play well, have some fun and win this game against Iowa.

"I knew the Outback Bowl was out there all along, and there was a possibility we could get in that game. I tried not to think about it too much, but it was always there."

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353.

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