The 12th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks (1-0, 0-0) beat the East Carolina Pirates (0-1) Saturday night, 56-37, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC.
Things did not start off smoothly however for Carolina.
Sophomore QB Connor Shaw made his first career start and began the game with a decent drive. The Gamecocks gained four first downs in their first drive, including a 4th down conversion, and looked like they were ready to take control of the game early, but a 3rd down fumble by Shaw turned things around for ECU.
After the Pirates and Gamecocks traded punts on the next three possessions, a Marcus Lattimore fumble set up ECU's first score.
QB Dominique Davis, who finished with 260 yards four touchdowns and one interception, led the Pirates five plays 43 yards to give ECU a 7-0 lead, which they wouldn't surrender again until the 3rd quarter.
ECU added to their lead early in the 2nd when Davis hit Lance Lewis for a 19 yard score. Then made it 17-0 on a Michael Barbour 24 yard FG.
QB Stephen Garcia, after being reinstated for the 5th time in his career at South Carolina, entered the game in the beginning of the 2nd quarter and turned things around for the Gamecocks.
Garcia led the Gamecocks 59 yards in five plays on his first drive of the game, which ended with his 32 yard TD run, making it 17-7.
From that point on, the Gamecocks never looked back.
Garcia finished the game 7-15 for 110 yards, one passing and two rushing touchdowns.
"I don't know if this was my best game as a Gamecock, but we needed this win, for sure," Garcia said after the game, "especially for us to come back and win after that first quarter."
His performance didn't earn him any praise from Head Coach Steve Spurrier.
"I said, 'Wait a minute. When he throws for about 300 yards and brings us down the field scoring at the end of the game,'" Spurrier said. "He played well. But hopefully, he'll have a big, big game."
South Carolina dominated ECU 42-13 in the 2nd half to end the game with a 19-point victory, making Steve Spurrier 42-0 against teams outside the BCS automatic qualifying conferences.
RB Marcus Lattimore finished the game with 23 carries for a quiet 113 yards and three touchdowns.
The Gamecocks will square off against the Georgia Bulldogs (0-1, 0-0) this Saturday in Athens, GA. This will open Carolina's SEC schedule and could very well decide the SEC Eastern Division champion. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN and will kickoff at 4:30 ET.
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