Columbia, SC (WLTX) -- In what Head USC Football Coach Steve Spurrier is calling the "Biggest Game of the Year" for his Gamecocks, the Head Ball Coach is hoping his team can snap a three-game losing streak, while the No. 17 Clemson Tigers push to extend their winning streak to seven. "If we're not in a big SEC Championship game," Spurrier said, "This is the biggest game of the year." At the beginning of the year, Spurrier said that the most important game of the year would be an Southeastern Conference Championship game. Since his team will not play during that game versus SEC East Champ No. 1 Florida and SEC West Champ No. 3 Alabama, the State Championship takes over in Spurrier's eyes. "I don't know what it is for those guys, because they're in the big game," Spurrier said referring to Clemson's Dec. 5 matchup against rivals Georgia Tech for the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. Clemson became the undisputed Atlantic Division Champion with its home win over Virginia last weekend, 34-21. "So, I guess you gotta ask them (Clemson) if it's the biggest game of the year, " Spurrier said, "Hopefully, we can play close to mistake-free and not have the crucial turnovers that seem to hamper us recently." Spurrier referred to Gamecock quarterback Stephen Garcia's third quarter interception against Florida that turned that 24-14 home loss in the Gators' favor. Spurrier mentioned that the Tigers have made 20 interceptions during the season, led by junior strong safety DeAndre McDaniel, who is second in the FBS for interceptions with eight this season. "Hopefully, we can contain their big play guys," Spurrier said, "Certainly [senior running back] C.J. Spiller and [senior wide receiver] Jacoby Ford are two of the break-away threats in college football. They've returned four kicks, I think, for touchdowns this year. Obviously, both of those players are exciting." Spiller and Ford, as a duo, lead the FBS for all purpose yardage, with Spiller's career total only 26 yards away from reaching the 7,000 mark, a height only met by four players in FBS history. "C.J. Spiller has had a fantastic year," Spurrier said, "He's had a fantastic four years. Hopefully, we can contain him a bit. We need to, to give us a good chance." With that, Spurrier focused on the Gamecocks. "Our guys came back from break," Spurrier said, "We weren't very sharp last night. We looked like we hadn't practiced in about three days. Hopefully, we can be sharper tonight and through the week." Spurrier said junior defensive end Cliff Matthews should be healthy enough to play against Clemson, with the only other injured players being junior defensive tackle Travian Robertson and junior linebacker Rodney Paulk, both of which were injured early in the season. "They're pretty highly ranked in all the defensive categories and they've gotten a ton of turnovers as we all know," Spurrier said of the Tigers' "Bandit Defense," consistently ranked with the nation's best, especially Clemson's deep secondary unit. "Twenty interceptions and I'm not sure how many fumbles--five or six, something like that. So, they've gotten their fair share of crucial turnovers to help them win the game. They're a good defense. I wish we could say we were going to go up and down the field, but we've not really gone up and down the field on anybody we've played." "We hope to run the ball, and stay on the field, and mix it up," Spurrier said, "That's what we hope to do." Spurrier said Spiller is deserving of the talk as a Heisman Candidate, but stayed mum on who he was voting for this year. "I get in enough trouble talking about who I vote for," Spurrier said, "So, I don't think I need to do that anymore." "Let's hope [Spiller] has a big game in the ACC championship game. I keep hearing about [Florida quarterback Tim] Tebow and [Alabama running back Mark] Ingram and all those guys, that if they have a big one in their championship game [they will win the Heisman]. [Spiller] could be in contention. Again, that's something that will play out for all those guys. A lot of that voting comes down to, 'Hey, who had that last big game--that big championship game.' That seems to determine that winner a lot." Surely, Spiller's stats speak for themselves, and he's had a large part of the Tigers' six-game winning streak. "They've done a good job--[Head Clemson Football Coach] Dabo [Swinney] and his coaches have done a good job of keeping their guys together through some of the difficult early going there." Spurrier said, referencing Clemson's rocky 2-3 start with a three-point loss to Coastal Division Champion No. 7 Georgia Tech and four-point loss to No. 4 Texas Christian. "But those games they were losing were all close ones, you know. It wasn't like they were getting blown out," Spurrier said, "They have a good team. They had a good team at the start of the year." Spurrier said the Tigers have bounced back from adversity. "They've put it together and won the close ones against Miami and FSU. They lost some close ones early, but certainly made up for it with those two big wins that put them in position for their division championship thus far." The Head Ball Coach said his team has many strategies they have yet to try, and with only one regular season game left, the Gamecocks have little to lose. "There's a lot of offense that we've practiced some of the year that we haven't gotten to," Spurrier said, "Whether we get to it or not, well, we'll just have to wait and see." "Talking about the past absolutely does no good," Spurrier said, "I think the game this Saturday will stand on its own merit. Every game is very important, but this is the biggest game of the year for us. I don't know how it could be any bigger."
11/24/2009 3:47:43 PM
