South Carolina Football: Ranking the top-15 offensive performances in Gamecock history
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football’s No. 12 Greatest Offensive Performance(s) of All-Time:
Marcus Lattimore vs. Georgia
Most college football fans know that Marcus Lattimore was a transcendent talent at the running back position for Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks. Most aren’t aware, though, that he had a little-known nickname that is one of the coolest in college football history: “a Bulldog’s worst nightmare.” Lattimore earned every ounce of that name in his three games against the ‘Dawgs.
As a true freshman in his second-ever game at South Carolina, Lattimore was called upon to lead the way against the mighty Georgia Bulldogs, and #21 delivered in a big way. Spurrier fed the beast with 38 (!) touches, and he rewarded his coach by racking up 196 yards and scoring two touchdowns while slowly choking the life out of the Gamecocks’ border rival.
In his second season, Georgia game planned to stop Lattimore. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work. 184 yards and a score later, and it was the Gamecocks who were walking out of Sanford Stadium with an SEC win.
It’s a wonder no one called PETA on the South Carolina running back as the Bulldog beatings continued in 2012. For the third-straight year, the Gamecocks beat Georgia behind the heroics of their star running back. Lattimore had 133 yards and didn’t even play in the 4th quarter as the Gamecocks were winning 28-0 heading into the final period. It was the first time in the history of the rivalry that South Carolina had won three straight in the series.