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A sign urging the Gamecocks to put their 56-17 loss to Auburn behind them sits outside the players' weight room.

The sign hung just outside the doors of South Carolina’s weight room.

“Let’s get back on the horse and back to [Atlanta] on a mission to get 10 wins.”

The sign – complete with a picture of the famous racehorse Secretariat – is a fitting one for the Gamecocks.

They’ll go back to the Georgia Dome in less than four weeks in the hopes of ending their season on a positive note. It was in that same city just six days ago that South Carolina was dominated 56-17 at the hands of the Auburn Tigers in the SEC Championship Game.

“We’re excited. We didn’t play our best last time in the Georgia Dome,” coach Steve Spurrier said Tuesday at the Chick-fil-A Bowl press conference. “We’re going to try and compete and look like a first class team.” 

Thankfully for Spurrier, the Gamecocks’ latest challenge in the Georgia Dome will be a team not nearly as talented as the club he faced Dec. 4. The Tigers are preparing for their first BCS National Championship Game against Oregon in Glendale, Ariz.

It’s Florida State this time around, a team that’s had an eerily similar season compared to the Gamecocks.

The Seminoles went 9-4 (like USC), went 5-3 in conference play (like USC), and lost in their conference championship game (like USC).

“They are a good team. I also read where they lead the nation in sacks. I think we’re third our fourth,” Spurrier said. “Good defensive line; a lot of good athletes on that Florida State team. I don’t know the status of their quarterback. [Christian] Ponder had some fluid in his elbow that bothered him.”

The matchup – set for a primetime kickoff on New Year’s Eve on ESPN – is one Chick-fil-A Bowl officials are thrilled to have.

“Because the players at South Carolina played so well this year, won the division in the [SEC] East, we thought they deserved to be in our game and that’s why we protected them to play Florida State,” President Gary Stokan said.

It marks South Carolina first appearance in the bowl since it won the ACC Championship in 1969.

“That was our second bowl game ever.  And we’re glad to have them back this year,” Stokan said. “We hope it’s not another 30 years before we get them back next time.”

It’s a matchup embraced by South Carolina’s athletics department as well, as the Gamecocks’ ticket allotment is nearly gone.

“We’ve got less than 1500 tickets left. We’ve been selling 400-500 per day,” athletics director Eric Hyman said. “There’s not going to be any tickets left over.

“Our fans have really embraced the tickets and we’ll have Gamecock Nation down there. We’ll paint the town garnet.”

Players file draft inquiries: Spurrier confirmed that two South Carolina football players – wide receiver Tori Gurley and offensive lineman Rokevious Watkins – have filed paperwork to find out where they might be drafted in the 2011 NFL Draft.

“They know how we feel. If you’re not projected as a first rounder, you shouldn’t go out,” Spurrier said. “But some of our players in the past think, ‘I’m going to be a first or second rounder.’”

Spurrier called out former defensive tackle Clifton Geathers for making that mistake last season. Geathers was a mid-round selection and has bounced around with several teams in his short time in the NFL. He was picked up by Dallas earlier this week.

“When they get drafted in the seventh round [they’re surprised], like Clifton Geathers,” Spurrier said. “He should have come back. But he wanted to go. If they want to go, we can’t stop them.”

Despite that, Spurrier remained staunch in his opinion that should a player want to leave, he’ll gladly show them the door.

“A lot of times, players don’t listen to coaches. They think, ‘I’m going to be an early pick,’” Spurrier said. “There’s nothing we can do to keep them here. We just try to educate them. But if they don’t want to stay, that’s okay with us, too.”

Spurrier reacts to Meyer: Spurrier, Florida’s all-time coaching wins leader, wasn’t surprised when he heard the news that Gator coach Urban Meyer had announced his retirement for the second consecutive year.

“He did it last year. He was sort of stressed out a bit,” Spurrier said. “He’s ready to take a few years off. I really think he’ll come in in three to four years. I think he will. He just needed to hang it up.”

Spurrier still took the time, however, to share a funny anecdote about Meyer and the lucrative contract he was walking away from.

“It was funny, I was sitting there watching it. I told my wife Jerri, ‘It’s hard to walk away from four million bucks a year, isn’t it?’ Know what she said? She said, ‘You walked away from five [million].”

As for him? Spurrier was asked how long he plans on coaching and gave his usual explanation: four to five more years.

“I always say four or five. Three, four or five,” he said. “Marcus [Lattimore] is a freshman. We’ve got some good recruits coming in we think. And we think we’re going to get some others. We believe we’ve got an up-and-coming team here.

“Like I said all this year, I don’t think this is the best team we’re going to field. I think we can field a stronger team in the future.”

New bowl preparations: While Spurrier wouldn’t get into specifics, South Carolina’s football coach said the Gamecocks would prepare differently for this year’s Chick-fil-A Bowl than they have in previous seasons.

For good reason. The Gamecocks have been basic no-shows in each of their last two bowl games.

USC was blasted 31-14 by Iowa in the 2008 Outback Bowl before stumbling in a head-scratching 20-7 loss to Connecticut in last season’s PapaJohns.com Bowl.

“You can’t practice too much and you don’t want to practice too little. You want to try and find the right balance,” Spurrier said. “We’ll practice on and off…and do it a little like I’ve done in the past. But we’ll do things a little bit different as far as bowl preparations.

“Obviously whatever we’ve done hasn’t worked too well over the last two years. I think I know why but we’ll do some things differently.”

But he remained mum on what exactly the Gamecocks would do different.

“It will just be different. Let’s put it that way,” Spurrier said. “There will be some different stuff.”

By the numbers: Some interesting figures to chew on when it comes to the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl:

-The bowl, now in its 43^rd year, will pay out 6.7 million dollars this year, breaking 100 million in total for the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

-The bowl is expected to have its 14^th consecutive sellout. President Gary Stoken said that as of Friday afternoon, only about 50 tickets remained. He expected those to be gone by the end of the day. It’s the third longest streak of bowl sellouts, behind only the Rose and Fiesta Bowls.

-The Chick-fil-A Bowl, largely due to being the sole game in primetime on New Year’s Eve, has three of the top 10 broadcasts ever on ESPN for college football. Over 7.5 million viewers tuned in for last season’s game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech.

-The ACC and SEC have competed in the bowl for 18 consecutive years. The tell-tale sign of a competitive game? This year’s winner will break a nine-all tie between the two conferences in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

On Friday night, he not only did it again, but he outscored everybody else in the building for good measure. 

Behind a 15-point effort from the sophomore guard, which led all scorers, South Carolina thrashed Radford 85-56 for its second win of the season.

“Stephen Spinella shot the ball well tonight,” USC coach Darrin Horn said.

Spinella scored 10 points in USC’s 82-73 loss at No. 2 Michigan State earlier in the week, which was the high-water mark of the Colts Neck, N.J., native’s career single-game point output for all of two days.

“I’m shooting in practice, and it’s just transferring over to the games now,” Spinella said.

Spinella, who prior to this week was best known for playing tough man-to-man defense on Kentucky guard John Wall during a stretch of USC’s 68-62 upset of the No. 1 Wildcats last season, was 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range – numbers USC expected when he committed prior to the 2009-2010 season.

“I think he’s playing with a lot of confidence, which is good,” Horn said. “He’s doing the things that when we recruited him, we thought he could do. We knew he was a good scorer, he’s athletic.”

Spinella’s struggles shooting last season as a freshman were no secret, and Horn and his staff have encouraged him to not focus on offense, but rather on his all-around game, in order to find success shooting.

So far, so good.

“The thing to me, as a coach, that was good tonight [is] when kids focus on offense, nothing else seems to go good. When we focus on doing team things, getting loose balls and getting to the glass and running the floor, it just seems like everything else goes better,” Horn said. “I thought he got himself going with the big offensive rebound, flying in from the wing. Some of those shots he made, to his credit, he knocked them down, which is great, but he ran the floor. Because he ran the floor, he was in a position to receive them.”

Horn’s summation of Spinella’s night was about the same as Spinella himself characterized it.

“Coach keeps telling me to be a player and to not just be a shooter,” Spinella said. “So I’m not really focusing on shooting the ball. I’m focusing on the little things like defense and rebounding.

“With that, shots are going to come and stuff’s going to fall into place for me.”

Spinella’s 15 points were part of a larger effort by the USC bench, which compiled 39 total points and gave Horn the flexibility to substitute at will when he felt it necessary throughout the night.

“Had a bunch of mass substitutions because I wasn’t pleased with what was going on,” Horn said. “It’s great to have a bench. I’m really enjoying that. I don’t know if everybody else is, but it’s saving my voice. I don’t have to scream and holler as much. I can just take them out. For some reason, the bench speaks more loudly than a coach does.”

There was one instance where many assumed Horn would make a substitution, but didn’t. After making his final basket of the night, a two-pointer which was initially thought a three-pointer, Spinella stuck his tongue out and started wagging it – an action many figured would garner some form of admonishment from the typically no-nonsense Horn.

That wasn’t the case though, as after the game Spinella said the show of expression didn’t anger Horn.

“He just looked at me with that sort of smile-grin,” Spinella said.

Three other Gamecocks joined Spinella with double-figures in scoring. Freshman guards Brian Richardson and Bruce Ellington had 11 and 10 points, respectively, while sophomore forward Lakeem Jackson also had 10.

USC (2-1) came out cold, hitting just three of its first 17 shots from the field in the first eight minutes. But, Radford (2-1) was equally unspectacular at the same time, allowing the Gamecocks to hold a slight lead, 10-6, with 11:47 remaining before halftime.

By the break, the lead was anything but slight – USC, powered by a 7- and two 12-0 runs, outscored the Highlanders 39-13 down the stretch to take a 49-19 lead, which ended up only a point off the eventual margin of victory.

In a game eerily similar to the last three showdowns between these two – as well as Thursday’s quarter-final victory over Kentucky – No. 20 Carolina prevailed in penalty kicks once again, playing the Tigers to a 1-1 draw before outscoring them 4-3 in its third straight shootout at Orange Beach, Ala. The win sets up a rematch with No. 7 Florida in the title game on Sunday afternoon

“I don’t know if I can take much more of these games,” coach Shelley Smith said, jokingly. “I’m proud of how we stepped up under pressure and did what we needed to do to advance today.”

Despite playing in blistering wind once again and coming off a 110-minute match the day before, Carolina came out strong early against an LSU team recovering from similar strain. The Gamecocks managed a 6-4 shot advantage in the first half and nearly took the lead in the eighth minute when senior forward Brooke Jacobs had a 12-yard shot blocked.

In the 29th minute, however, junior forward and Hermann Trophy candidate Kayla Grimsley found a seam in the defense and capitalized. Overcoming man-coverage from LSU defender Reyna Lubin, Grimsley fired a shot past keeper Megan Kinneman to give Carolina a 1-0 lead.

“She’s the player of the year in the conference,” Smith said. “She’s well-deserving obviously from her performance here at SEC’s and all season. We can count on her to be a threat at all times. She’ll look to score goals and set up others. She knows how to carry a team on her back and always be a threat up top.”

Besides being her 12th of the season, Grimsley’s strike earned her yet another milestone. With 34 points on the season, the SEC Offensive Player of the Year is tied with Jennie Ondo for USC’s single-season record, one that has stood for 15 years.

“It’s an honor,” Grimsley said. “That individual honor was incredible. She’s held that for a long time and it’s awesome to tie her. It would be great to pass it, but the only thing right now is to win Sunday, bring Columbia another ring and to host the NCAA Tournament.”

From there, the Gamecocks retained the lead as the match moved into the second half, keeping the LSU offense at bay and leading considerably in the shot count. That changed in minute 78, however. Fielding a cross from forward Addie Eggleston, LSU’s Carlie Banks managed to knock one past senior goalkeeper Mollie Patton, tying it up at 1-1.

“We were disappointed in ourselves to give up that late goal,” Smith said. “We had control a lot of the game, but great credit to LSU to do what they needed to do.”

Carolina came close on a number of occasions to regain the lead – including a cross from sophomore defender Christine Watts that was grabbed out of the air by Kinneman before junior forward Maria Petroni could get a head on it – but after 90 minutes, the score remained tied and the match proceeded into extra time.

The Gamecocks maintained the advantage in both overtime periods, outshooting the Tigers 6-1 and nearly earning the win on a long shot from junior midfielder Kira Campbell. No goals came, however, and the matchup moved to PKs for the second time in two years.

LSU’s Mo Isom and junior midfielder Kortney Rhoades each managed to score in the first round, followed by a pair of saves from Kinneman and Patton in the second. The third round saw the score remain tied when forward Danielle Murphy and freshman midfielder Kelsey Barr converted their attempts, but after the Tigers failed to score on a high shot from forward Courtney Alexander, senior defender Brittiny Rhoades put the Gamecocks ahead 3-2 heading into the final round.

LSU managed to tie it up once again on a goal from Kinneman on the opening shot of the round, putting Grimsley in position to win it for the second consecutive day. The Lakeland, Fla., native rose to the occasion, sending a laser past Kinneman to put Carolina in the championship game for the second year in a row.

“It was a battle. Every time we play a team like LSU it’s a battle,” Grimsley said. “Even in the regular season we only beat them 1-0 and it was a battle. We came in and scored a decent goal. We had the run of play for most of the game and outshot them. We had one little mistake and let it go in. We just fought back and said we weren’t going to lose.”

Faced with a rematch against Kentucky (10-7-3, 4-5-3) in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, No. 20 South Carolina (14-4-3, 8-2-2) managed to avoid the upset by knocking off the Wildcats in penalty kicks after playing 110 minutes in a 1-1 draw. The win advances the Gamecocks to the semi-final round to take on LSU.

The match was a long-awaited one for both teams. Slated to be played Wednesday, the game was delayed due to inclement weather. Although heavy winds continued to be an issue Thursday, conditions were good enough for the match to get the green light.

Carolina brought the offensive pressure early on in the match, recording 10 shots in the first half with the wind at its back, and in the 10th minute, managed to jump out to an early lead. Receiving a pass in the box from junior forward Kayla Grimsley, freshman midfielder Danielle Au crossed the ball to senior forward Brooke Jacobs, who fired it in the top corner to give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.

“It was a great feeling to come back [and score]. I feel like I’m back in the game,” Jacobs said in reference to recovering from a hamstring injury. “It was a great feeling for our team to put us up one.”

The assist on the play was Grimsley’s tenth of the year, making her the first player in program history to earn 10 goals, 10 assists and 30 points in a single season.

“It’s awesome,” Grimsley said. “Like I said before, I was only one assist away from someone else doing their job. Today, Danielle got herself open on a very calm Kentucky defense and Brooke was in the perfect position. Danielle played a perfect ball and we scored. It’s just incredible the build up that we had. We were calm and composed. The wind out here was crazy. It’s just good to get that.”

The score remained 1-0 as the match moved into the 85th minute and the Gamecocks appeared to be on their way to their second victory over the Wildcats in 2010. After earning a corner kick, however, UK forward Alyssa Telang managed to bend the kick into the goal, tying the score at 1-1 and sending the game into extra time.

Recovering quickly from Kentucky’s equalizer, Carolina retained the advantage in overtime, outshooting UK 6-1. Neither team managed to score, however, so the match advanced to penalty kicks.

“It was too bad we gave up one with five minutes left, but we did well under that circumstance to get chances and keep the ball under that pressure of not being able to play forward a lot,” coach Shelley Smith said. “The momentum changes when you go down a goal. To come back and fight through another 10 minutes of having the wind against you, a lot of people played a role today.”

Playing in a shootout in Orange Beach for the second straight game, Carolina quickly jumped ahead of UK. The Wildcats missed each of their first two attempts, while Jacobs and freshman midfielder Kelsey Barr managed to knock their shots in to give the Gamecocks a 2-0 advantage.

Kentucky managed to convert its next two, however, and after senior defender Brittiny Rhoades and junior midfielder Kortney Rhoades hit the crossbar and post, respectively, on Carolina’s next two attempts, both teams advanced to their final shooter with the score tied 2-2.

After UK failed to score on its final attempt, Grimsley fired her shot past keeper Sydney Hiance to send the Gamecocks into the semi-final round for the third time in four seasons.

“I was more confident this game, I think. I was amped. I was ready to play,” Grimsley said. “Our girls did their jobs and Mollie did her job. I said that I was going to put this in. I had to. There was a lot riding on this game. It was either this or go home. Last time we made it far and made it to the finals, so I wasn’t as amped as the last time to take it. I was just calmer this time, and I knew I had to put it in in order for us to stay here and advance. That was the only thing in my mind, to put it in and not let the team down.”

With one of the most storied senior classes being honored, a win over Memphis for the USC men’s soccer was about more than just conference standings and tournament seeds. 

It was about sending off the seniors on a high note.

Mark Wiltse, a senior who was granted a medical redshirt last year after missing all of the 2009 season with an injury, made sure to give his fellow seniors the farewell they deserved as he scored the first of three goals in 3-0 rout of Memphis.

“Last year he broke his leg in the first game and came back this year when he graduated so he took graduate courses,” coach Mark Berson said. “What a wonderful thing for him – to dedicate himself that way – and the results for our team are outstanding.”

Wiltse’s goal came in the 39th minute from the far post 10 yards out off an assist from senior Blake Brettschneider and Stephen Morrissey. It was Wiltse’s first goal of the season.

Although the game was dedicated to the senior class, it was also a symbol of the team’s future stars as freshman Chipper Root added the second goal to secure the lead just seven minutes into the second half.

While Root has taken 39 shots this season with twelve being on goal, this was his first goal of the season off a cross from Brettschneider, who collected two assists in the game for a team-high of eight assists.

The Gamecocks put the game away with the third and final goal coming from junior Danny Cates as he found the net on an unassisted goal that hit the crossbar and bounced in from 40 yards out.

Memphis struggled throughout the game as the Gamecocks tallied twice as many shots on goal. Furthermore, senior goalkeeper Jimmy Maurer collected four saves before being taken out of the game in the 72nd minute to a standing ovation. He is second all-time in South Carolina history with 26 shutouts.

With this win, the Gamecocks clinched an improbable berth in the Conference USA tournament, considering the volume of injuries at the start of the season, with Vance Benson, Eric Martinez, and Mike Lindsay out for the season.

“We had in the first three games of the year three season ending injuries,” Berson said. “That was devastating on a number of different levels. Obviously, we lost good players that contributed to our team, but also they’re roommates and it has a resounding effect within the team.”

The Gamecocks wrap up their 2010 regular season with a game at Kentucky on Nov. 7 as USC hopes to ascend to one of the top two seeds in the conference tournament so to earn a first-round bye.

“We have an opportunity to perhaps get the second seed,” Berson said. “That’s something that we want to keep to push for, but it’s also something that we just want to go and play well and get ready to do well in the conference tournament.”

The USC volleyball team continued its Southeastern Conference road play this past Sunday as it traveled to Ole Miss. The Gamecocks previously played the Rebels at home back in Sept., where it lost in straight sets.

This time around, the Gamecocks traveled to Oxford, Miss., and put up more of a fight, forcing four sets and continually pushing towards a comeback, although they ultimately could not make one happen.

Ole Miss took the first two sets pretty convincingly, 25-21 and 25-16, never allowing South Carolina much of an opportunity to make anything happen.

Momentum shifted in the third set, however, when USC took the lead from the first point, 1-0, on a service ace from sophomore setter Taylor Burns, who had four aces total in the game along with 35 sets. The Gamecocks never allowed Ole Miss to tie or take the lead, and it seemed as if they could pull out an upset over the 11-3 Rebels on their home court. As it finished with a hard fought 25-20 score in the third set, USC looked to have a confidence boost going into the fourth.

This was not the case, however, as the Rebels quickly jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the fourth and appeared to be cruising to another victory. But the Gamecocks still had fight left in them, and as quickly as the Rebels were winning 6-2, just as quickly had USC come back and taken a 12-11 lead. The Rebels and Gamecocks traded points in a very evenly matched competition, which had the 257 mostly Mississippi fans at the Gillom Sports Center nervous for their team, who is currently ranked No. 32 in the NCAA women’s volleyball standings.

In the end, the Rebels were the better team, and took the set 25-23, winning the match.

Gamecock scoring was led by sophomore outside hitter Christina Glover, who posted a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs, senior libero Hannah Lawing with 21 digs, and freshman hitter Juliette Thévenin with 18 kills.

USC is currently 5-18 overall and 2-11 in the SEC. The Gamecocks are in last place in the SEC East, behind Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia. Ole Miss is now 17-6 overall and 11-3 in conference play. In the west, the Rebels are in second place, behind LSU, and ahead of Auburn, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Alabama.

South Carolina stays on the road and continues conference play this weekend with games Friday at Auburn and Sunday at Georgia, as they look to turn their season around.

Nearly a year after falling to Wake Forest in the NCAA Tournament on a header in the final second, No. 17 South Carolina was the victim once again in Friday’s 1-0 loss in the SEC Championship to No. 8 Florida.

With 10 seconds remaining in the first half, junior defender Ellen Fahey was whistled for a foul at the top of the USC box. As the Gators rushed to get the free kick off before time expired, Gamecock defenders crowded in front of the ball. Rather than requesting a 10-yard cushion, Florida put the ball into play and was quickly stifled by the Carolina defense to seemingly end the half.

As the clock ticked down, however, the official whistled the Gamecocks for obstruction of the play and allowed the Gators to take the kick with time stopped at two seconds. This allowed Florida to have all the time and space they needed to set up the play, and defender Nicky Kit capitalized by firing a rocket into the top-right corner to put her team on top at halftime and eventually for good.

“He said we were in front of the ball and intentionally delaying, which is true,” coach Shelley Smith said. “We’re not just going to drop off on a kick with 10 seconds left, but they didn’t ask for 10 [yards]. They played the ball and at that point, it shouldn’t be stopped. That’s what I had a problem with.”

The goal was the lone blemish in what was another sound performance from Carolina’s defense. Facing the SEC’s best offense, which entered the night averaging 2.6 goals and 16.3 shots per game, the Gamecocks held the Gators to nine shots, marking the 12th consecutive game they’ve held opponents to 10 shots or less.

“That’s very encouraging,” Smith said. “I knew it was going to be a battle. We’ve had stats leading the conference in defending and that’s why. To shut down Florida like that, that says a lot. They are very good offensively and I thought we limited them.”

Senior goalkeeper Mollie Patton also provided one of her strongest performances, totaling five saves on the evening, the biggest coming in the 80th minute. Taking a rebound from a deflected shot, Florida’s leading scorer Tahnai Annis sent what would’ve been a match-sealing goal past the USC defense. Diving to her right, Patton stopped the shot just as it touched the line, keeping Carolina’s hopes alive as time ticked down.

“We’re confident. We played really well today,” Patton said. “Florida’s a great team; I wouldn’t take that away from them. They had great chances and it could’ve gone either way. It just stinks that the ref stood in the way. We’re a great team and we’re leaving here with our heads high. We didn’t win, but we’re still happy.”

On the offensive side, the Gamecocks sputtered a bit in the opening minutes, but managed to create a number of close opportunities as the match went on. Junior forward and Hermann Trophy candidate Kayla Grimsley finished the night with three shots, including one in the 39th minute on a one-on-one play with keeper Katie Fraine that missed wide right.

Carolina went on to finish with seven shots and eight corner kicks, but couldn’t put one past the Florida defense.

“They’ve got a smart defense,” Grimsley said. “They might not be the best because they give the ball away a lot, but they’ve got a smart defense. They’ve got some fast girls back there and communicate well, so I think compared to other teams, they’re smart. They play smart and knew what they had to do. They knew the people they had to neutralize and got the job done, regardless of their mistakes.”

The Gamecocks came close to getting the equalizer in the closing minutes, with freshman midfielder Elizabeth Sinclair sending their final shot wide left in the 88th minute, but the Gators held on to claim their fifth straight regular season title.

“It was a battle from beginning to end like everybody knew it was going to be,” Grimsley said. “I think we had the run of play for most of the game. We started off a little rough, but without that one controversial call, the game could’ve gone either way. Five more minutes is all I think we needed to put one in the back of the net. We pounded them the last 20 minutes, just in their end the whole time. It’s tough to go out like that.”