2002 South Carolina Gamecocks football team

The 2002 South Carolina Gamecocks football team represented the University of South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Gamecocks were led by Lou Holtz in his fourth season as head coach and played their home games in Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.

2002 South Carolina Gamecocks football
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Record	5–7 (3–5 SEC)
Head coach	Lou Holtz (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Skip Holtz (4th season)
Offensive scheme	Option
Defensive coordinator	Charlie Strong (4th season)
Home stadium	Williams-Brice Stadium
Seasons ← 2001 2003 →

2002 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 3 Georgia x$		7	–	1					13	–	1
Florida		6	–	2					8	–	5
Tennessee		5	–	3					8	–	5
Kentucky		3	–	5					7	–	5
South Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
Vanderbilt		0	–	8					2	–	10
Western Division
Arkansas xy		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 14 Auburn x		5	–	3					9	–	4
LSU x		5	–	3					8	–	5
Ole Miss		3	–	5					7	–	6
Mississippi State		0	–	8					3	–	9
No. 11 ^Alabama		6	–	2					10	–	3
Championship: Georgia 30, Arkansas 3
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant ^ – Alabama had the best division record, but did not participate in postseason play due to NCAA probation. Rankings from AP Poll

In 2002, South Carolina expanded their regular season from eleven to twelve games, an allowance for every college football program that the NCAA would soon make permanent.^[1] However, the Gamecocks did not take advantage of their extra game this season, as they did not finish bowl-eligible and had their first losing season since 1999.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:00 pm	New Mexico State*	No. 22	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina		W 34–24	83,717[2]
September 7	7:45 pm	at Virginia*	No. 22	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, Virginia	ESPN	L 21–34	60,171[2]
September 14	3:30 pm	No. 9 Georgia		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina (rivalry)	CBS	L 7–13	84,227[2]
September 21	7:00 pm	Temple*		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina		W 42–21	81,409[2]
September 28	7:00 pm	at Vanderbilt		Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, Tennessee	PPV	W 20–14	34,406[2]
October 5	1:00 pm	Mississippi State		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina		W 34–10	80,250[2]
October 12	6:30 pm	at Kentucky		Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, Kentucky	ESPN2	W 16–12	70,547[2]
October 19	7:45 pm	at No. 14 LSU		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, Louisiana	ESPN2	L 14–38	91,340[2]
November 2	3:30 pm	No. 25 Tennessee		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina (rivalry)	CBS	L 10–18	83,918[2]
November 9	12:30 pm	Arkansas		Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, South Carolina	JPS	L 0–23	79,307[2]
November 16	6:00 pm	at No. 20 Florida		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, Florida	ESPN	L 7–28	85,222[2]
November 23	7:45 pm	at Clemson*		Memorial Stadium Clemson, South Carolina (Palmetto Bowl)	ESPN	L 20–27	83,909[2]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

2002 South Carolina Gamecocks football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 4 Andrew Pinnock Sr QB 9 Corey Jenkins Sr WR 17 Mikal Goodman Sr OL 68 Travelle Wharton Jr OL 69 Stephen Sene Fr OL 70 Na'Shan Goddard Fr OL 71 Shane Hall Sr OL 72 Jonathan Alston So OL 73 Jon Hall Fr OL 74 John Strickland  So OL 75 Chad Walker  So OL 76 Cedric Williams Sr OL 77 Watts Sanderson  Sr OL 78 Jabari Levey Fr OL 79 Josh Malloy  Fr TE 80 Andy Boyd Fr WR 81 Corey Taylor Jr WR 82 Troy Williamson Fr WR 83 Chavez Donnings Sr WR 84 Andre Hemphill Fr WR 85 Michael Flint So WR 86 Kris Clark Fr TE 87 Brandon Jeffcoat  So	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 12 Rodriques Wilson So LB 34 Rod Thomas Sr LB 44 Brett Green Jr LB 45 Kevin Caldwell So LB 46 Lenny Williams  Sr NT 57 Langston Moore Sr DE 90 Jason Capers So DL 91 Moe Thompson Fr DL 92 Eric Stroman  Fr DE 93 Dennis Quinn  Sr DT 94 Preston Thorne  So DL 95 Randy Jackson Jr DL 96 Shaun Smith Sr DL 98 Chris Tucker  Fr DE 99 George Gause So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 97 Daniel Weaver Jr	Head coach Lou Holtz Coordinators/assistant coaches John Gutekunst (Defensive backs coach) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2002-10-04

Team players in the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Langston Moore	Defensive tackle	6	174	Cincinnati Bengals
Corey Jenkins	Defensive back	6	181	Miami Dolphins
Andrew Pinnock	Defensive back	7	229	San Diego Chargers

References

1. Pennington, Bill (April 29, 2005). "Extra Game of Football Is Approved for Colleges". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
2. "Cumulative Season Statistics". University of South Carolina. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2011.