Outback Bowl: South Carolina Beats OSU

T A M P A, Jan. 1, 2001 -- Ryan Brewer didn’t fit the mold of an OhioState tailback, so he wound up at South Carolina.

The Buckeyes’ loss turned out to be the Gamecocks’ gain intoday’s Outback Bowl.

Brewer gained 219 total yards and scored three touchdowns,pacing a 24-7 victory over Ohio State that capped a remarkablecomeback for Lou Holtz and South Carolina. The Gamecocks, winlessin 1999 and losers of 21 straight entering the season, finished themost dramatic one-year turnaround in Southeastern Conferencehistory.

Brewer ran for 7,656 yards and scored 761 points as a prep starin Troy, Ohio, but wasn’t recruited by Ohio State. On Monday, herushed for 109 yards on 19 carries and scored on runs of 7 and 2yards, as well as a 28-yard screen pass play.

Unlikely MVP

“I never dreamed anything like this would happen,” Brewer, theunlikely MVP said. “My only thought was to go out there and playthe best that I can.”

A wide receiver most of this season, Brewer was part of aplatoon of runners Holtz used in place of Derek Watson, a1,000-yard rusher the coach suspended for the game for violating ateam rule.

The 5-10, 210-pound sophomore gained 66 yards rushing and caught33 passes for 326 yards and one touchdown during the regularseason.

“I said, ‘You’re not here to prove anything to anybody at Ohio State. You’re here to help your teammates.’ And that he certainly did,” Holtz said. “The longer the game went, the better heplayed.”

Like Brewer, Holtz grew up in Ohio and got a lot of satisfactionout of the victory. He beat Ohio State for the first time in fivetries, improving his bowl record to 11-8-2 in a career thatincludes stops at William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas,Minnesota and Notre Dame.

It was another frustrating day for Ohio State coach John Cooper,who fell to 3-8 in bowl games at the Big Ten school. The Buckeyes(8-4), who avoided a shutout when offensive lineman Mike Gurrrecovered Jonathan Wells’ fumble in the end zone for athird-quarter touchdown, never have beaten a SEC team (0-6) in thepostseason.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed in the way we played,”Cooper said. “I wish we could have been a little morecompetitive”

South Carolina entered the season on a 21-game losing streak andpulled off the biggest regular-season turnaround in the SEC bygoing 7-4 after finishing 0-11 in Holtz’s first season.

The Gamecocks dropped their final three regular-season games toTennessee, Florida and Clemson to tumble out of the Top 25, butarrived in Tampa brimming with confidence that they could play withOhio State.

“This was our day, and we were not going to be denied,” Holtzsaid. South Carolina’s eight victories tied for the second-most inschool history.

“It was important for us because we wanted to win as many gamesas any team, with the exception of one. We wanted to win it becausewe wanted to finish nationally ranked. We wanted to win it to havea catapult to next year.”

South Carolina had some success moving the ball in the firsthalf, but couldn’t get it into the end zone. Jason Corse kicked a23-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter.However, he missed a 34-yarder and a fake field goal play resultedin a sack.

Ohio State was far less imaginative on offense, opening the gamewith five straight runs by Wells and eventually stalling on downswhen the tailback was stopped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 atthe South Carolina 20.

A Messy Fourth Quarter

The Buckeyes didn’t threaten again until Courtland Bullard madea diving interception to give the offense its best field positionof the day. Steve Bellisari threw 17 yards to Vanness Provitt tothe South Carolina 24, but three plays later Dan Stultz’s 47-yardfield goal attempt sailed wide right on the final play of the half.

Kalimba Edwards sacked Bellisari, forcing a fumble thatCleveland Pinkney recovered to set up Brewer’s first touchdown fora 10-0 lead. A defensive breakdown on Ken-Yon Rambo’s 65-yardreception, though, allowed Ohio State to get back into the game.

Gurr recovered Wells’ goal-line fumble two plays later, trimmingSouth Carolina’s lead to 10-7. Brewer scored on a screen pass fromPhil Petty early in the fourth quarter and added his second TD runwith 6:11 to go to put the game out of reach.

Petty completed 9 of 19 passes for 175 yards and threw oneinterception. Bellisari was 14-of-25 for 157 yards with aninterception, and Wells finished with 52 yards rushing on 14attempts for the Buckeyes.

“This was not a one-man performance,” Holtz said. “It was a total team victory. We were a very good football team today.”