Taneyhill's 1992 Tennessee Halloween Victory

1992 Gamecock Team Upset Vols 24-23

Looking back at the overall 5-6 record, the 1992 season doesn't seem that special. But there was a lot of moments in that 1992 season that made it very special.

The season, the Gamecocks first year in the SEC, started off 0-5. Moreover the 1991 season had ended with a four game slide so the team was on a 9 game losing streak after the blowout loss at Alabama.

The Head Coach, Sparky Woods, was under pressure and he made some comments to the media after the Alabama game that upset his players. The players called a meeting. According to lore, the players took a vote in which a substantial percentage of the team voted for Woods to retire. The team then left the vote totals up on a board for Woods to see when they left the meeting room. The Columbia media got wind of it, and called it a "players revolt."

The upshot of the revolt was that Woods installed freshman Steve Taneyhill as his starting quarterback. The 1992 Gamecock team turned around the season and finished with five wins out of the last six games, including a victory at Clemson.

Along about half way through the turn-around winning streak, the Gamecocks faced a strong Tennessee team on Halloween. Before 1992, South Carolina had not beaten Tennessee since 1903. The 1992 game had one of the greatest plays in Gamecock history.

The play, called "the stop," took place as time was running out when the Volunteers were trying to tie the game on a two point conversion. It was made by linebacker Hank Campbell against the Volunteer's great running back, James "Little Man" Stewart. (Stewart was later selected in the 1st round of the NFL draft (19th overall) of the 1995 NFL Draft.)

The video below shows the Gamecocks making "the stop."