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Spurrier returns to Swamp to face Florida

Nov 15, 2008 - 11:26 AM (23) South Carolina (7-3) at (3) Florida (8-1), 3:30 pm EST

GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Steve Spurrier has a chance to knock his former team out of the national championship race.

The Ol' Ball Coach makes his second trip back to The Swamp as South Carolina's coach Saturday when the 23rd-ranked Gamecocks visit No. 3 Florida in the conference finale for both teams.

The Gators clinched the Southeastern Conference East Division title last week with a 42-14 victory over Vanderbilt and climbed to fourth in the latest BCS standings.

Spurrier insists his returning to Florida is "pretty old news."

"I don't think it'll be a big deal," he said. "It'll just be the Gamecocks against the Gators."

Florida (8-1, 6-1 SEC East) is playing as well as anyone in the country, outscoring its last five opponents by a combined margin of 243-57.

But the Gators can't look past the Gamecocks, who have won six of their last seven contests and are in the running for a New Year's Day bowl game.

Spurrier guided Florida to a national championship in 1996 and won 122 games in his 12 seasons as Gators coach before an unsuccessful two-year tenure with the NFL's Washington Redskins.

After a year out of coaching, Spurrier returned to the college ranks when he took the South Carolina job in 2005 and beat Florida, 30-22, in his first game against his old school.

In 2006, when Florida won a national championship under Urban Meyer, Spurrier nearly shocked the Gators in his first trip back to his former stomping grounds.

Tim Tebow scored a 12-yard touchdown run with three minutes remaining, giving the Gators a 17-16 victory over South Carolina.

Last season, Florida had a much easier time with the Gamecocks, rolling to a 51-31 victory in Columbia.

Tebow almost singlehandedly beat South Carolina, accounting for seven touchdowns - five rushing - and 424 yards of total offense, a performance that helped him become the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy.

"Two years ago, you felt like you had a chance. A lot of teams had chances," Spurrier said. "Certainly, Florida won the close ones two years ago that led 'em all the way through to the national championship, where now they're sort of blowing out people pretty regularly."

Florida has what appears to be a breather next week against The Citadel of the Football Championship Subdivision before it could get tested in the traditional regular season finale against Sunshine State rival Florida State.

On Decmber 6, the Gators face Alabama in the SEC title game.

South Carolina (7-3, 4-3) is coming off a 34-21 victory over Arkansas, a game in which Spurrier platooned quarterbacks Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley on nearly every play.

After Florida, the Gamecocks, trying to get to eight wins for the second time in Spurrier's four seasons, are off until their annual finale against Palmetto State rival Clemson on November 29.