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Florida crushes Spurrier, South Carolina

Nov 16, 2008 - 4:15 AM GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Steve Spurrier enjoyed his share of laughers at Florida.

However, the Ol' Ball Coach had little reason to smile in his most recent visit to The Swamp.

Percy Harvin ran for a career-high 167 yards, Tim Tebow threw two touchdown passes and third-ranked Florida coasted to its sixth consecutive impressive victory Saturday, a 56-6 thrashing of Spurrier's 23rd-ranked South Carolina squad.

"I don't know about that," Spurrier responded when asked if this was the worst loss of his career. "It was the worst this year; I know that.

"A loss is a loss, whether it's by one point or 50 points. Sometimes getting your butt beat real good is better than a one-pointer or two-pointer."

It was the latest convincing win for Florida (9-1, 7-1 SEC East), which won seven conference titles and a national championship under Spurrier from 1990-2001.

"This was a great win," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "I'm very pleased. The defense played phenomenal. They gave us momentum."

Spurrier, who went 122-27-1 in 12 seasons with the Gators, left Florida for the NFL's Washington Redskins before returning to the college ranks to take the South Carolina job in 2005.

In Spurrier's first game here as the Gamecocks' coach, Florida barely held on for a 17-16 triumph in November 2006.

Two years later, Florida handed the Gamecocks (7-4, 4-4 East) their most lopsided loss since a 63-5 rout to the Spurrier-coached Gators in 1995.

"This team is a lot better than the one two years ago," said Spurrier, who fell to 81-9 all-time as a player and coach at Florida Field. "I said they had a chance (to win the national title two years ago) because they won all of the close ones two years ago.

"This team that they have now is a lot stronger than that one in my opinion."

Already holding a 7-0 advantage, Florida doubled its lead 11 minutes into the contest when Harvin scored on a 26-yard run.

South Carolina botched a reverse attempt on the ensuing kickoff return, losing a fumble at its own 1-yard line. Three plays later, Tebow plunged into the end zone to make it 21-0.

"Unfortunately, our guy couldn't catch (the reverse pass)," Spurrier said. "He couldn't even fall on it, and his guy got it. It was a dumb call on my part. We thought it might provide a spark. But that was just seven of (Florida's) points."

Tebow gave the Gators a 28-0 edge less than four minutes into the second quarter with his first TD pass of the game, a 46-yard bomb to Deonte Thompson.

Tebow finished 13-of-20 for 173 yards. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner also ran for 39 yards on 14 carries.

Harvin essentially sealed the win for Florida with his second scoring run, an 80-yard scamper up the left sideline on the opening play of the second half.

"I scored on a counter in the first half, and we came back to it on that play," Harvin said. "(Tight end) Aaron Hernandez had a great block, and I took it the distance."

Spurrier clearly was impressed with the speedy junior.

"Percy Harvin, if he was a tailback on somebody else's team, he'd be a 200-yards-a-game guy," he said.

Chris Smelley passed for just 98 yards and was intercepted twice for South Carolina, which has lost 16 of its last 17 meetings with the Gators.

Florida out-gained South Carolina, 519-173, and forced four turnovers.

The 56 points allowed easily constituted a season high for the Gamecocks, who had not yielded more than 24 in its previous 10 games.

"That was the best defense I have ever played against," Smelley said. "They move players around, stand-off guys and bring lots of different looks we weren't used to seeing."