HIGH FIVE

Sidney Rice breaks USC record with five-TD night

Published on 09/24/06

South Carolina 45, Fla. Atlantic 6

COLUMBIA — For one night at least, all of South Carolina's offensive woes melted away, admittedly aided by the lowest-ranked team in the nation in scoring defense.

Sophomore wide receiver Sidney Rice finished with a school-record five touchdown receptions and the Gamecocks romped past winless Florida Atlantic 45-6 Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium.

"I think we played a little better, although we're not sitting here saying we've got it made by any means," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. "We all know that Florida Atlantic is a team that struggles."

South Carolina (3-1) won't have long to enjoy the victory. The Gamecocks play host to second-ranked and unbeaten Auburn (4-0) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in a game televised by ESPN.

"We look forward to seeing what we can do," Spurrier said. "We'll be huge underdogs, but that's OK. We'll try to find a plan to hang with them and see if we get some breaks and see what happens."

And while the Gamecocks' emphatic victory over the hapless Owls didn't really prove anything, it at least gave South Carolina a chance to work on its offense — specifically the combination of quarterback Syvelle Newton to Sidney Rice.

"I was pretty surprised, because I didn't expect a lot of one-on-one," said Rice, who took advantage of single coverage

Record day for Rice, Newton

on several occasions. "I think we did a pretty good job, but we've got a lot to focus on coming up this week."

The Owls (0-4) came in allowing an average of 49 points per game, and didn't slow the Gamecocks any better than they did Clemson, Kansas State and Oklahoma State in their previous "paycheck" games.

"They (the Gamecocks) made us look like we're not in the same competition level, and that's not unusual because we're not," said Florida Atlantic coach Howard Schnellenberger. "After four games, it's pretty obvious that we're not ready to play this type of competition."

Florida Atlantic's four-game road swing didn't produce a victory, but it did bring in $1.8 million in revenue, including the $600,000 forked out by the Gamecocks.

Spurrier tried to make sure the Gamecocks got their money's worth, and wisely made sure they put the ball in the hands of their best receiver.

Rice, who finished with nine receptions for 161 yards, caught his fifth touchdown pass of the night from Newton with 13:14 to play in the third quarter and took the rest of the evening off.

"Syvelle to Sidney, it was just one of those nights where he hit him for a bunch of touchdowns early," Spurrier said. "I guess we probably could have added on, but it didn't make sense to leave him in there."

Newton, whose five touchdown passes tied a school record jointly held by Tommy Suggs, Jeff Grantz and Steve Taneyhill, also took most of the rest of the night off, turning the offense over to Blake Mitchell. Newton completed 13 of 20 passes for 216 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.

"It didn't mean much to me because I just tied the record," Newton said, "but it's an honor to be mentioned with those names. I think it was more important that this was a night where the offense pulled together as a unit."

With tailback Cory Boyd unable to play because of a sprained ankle, South Carolina got a boost in the running game from redshirt freshman tailback Taylor Rank. Rank rushed 15 times for 101 yards.

South Carolina led 28-6 at the half thanks to four touchdown catches by Rice. He had touchdown receptions of 22, 21, 8 and 41 yards against a Florida Atlantic defense that simply couldn't stop him.

But the Owls were the victims of purely bad luck on Rice's last touchdown catch of the half.

Rice was surrounded by four Florida Atlantic defenders, but Newton's pass was tipped by the Owls' Cory Small right into Rice's hands.

Rice cruised into the end zone to complete a 41-yard scoring play and put the Gamecocks ahead 28-6 with 3:23 to play in the half.

"The ball just fell right in my hands," Rice said. "It was just one of those nights."

Rice's final touchdown came on a 19-yard pass from Newton less than two minutes into the third quarter.

Reach Charles Bennett at

cbennett@postandcourier.com.

Source: Click Here