No. 25 South Carolina holds off Kentucky

Published Oct. 10, 2009 11:52 p.m. ET

foxsports

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier is finally seeing the player he expected in Stephen Garcia.

The sophomore quarterback threw for three touchdowns, rushed for another and helped to clinch the win when he hurdled a Kentucky defender for a first down in the final minutes of the 25th-ranked Gamecocks' 28-26 victory Saturday.

"That was a big-time play," Spurrier said of Garcia's leap, "and sort of shows what he's capable of doing."

The play finally put away a pesky Kentucky team that lost to No. 1 Florida and No. 3 Alabama the last two weeks.