Carolina Countdown: 100 Days, 100 Thoughts on South Carolina Football | No. 95

Today’s South Carolina Football thought, No. 95 in our countdown, focuses on one of the biggest, most meaningful win for the Gamecocks in the early Steve Spurrier era and piggy backs on Thought No. 99, which dove into bad things leaving to good things and the 1999 season.

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This philosophical truth was on full display during a sunny afternoon on Nov. 25, 2006, at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.

Rivalry Trends

Heading into that game, Carolina was on a bit of a bad trend when it came to the annual contest with its in-state rival and one that frankly had lasted for a while. After former Tigers head coach Danny Ford lost his first rivalry game in 1979, 13-9, at Williams-Brice Stadium, Clemson went on a dominant stretch in the series that coincided with the Tigers’ rise to national prominence (including the 1981 National Championship). Ford won 70 percent of his rivalry games after that first loss and finished 7-3-1 against the Gamecocks. There was a little bit of a competitive stretch following his departure as Ken Hatfield (2-1) and Tommy West (3-2) were a modest 5-3 and combined to lose three straight at home against South Carolina. Then, Tommy Bowden took over and went on another run. Bowden had the Gamecocks number maybe more than Ford. During most of Ford’s era, Clemson was one of the better teams in the country. Bowden never won his own division in the Atlantic Coast Conference during his tenure. Yet, he came into this game 6-1 against the Gamecocks with all of his wins coming against legendary coaches Lou Holtz and Spurrier, two of his dad Bobby Bowden’s old rivals at Florida State.

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During Spurrier’s first year, the Gamecocks were on fire heading into the game and were competitive for the first time in three contests (Clemson won 63-17 and 29-7 in back-to-back infamous rivalry contests for different reasons) in a 13-9 loss.

What a Weird Season

Spurrier’s second season at South Carolina was a wild ride. The Gamecocks opened with a 15-0 shutout win against Mississippi State in Starkville (current head coach Shane Beamer and former defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson were on that Bulldogs staff), then got shutout at home by Georgia, 18-0, and then-true freshman quarterback Matt Stafford. Starting quarterback Blake Mitchell was benched for Syvelle Newton. The Gamecocks escaped Wofford, 27-20, the following week.

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Then, Newton tossed five touchdowns in a 45-6 win against Florida Atlantic at home, took No. 2 Auburn to the wire in a 24-17 Thursday night loss (the “don’t clap when we lose” game), ran an early version of the Philly Special late to beat Kentucky in Lexington, 24-17, and ruled over Vanderbilt, 31-13, in Nashville to move to 5-2.

Then came back-to-back one score losses at home to No. 8 Tennessee, 31-24, and No. 12 Arkansas, 26-20. In the Arkansas game, the powerful Hawgs led by Darren McFadden (219 rushing yards at Williams-Brice Stadium) got off to a great start and dominated the first half, taking a 23-6 lead into the locker room. Newton had a tough night passing. Spurrier brought Mitchell off the bench and Carolina rallied to within 26-20 thanks to two long touchdown drives from 92 and 99 yards. The Razorbacks missed a field goal, but got an interception late with the Gamecocks driving to seal the win.

The following week at Florida, Spurrier’s first in The Swamp as the Gamecocks coach, South Carolina nearly shocked the eventual National Champions as the Gators famously blocked the winning field for a 17-16 win.

South Carolina then crushed former assistant Rick Stockstill and Middle Tennessee State, 52-7, to become bowl eligible heading into the Palmetto Bowl.

The Game

It appeared that Tommy Bowden was going to get his seventh win in eight tries against his rival. This game for Carolina was a microcosm of the entire 2006 season in that just when you thought things were trending toward hopeless, something great happened and things seemed back on track for the Head Ball Coach early in his tenure.

On the fourth play of the game, Mitchell threw an interception. Then, Clemson threw a bomb to Jacoby Ford to go up 7-0. The Gamecocks tied it after a 12-play, 69-yard drive that in many ways proved Carolina would be able to move the ball that day. Then, freshman C.J. Spiller took off for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of the next drive and it is 14-7 Clemson.

South Carolina did not have a good run defense that season and that afternoon was no exception. Still, the Gamecocks survived the early blows on defense (and another first quarter interception thrown) and played well in the second quarter. South Carolina had a 96-yard scoring drive to tie it at 14, forced a punt and then drove to the Clemson 18 to take the lead going into half when disaster struck.

Tigers defensive lineman Jock McKissic broke through the line and intercepted a Mitchell pass midair then all 6-foot-7, 280 pounds of him sprinted to the end zone for an 82-yard touchdown and it was Clemson that led 21-14 at the half.

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At that point, you really had to wonder what sort of Voodoo Tommy Bowden had performed on South Carolina. It continued in the third quarter. Spiller ran around the left end and outraced the Carolina defense for a 31-yard touchdown with 9:48 to play in the third quarter. Clemson had all the momentum and a 28-14 lead.

But the Gamecocks responded the next drive. Columbia native Mike Davis had a nifty 2-yard touchdown run to cap a 68-yard drive and suddenly the Gamecocks are back in it at 28-21. Clemson fumbled the next drive (forced by Emanuel Cook) and Carolina was back in the end zone in three plays on another Davis touchdown run and the game is tied 28-28.

What happened next was enough to make anyone in Garnet and Black walk out of the stadium.

Pepper’s Play

Defensive tackle Nathan Pepper, who wore No. 95, had a play that was a microcosm of how that day went for Carolina for the majority of the game. The sophomore defensive lineman from Greenville, ignored by the Tigers during the recruiting process, intercepted a Will Proctor pass (similar to McKissic’s play in the second quarter) and started rumbling toward the end zone. Unfortunately, Tigers running back James Davis ran him down and forced a fumble at the 1-yard line and Clemson got the ball back.

It was a crazy enough play to begin with and a 290-plus pound defensive tackle rumbling for 34 yards is going to get caught from behind at times, but for this to be what seemed like the answer for the McKissic play was a tough pill to swallow.

Pepper would go on to be one of the better defensive tackles during that era of South Carolina and was helped by the development skills of the late Brad Lawing, who was the focus of Topic No. 97 and who Spurrier hired during the offseason to coach the Gamecocks defensive line.

Denouement

Turns out, South Carolina was going to keep listening to Spurrier. In the postgame he told the media “I just said keep playing” and the Gamecocks did. South Carolina finally took the lead on a field goal by Ryan Succop with 7:45 to play in the game, 31-28.

Then, the Tigers, as Spurrier said on his television show the next day, decided they were not even going to try to pass the ball (at least for a while). Spiller, James Davis and Reggie Merriweather combined to milk 7:32 off of the clock and Clemson was sitting at the Gamecocks’ 12 with 27 seconds to play.

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Then for whatever reason, the Tigers decided to dial up a play-action pass. Linebacker Jasper Brinkley and in yet another strange twist to the 2006 season, Newton… who was playing safety!… combined to sack him. Clemson ran kicker Jad Dean on and he promptly hooked it wide left from 39 yards out.

Gamecocks play-by-play man Todd Ellis had a famous quote after the hooked field goal- “Death Valley is silent”… it was quite a win.

What It Meant

Spurrier beat Florida and Tennessee in his first season. Georgia would take its first loss (at South Carolina) to the HBC the following year in Athens. The Clemson win, though, considering the outcomes since Bowden took over and really the overall series since 1980 allowed for a little more belief as to what Spurrier could accomplish in Columbia. South Carolina won the Liberty Bowl over Art Briles and Houston, 44-36, to finish 8-5 in Spurrier’s second year. There would be two more losses to Clemson, both had more meaning that just a loss. In 2007, the Tigers kicked a field goal to win 23-21 in Columbia and that kept Carolina out of a bowl at 6-6. The following year, Dabo Swinney was the interim, Clemson kicked the Gamecocks in the teeth, 31-14, Swinney was promoted and the rest is history up there.

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At South Carolina that loss, a 56-6 loss to Florida the week before and a 31-10 blowout loss to Iowa in the Outback Bowl facilitated coaching changes on Spurrier’s staff that led to much better years in the immediate future.

Since that win two decades ago, the Palmetto Bowl has been much more competitive, even if it has been streaky. Clemson leads 11-7 since that point. Swinney is 10-7. South Carolina had a five-game win streak during its best run in program history. The Tigers won seven in a row during their best run in program history.

The 2006 win was a mild upset for South Carolina and one of the few that could be classified as such. Crazy enough when you talk about game flow and continuing to play ball despite adversity and even the total number of Gamecocks points, the 2022 upset of a top 10 Clemson team by Beamer (31-30) paralleled in many ways this win.

Where I Was

-In more weirdness, yours truly attended that game, sat in a Clemson skybox with a friend and did not tell anyone my name (I was working at Rivals at the time and not covering South Carolina). I did not cheer or show any emotion at all, even though the folks in the box knew I was on the other side of the rivalry. I will never forget the owner of the box was battling cancer successfully and the Clemson people were very friendly.

-Also walking into the stadium, my buddies and I ran into Senator Lindsey Graham and he looked at us and said “Go Cocks”… too random.

Bottom Line

This win in the rivalry is a bit undervalued because it was wedged into a lot of losses for South Carolina. But it was one that was memorable and in many ways significant.