2000 South Carolina Gamecocks football team

The 2000 South Carolina Gamecocks football team represented the University of South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Gamecocks were led by Lou Holtz in his second season as head coach and played their home games at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.

2000 South Carolina Gamecocks football
Outback Bowl champion
Outback Bowl, W 24–7 vs. Ohio State
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 21
AP	No. 19
2000 record	8–4 (5–3 SEC)
Head coach	Lou Holtz (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Skip Holtz (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Charlie Strong (2nd season)
Home stadium	Williams-Brice Stadium (c. 80,250, grass)

2000 Southeastern Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 10 Florida x$		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 19 South Carolina		5	–	3					8	–	4
No. 20 Georgia		5	–	3					8	–	4
Tennessee		5	–	3					8	–	4
Vanderbilt		1	–	7					3	–	8
Kentucky		0	–	8					2	–	9
Western Division
No. 18 Auburn x		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 22 LSU		5	–	3					8	–	4
Ole Miss		4	–	4					7	–	5
No. 24 Mississippi State		4	–	4					8	–	4
Arkansas		3	–	5					6	–	6
Alabama		3	–	5					3	–	8
Championship: Florida 28, Auburn 6
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

South Carolina made one of the biggest turnarounds in college football history, going from a winless season in 1999 to an eight-win campaign in 2000. Their first win of the season, against New Mexico State, came two years to the day after their previous win, against Ball State on September 2, 1998. South Carolina's turnaround in conference play was also one of the biggest in SEC history, going from 0–8 in 1999, to 5–3 in 2000 including a victory against a heavily favored Georgia team that ended the Gamecocks' SEC losing streak. South Carolina fans tore down the goalposts at Williams-Brice Stadium on both occasions in celebration. On New Year's Day 2001, the Gamecocks defeated Ohio State in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida. South Carolina finished the season ranked #19 in the AP Poll and #21 in the Coaches Poll.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	7:00 PM	New Mexico State*		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina		W 31–0	80,814
September 9	3:30 PM	No. 10 Georgia		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 21–10	83,605
September 16	7:00 PM	Eastern Michigan*		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina		W 41–6	80,922
September 23	12:30 PM	Mississippi State		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina	JPS	W 23–19	79,949
September 30	3:00 PM	at Alabama	No. 23	Bryant–Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, Alabama	PPV	L 17–27	83,818
October 7	7:00 PM	at Kentucky		Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, Kentucky	ESPN2	W 20–17	69,334
October 14	12:30 PM	Arkansas	No. 24	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina	JPS	W 27–7	81,935
October 21	2:00 PM	at Vanderbilt	No. 18	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, Tennessee	PPV	W 30–14	33,369
October 28	12:30 PM	Tennessee	No. 17	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina	JPS	L 14–17	84,200
November 11	3:30 PM	at No. 4 Florida	No. 21	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, Florida	CBS	L 21–41	85,718
November 18	3:30 PM	at No. 14 Clemson*	No. 25	Memorial Stadium Clemson, South Carolina (Palmetto Bowl)	ABC	L 14–16	85,187
January 1	11:00 AM	vs. No. 18 Ohio State*		Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida (Outback Bowl)	ESPN	W 24–7	65,229
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

[1]

Roster

2000 South Carolina Gamecocks football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 4 Andrew Pinnock So QB 5 Dondrial Pinkins Fr RB 6 Trevin Smith Fr WR 7 Michael Ages So WR 8 Ted Crawford  Fr QB 14 Phil Petty Jr WR 15 Kevin Sides Sr RB 16 Jamaica Jackson Fr QB 17 Mikal Goodman So QB 18 Josh Rogers Jr RB 19 Andrea Gause Fr	Defense 30 O¹Rondai Cox DB 5-11 177 Jr./RS 2VL Decatur, Ga. (Avondale) 33 Jeremiah Garrison LB 6-1 205 Fr. HS Belton, S.C. (Belton-Honea Path) Pos. # Name Class CB 24 Sheldon Brown Jr LB 31 Darion Hutcherson Jr DB 32 Dunta Robinson Fr LB 34 Rod Thomas So CB 35 Andre Goodman  Jr DE 55 Kalimba Edwards Jr NT 57 Langston Moore So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Lou Holtz Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2000-11-09

Coaching staff

• Lou Holtz, head coach
• Skip Holtz, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks
• Charlie Strong, defensive coordinator, defensive line
• Dave DeGuglielmo, offensive line
• John Gutekunst, defensive backs
• Oliver Pough running backs
• Dave Roberts, tight ends
• Chris Cosh, linebackers
• Todd Fitch, wide receivers
• Paul Lounsberry, offensive line

Rankings

See also: 2000 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	23	NR	24	18	17	22	21	25	NR	NR	NR	19
Coaches Poll	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	23	NR	24	19	18	24	25	NR	NR	NR	NR	21
BCS	Not released									NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	Not released

References

1. "College Football Data Warehouse". Archived from the original on 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-03-20.