Gamecocks head home for holiday

South Carolina practiced for a little more than an hour Wednesday morning before freeing players to leave for the holiday break.
USC coach Steve Spurrier said he has been pleased with the effort put forth during the eight Papajohns.com Bowl practices held so far. He felt the same way last year, though, before the Gamecocks lost 31-10 to Iowa in the Outback Bowl.
"We didn't practice all that poorly last year," Spurrier said. " Practices have been pretty good but we've got to maintain it. We've got to really step it up once we start the week of the game. It's been OK, but we have to take it to the ballpark."
The team is scheduled to return to Columbia on Sunday night and practice Monday and Tuesday before departing for Birmingham on Tuesday afternoon. USC is scheduled to practice at Birmingham Southern College on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the 2 p.m. kickoff at Legion Field against Connecticut on Saturday.
Spurrier gave his team some words of advice before letting them head home for Christmas.
"Always tell the guys to be safe, don't get in the car with anybody that has been drinking, be careful on the highways," Spurrier said. "Every time you get in the car, potentially could be the last day of your life. We try to warn our guys the best we can and go from there. That's always the message before a holiday break."
Kickoff coverage. Spurrier said the Gamecocks plan to kick to Connecticut's return men even though the Huskies have returned three kickoffs for touchdowns. .
The Gamecocks' last special teams return for a touchdown was when Chavez Donnings returned a punt against Florida in 2003.
"Their coach has already mentioned they need to score on special teams to help win the game," Spurrier said. "Hopefully, some day we can have that attitude around here that we can score on special teams, because we don't do it very well. If we're ever going to be a really, really good team, we've got to do that."