COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Saturday, the South Carolina Gamecocks take on the second ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at Williams Brice Stadium.
Nine years ago, the Gamecocks defeated the number one ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 35-21, which became arguably the biggest victory in Gamecock history.
The impact of the victory is still felt by many in Palmetto state and it's also felt by Stephen Garcia, the quarterback that guided the Gamecocks to victory.
"We scored on our opening drive, that kind of got everybody's confidence up," Garcia says. "We were like, man, we can play with these dudes. Let's go ahead and win this game."
In 2010, Stephen Garcia was in his second full year as starter for the Gamecocks. Although the team was playing an Alabama team that won 19 straight games and were coming off of a national championship, Garcia says he felt the team were up for the challenge.
"It was a great week of practice as calm as Coach Spurrier has ever been, we really had about two weeks to practice, had about 7 to 8 days before Alabama and when you have that kind of time to prepare and watch tape," Garcia says. "We were ready.”
In the game, Garcia completed 17 of his 20 passes and threw 3 touchdowns, guiding the Gamecocks to a 14 point victory.
"The atmosphere that day was amazing," Garcia says. "We had a pretty good team that year, I feel like that was kind of the turning point of the South Carolina football team."
As for Saturday, Garcia says he likes the Gamecocks chances against Alabama on Saturday and he is impressed with the play of Freshman Ryan Hilinski.
"I feel like they have a chance. I feel like people are overlooking them," Garcia says. "I like how Ryan plays. It's going to be his second start so it's going to be a little bit more difficult than it was against Charleston-Southern, but I feel like they have a chance."
The Gamecocks will kick off against Alabama on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on WLTX.