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Road captains
Corners key latest win in SEC streak
By Joseph Person
The State
Published: October 22, 2006NASHVILLE With
USC leading by three scores late in the fourth quarter Saturday, the Gamecocks' band struck up the theme from "2001: A Space
Odyssey," while several thousand, garnet-wearing fans roared in the northeast corner of Vanderbilt Stadium.
The Gamecocks
have felt right at home on the road lately.
Getting another shutdown performance from its defense, USC handled Vanderbilt
31-13 to extend its school-record, SEC road winning streak to five games and move within a victory of bowl eligibility.
The
Gamecocks (5-2, 3-2 in SEC) won their seventh in a row against Vanderbilt (3-5, 1-4), which fell to earth following its 24-22
victory at Georgia last weekend.
With the USC cornerbacks throwing a wet blanket on Earl Bennett, the SEC's leading
receiver, the Gamecocks held the Commodores to 253 yards and a 1-for-12 conversion rate on third downs.
During its
five-game road streak, which includes wins at Tennessee and Arkansas in 2005 and victories at Mississippi State, Kentucky
and Vanderbilt this season, USC has limited opponents to an average of 11 points and 278 yards.
"In all of them, our
defense has played extremely well," said USC coach Steve Spurrier, who improved to 14-0 against Vandy. "That's a big key if
your defense can slow them down and the offense can stay on the field."
USC's corner trio of Fred Bennett, Carlos Thomas
and Captain Munnerlyn combined to throttle Earl Bennett, who had a career night in Columbia last year (16 catches for 204
yards).
In the days leading up to the trip to Nashville, the Gamecocks' corners vowed they would not be embarrassed
again.
"Our secondary is way too good to be giving up 16 passes," Thomas said. "We all made a pact before the game
that Earl Bennett would not get more than five passes. He would not."
Bennett, who entered with an SEC-best 41 receptions,
had one catch for minus-2 yards until the final three minutes of the game. Though Bennett caught three balls on the Commodores'
final possession to finish with four receptions for 16 yards, the dangerous sophomore was a non-factor.
"South Carolina
did a great job with us defensively," Bennett said. "We came out and didn't play as well as we should have and didn't execute."
USC
defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix said he employed no special schemes for Bennett, but simply threw a mix of zone and bump-and-run,
man coverages at the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder.
Thomas pulled down his first career interception in the first half when
quarterback Chris Nickson overthrew Bennett. Munnerlyn grabbed his first pick when the freshman leaped in front of a throwback
pass.
Unlike the 24-17 victory at Kentucky two weeks ago, the Gamecocks' defense allowed no late touchdowns.
A
play after Vanderbilt crossed midfield on its final drive, defensive end Casper Brinkley sacked backup quarterback Richard
Kovalcheck, forcing a fumble that defensive tackle Nathan Pepper returned to the Commodores' 13-yard line to ice it.
"We
kept letting teams stay close, so it felt really good to keep playing and put a team out of it," Pepper said.
USC tailback
Cory Boyd broke 100 yards rushing for the second consecutive game with 113 yards on 22 carries. Quarterback Syvelle Newton
threw for two touchdowns and ran for another score.
Though Spurrier was disappointed with a couple of fourth-quarter
holding penalties and a Sidney Rice fumble in the red zone, the USC coach was pleased with his team's resolve after giving
up a touchdown on the final play of the first half that brought Vandy to 17-10.
In a cramped interview room adjacent
to the Gamecocks' locker room, Spurrier conceded that the Gamecocks "picked some of the right teams" to construct its road
winning streak.
But the USC coach will not have to make any apologies for USC's remaining schedule, which includes
four games against top-15 teams, beginning next weekend against No. 7 Tennessee.
"We have a lot of ball ahead of us,"
Spurrier said. "The big teams are coming up now, so we need to concentrate on playing better against Tennessee."
And
bringing some of the road magic back to Columbia.
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.
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