COLUMBIA —South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier would’ve loved for Connor Shaw’s 80-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of last Saturday 31-10 win over against Missouri to have counted.
It might have impressed the Head Ball Coach even more than what Shaw did after that.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a quarterback go 80 yards in my coaching career,” Spurrier said. “That’s the first time ever, I’m pretty sure. But anyway, it was an unfortunate penalty that was called.”
Right tackle Mike Matulis was penalized for clipping on the play; Spurrier said after the game an official told him that the illegal block occurred inside the tackle box.
“We can’t talk about it,” Spurrier said Tuesday about the referee’s decision. “That’s one of those deals you can’t talk about, so we can’t talk about it. Like a lot of deals in life, you just can’t talk about it.”
While he wanted to avoid upsetting the SEC office by criticizing officials, he had no problems talking about his junior quarterback, who settled for a memorable day after all.
Shaw threw an incompletion on his first pass but didn’t misfire on a single throw the rest of the game, completing 20 consecutive passes.
“I wasn’t aware until they told me after the game,” Shaw said Saturday about the mark, which ranks second all-time in SEC play. “My offensive line played great and our receivers caught great passes and made yards after catches as well.”
Shaw shook off a fractured right shoulder blade that he suffered on Aug. 30 at Vanderbilt to go 20-of-21 for 249 yards and two touchdowns; he didn’t throw an interception and was sacked just once.
Despite missing the second game of the season against East Carolina and getting knocked out in the first half against UAB, Shaw proved he was healthy enough to spread the ball around.
The single-game consecutive passing record is 23 by former Tennessee QB Tee Martin, who also holds the overall consecutive mark of 24.
Shaw didn’t play the entire game against Missouri; he was lifted in the middle of a late fourth-quarter drive.
“Up top, one of the (assistant coaches) said, ‘He needs two completions to set some kind of SEC record. Do you want to leave him in there and let him throw a couple swing passes?’ I said, ‘No, let’s get him out. He’s played enough. We’ll let Dylan sweep it up and go from there,’” Spurrier said.
Should Shaw complete five straight passes Saturday when the No. 6 Gamecocks (4-0, 2-0 SEC) visit Kentucky (1-3, 0-1) at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, he’d be the new SEC record holder.
“Connor, I don’t think he’s big on individual things like that,” Spurrier said. “It’d be neat if it happens, but we will let it happen in the normal course of the game this week.”
Spurrier said he can’t recall any days quite like Shaw had when Spurrier was a player in college or the pros, but he doesn’t remember one mark when he was the signal caller at Florida.
“I think I had some kind of streak in college, when I was a player, where I didn’t have an interception for about seven or eight games, something like that,” he said. “Of course, we didn’t throw, well, but about 15 or 20. About what we’re doing today actually, come to think of it, 15 to 20 passes a game.”
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2012/sep/25/uscs-shaw-continue-passing-streak-against-kentucky/
It might have impressed the Head Ball Coach even more than what Shaw did after that.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a quarterback go 80 yards in my coaching career,” Spurrier said. “That’s the first time ever, I’m pretty sure. But anyway, it was an unfortunate penalty that was called.”
Right tackle Mike Matulis was penalized for clipping on the play; Spurrier said after the game an official told him that the illegal block occurred inside the tackle box.
“We can’t talk about it,” Spurrier said Tuesday about the referee’s decision. “That’s one of those deals you can’t talk about, so we can’t talk about it. Like a lot of deals in life, you just can’t talk about it.”
While he wanted to avoid upsetting the SEC office by criticizing officials, he had no problems talking about his junior quarterback, who settled for a memorable day after all.
Shaw threw an incompletion on his first pass but didn’t misfire on a single throw the rest of the game, completing 20 consecutive passes.
“I wasn’t aware until they told me after the game,” Shaw said Saturday about the mark, which ranks second all-time in SEC play. “My offensive line played great and our receivers caught great passes and made yards after catches as well.”
Shaw shook off a fractured right shoulder blade that he suffered on Aug. 30 at Vanderbilt to go 20-of-21 for 249 yards and two touchdowns; he didn’t throw an interception and was sacked just once.
Despite missing the second game of the season against East Carolina and getting knocked out in the first half against UAB, Shaw proved he was healthy enough to spread the ball around.
The single-game consecutive passing record is 23 by former Tennessee QB Tee Martin, who also holds the overall consecutive mark of 24.
Shaw didn’t play the entire game against Missouri; he was lifted in the middle of a late fourth-quarter drive.
“Up top, one of the (assistant coaches) said, ‘He needs two completions to set some kind of SEC record. Do you want to leave him in there and let him throw a couple swing passes?’ I said, ‘No, let’s get him out. He’s played enough. We’ll let Dylan sweep it up and go from there,’” Spurrier said.
Should Shaw complete five straight passes Saturday when the No. 6 Gamecocks (4-0, 2-0 SEC) visit Kentucky (1-3, 0-1) at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, he’d be the new SEC record holder.
“Connor, I don’t think he’s big on individual things like that,” Spurrier said. “It’d be neat if it happens, but we will let it happen in the normal course of the game this week.”
Spurrier said he can’t recall any days quite like Shaw had when Spurrier was a player in college or the pros, but he doesn’t remember one mark when he was the signal caller at Florida.
“I think I had some kind of streak in college, when I was a player, where I didn’t have an interception for about seven or eight games, something like that,” he said. “Of course, we didn’t throw, well, but about 15 or 20. About what we’re doing today actually, come to think of it, 15 to 20 passes a game.”
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2012/sep/25/uscs-shaw-continue-passing-streak-against-kentucky/