My favorite win of the season was definitely against Florida. I recognize that the win against Alabama was over a much better team, and the win over Clemson was very memorable, obviously. For me, though, nothing quite matched up with making a laugher out of the game against the Gators in the Swamp. Carolina has traditionally been Florida's whipping boy, and beating them handily on their field--where we had never before won, much less won in such convincing fashion--seemed like it signified that we were turning a corner, even if it came against one of Florida's least impressive squads in recent memory.
Oh, yeah. Winning the Eastern Division Championship was also nice.
Carolina got some great performances out of several players in this game. Spencer Lanning's kicking in the first half was certainly noteworthy, as was the fine performance of our defensive line, which kept John Brantley on his back for most of the night. The best performance, though, was Lattimore's, who put in a Heisman-esque performance with 200+ yards and 3 TDs. And one of his most notable plays was this tough run:
MARCUS LATTIMORE! 3rd TD of night clinches SEC East title for the Gamecocks! (via hulliechrisp)
This was not a game-changing moment; the most shocking thing about this game is probably that we knew that it was essentially over after Lattimore scored in the third quarter to give Carolina a 22-7 lead. This TD, though, put a memorable finishing touch on what had been quite a night for Carolina football. It was essentially a prelude to the victory celebration, and I'll always remember it fondly for that reason.