By: Kayla Parker
Posted October 11, 2010 12:00 PM
Columbia was the center of the college football world Saturday and the Gamecocks did not disappoint. Nineteenth ranked South Carolina hosted the number one Alabama Crimson Tide in an SEC showdown Saturday.
The fans were sensational all day. Great crowd at ESPN College GameDay Saturday morning, fantastic tailgates, an electric Williams Brice filled to the top, rally towels twirling throughout the stadium, and Sandstorm?
Better than ever. It all came together for a historic game for USC.
ESPN's College GameDay had a new backdrop, South Carolina's Horseshoe, something GameDay's Chris Fowler has been wanting for years.
"We've been trying for years to get on the South Carolina campus, I mean this beautiful backdrop which I think is unique and will really speak to people, it's kind of what we had in mind," said Fowler.
Although GameDay was a distant two miles from the stadium, fans still came out en masse to represent what USC is all about. South Carolina football. Erin Andrews shares the same views about SEC football.
"SEC football is a religion in the south it's a way of life. You eat, breath, sleep it. So it's always something I hold near and dear to my heart because you know, I have been around it since I was five years old," said Andrews.
GameDay was simply an introduction to what turned out to be an epic day for USC fans. The temperature was in low 80's with not one cloud in the sky, it was a perfect day for football. The atmosphere near Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday before the game began was one of calmness. People seemed to be anxious. Waiting for that 3:30 start, time seemed to slow down.
But as 3:30 crept closer, the atmosphere began to shift. That anxious feeling became excitement. You could hear people chanting "USC" and "Go Gamecocks" near the stadium. You could feel it. The atmosphere in and around Williams-Brice had become electric. The Stadium erupted with the sound of every rooster crow, every time a beat dropped from the loud speakers, especially when it was Sandstorm.
As the Gamecocks football team stormed the field the fans erupted and seemed to stay that way for the next three plus hours. The volume in the stadium stayed at 100 percent as number 19 South Carolina began to stun the number one team in the nation Alabama. The Gamecocks were up early and never looked back.
As halftime passed and the third quarter came to a close, the atmosphere in Williams-Brice was intense. People were holding hands and gripping those next to them watching the clock tick down, and Alabama couldn't seem to find an answer to USC's powerful offense. Fans in the stadium seemed to find an unmatched level of ecstasy as the clock hit zero.
The Gamecocks football team ran onto the field celebrating with a backdrop of 90,000 fans doing the same. Looking around at the end of the game, the stands were still packed with screaming fans. No one left the field.
The players, the fans, the coaches, everyone that got to witness the biggest win in Gamecock football history didn't want the ecstasy to end.
