Dec 29, 2006 - 1:00 PM
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Steve Spurrier spent the past few weeks denying he had interest in the coaching jobs at Miami and Alabama. On Friday, he will try to guide South Carolina to a bowl win.
The Gamecocks (7-5) will face Houston (10-3) in the Liberty Bowl at Memphis on Friday.
Friday's schedule will be the busiest of the bowl schedule thus far, with five games involving just one ranked team.
No. 24 Oregon State (9-4) travels to El Paso, Texas, to play in the Sun Bowl against Missouri (8-4), which has dropped four of its last six contests.
After opening with seven victories in eight games, Clemson (8-4) seeks to turn around a disappointing finish to the regular season when it meets Kentucky (8-4) in the Music City Bowl at Nashville, Tennessee.
Texas Tech (7-5) battles Minnesota (6-6) in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, while Purdue (8-5) takes on Maryland (8-4) in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
South Carolina finished the season with a pair of victories, including a 31-28 triumph over intrastate rival Clemson.
"It would be very helpful to have an eight-win season and finish with three straight wins," Spurrier said. "That would be very helpful, we are going to try. I just want our guys to play well, play hard and play smart."
But Spurrier is just 6-7 in bowl games, including a 38-31 loss to Missouri in last year's Independence Bowl.
This season, the Gamecocks lost Southeastern Conference contests to Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida all by a touchdown or less.
Spurrier has used Blake Mitchell and Syvelle Newton at quarterback and seems to have settled on Mitchell as his starter, with Newton playing quarterback, wide receiver and safety.
One thing Houston doesn't have is any kind of quarterback controversy - that job belongs to Kevin Kolb. A four-year starter, Kolb does an excellent job of taking care of the ball. He threw for 3,423 yards and 27 TDs with only three interceptions in 393 attempts.
Oregon State unexpectedly finished third in the Pac-10 Conference, going 6-3 in league play. Along the way, the Beavers registered possibly the most shocking upset of the season, a 33-31 home triumph over Southern California on October 28, which snapped the Trojans' 27-game Pac-10 winning streak.
Missouri finished second in the Big 12 Conference North Division, going 4-4 in league action. Expected to struggle after the departure of four-year starting quarterback Brad Smith, the young Tigers got off to their first 6-0 start since 1973 before dropping four of their final six games.
Kentucky is back in a bowl game for the first time since 1999 and finished the season with four wins in its final five games. The Wildcats were 9-25 in coach Rich Brooks' first three seasons but got hot late after a 3-4 start, earning the coach a contract extension.
Clemson must be disappointed it is not in a bigger game, especially after a 7-1 start. A dominant 31-7 victory over Georgia Tech seemed to have the Tigers pointed to a berth in the ACC title game, but they faltered, losing three of four to close the season.
Led by Graham Harrell, Texas Tech finished the regular season with the nation's No. 3 passing offense at 363.2 yards per game. The sophomore completed nearly 67 percent of his passes for 4,110 yards and 36 touchdowns, leading the Big 12 Conference in passing and total offense.
Minnesota finished 115th out of 119 Division I-A teams in pass defense, surrendering 253.5 yards per game.
Texas Tech began the campaign with four wins in five games but dropped four of its next six contests. The Red Raiders completed the regular season with a 30-24 win over Oklahoma State.
Minnesota started 2-1 before dropping five of its next six games. The Gophers rebounded to win their last three games.
Maryland had a chance to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division crown before dropping games to Boston College and Wake Forest at the end of the regular season.
Led by sophomore quarterback Curtis Painter, Purdue (8-5) went 5-3 in the Big Ten Conference - the same record Maryland had in the ACC. Painter ranks sixth nationally in total offense (295.15).
A total of 32 bowls are being held over a 21-day span, which will end with top-ranked Ohio State meeting second-ranked Florida in the BCS National Championship in Glendale, Arizona on January 8.
It took 137 years for Rutgers to earn some genuine respect in major college football.
Capping one of the most successful seasons in school history, No. 16 Rutgers posted its first bowl triumph and tied a single-season record with 11 victories with Thursday's 37-10 win over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl.
