![]() ![]() South Carolina would go on to put together a fine 8-4 season, capped with a 31-7 demolition of Ohio State in the Outback Bowl. That allowed a somewhat anemic Gamecock offense to put together 287 yards on 71 plays (a putrid 4.04 yards/play) enough opportunities to ultimately break through with three Derek Watson touchdown runs giving the Gamecocks the 21-10 victory. Georgia compiled just 9 first downs over the course of the game, gaining 202 yards on 52 plays (3.88 yards/play) and turning the ball over 5 times. ![]() But he - and most everyone in attendance and watching on ESPN - had no idea.Ĭarolina's defense never gave the Bulldogs a chance. Future NFL players CB Sheldon Brown (a junior), CB Dunta Robinson (a freshman), CB Andre Goodman (a junior), LB Kalimba Edwards (a junior), DT Langston Moore (a freshman), DT Cleveland Pinkney (a senior), DT John Stamper (a junior), and DT Cecil Caldwell (a senior) played on that team. Looking back, it's hardly a surprise the South Carolina Gamecock defense played so dominantly throughout that magical 2000 season. But this was a top-ten Georgia team quarterbacked by Heisman trophy candidate Quincy Carter. So we knew the team could likely win more than the one game they'd won over the last two seasons. Carolna won a game it was expected to win to start the year, blowing out New Mexico State in a game dominated by the Gamecock defense that held the Aggies under 200 yards. So expectations were naturally low coming into the 2000 season. With Vanderbilt and Kentucky having strong (by their standards) seasons, going 5-6 and 6-6 respectively, the Gamecocks didn't have an easy win on the schedule, and while they were a bad team, they certainly weren't 0-11 bad. State (played in a monsoon and lost 10-0 in the opener to the Holtz Era), and hosted a very good East Carolina team quarterbacked by David Garrard to go along with the Clemson game. In the days of the 11-game schedule, South Carolina decided to head to Raleigh for a game against N.C. South Carolina faced a bad combination - a young, untalented team going through a transition to a new coaching staff without an easy win on the schedule. The 1999 season is not one remembered fondly by Gamecock fans (and for those who drank their way through the sadness, it's one not remembered much at all). The first in what we plan to be a weekly series of retrospectives on particularly enjoyable or important moments in the history of South Carolina football. ![]()
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