Seminoles hold off Gamecocks 26-17

EJ Manuel’s days as a Florida State backup appear to be over. Manuel threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to stop a South Carolina rally and lead the Seminoles to a 26-17 victory over the turnover-plagued Gamecocks in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Friday night. Manuel took over after senior quarterback Christian Ponder left early in the second quarter with a concussion. The sophomore looks ready to assume the starting role next season. "I hate it for Christian,” Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. “He got dinged on the back of his head. He came off and he was kind of out of it a little bit. I hate that because of what he means to us but EJ, oh boy, I’m glad he’s on our team." Manuel completed 11 of 15 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown and had seven carries for 46 yards. He was 7-for-7 passing on the fourth-quarter touchdown drive.

No. 19 South Carolina (9-5), which was seeking its first 10-win season since 1984, lost star running back Marcus Lattimore when he was hit hard on the Gamecocks’ first drive. Coach Steve Spurrier’s team also committed five turnovers. "We had (414) yards," Spurrier said. "It wasn’t a terrible offensive performance. It was just the turnovers that hurt us." Stephen Garcia, who threw 11 interceptions in 13 games leading up to the bowl, was picked off by Michael Harris, Kendall Smith and Xavier Rhodes in the Gamecocks’ turnover-filled first half. Including Lattimore’s lost fumble on South Carolina’s opening drive, the Gamecocks had turnovers on each of their first three possessions and four in the first half. Spurrier said he considered making a change at quarterback. "There’s always the thought of that but he got us this far and I thought let’s let him finish,” Spurrier said. “Stephen struggled early and then he made some pretty decent throws in the second half. It looked like we had a chance to get back in the game."Garcia recovered to lead two long touchdown drives that trimmed Florida State’s lead to 19-17 before Manuel answered with the 7-yard scoring pass to Taiwan Easterling.

Garcia completed 19 of 34 passes for 243 yards and also scored on a nifty play in the third. On a third-down play from the Florida State 3, Garcia threw a screen pass to Ace Sanders, who threw back across the field to Garcia alone in the right side of the end zone.