The 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game between the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Connecticut Huskies (UConn) of the Big East Conference, on January 2, 2010, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The game was the final contest of the 2009 NCAA Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-FBS) football season for both teams, and it ended in a 20–7 victory for Connecticut.
South Carolina had a 7–5 regular-season, highlighted by wins over then-No. 4 Mississippi and then-No. 15 Clemson. The Gamecocks faced Connecticut. The Huskies were selected to play in the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl following a tumultuous 7–5 regular season that included five losses by a total of just fifteen points, a double-overtime victory at Notre Dame, and the murder of cornerback Jasper Howard. Pregame coverage focused on the tragedy that marked the Huskies' season, as well as on head coaches Steve Spurrier of South Carolina and Randy Edsall of Connecticut.
Connecticut scored twice in the first quarter: on a one-handed 37-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Kashif Moore and then on a 33-yard field goal after South Carolina failed to convert a fourth-down play at its 32-yard line. Running back Andre Dixon scored for UConn on a 10-yard rush early in the fourth quarter. South Carolina scored its sole touchdown after the game had effectively been decided, on a two-yard run by Brian Maddox.
Dixon was named player of the game, and finished with 126 rushing yards and one touchdown. Connecticut wide receiver Marcus Easley and South Carolina linebacker Eric Norwood were among four players from the teams to be selected in the subsequent 2010 National Football League (NFL) draft.
Team selection
In 2010, the PapaJohns.com Bowl selection committee had a contractual arrangement with the Big East and SEC conferences that allowed the committee to pick one team from each conference. The Big East had a contractual bowl bid to the game since its inception in 2006. The SEC agreed to send its ninth bowl-eligible team to the bowl starting in 2008, but did not have enough bowl-eligible teams in either 2008 or 2009 to take advantage of the bid. In 2010, the SEC received $900,000 for sending a team to the game, while the Big East received $600,000.
The Big East's contract with the bowl committee stated that the group would make its selection in coordination with the International Bowl and the St. Petersburg Bowl after other Big East-affiliated bowl games made their selections. Conference champion Cincinnati was awarded an automatic Bowl Championship Series (BCS) berth in the 2010 Sugar Bowl. The Gator Bowl had the first pick after the BCS, and selected West Virginia. The Meineke Car Care Bowl, which had the next selection, considered both Pittsburgh, which had the better regular-season record, and Rutgers, whose fans had a better traveling reputation; it selected Pittsburgh.
Three bowl-eligible Big East teams remained: Connecticut, Rutgers, and South Florida. The previous two years, Rutgers had played in the 2008 International Bowl and the 2008 PapaJohns.com Bowl. In the same period, South Florida played in the 2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl and the 2008 St. Petersburg Bowl. Connecticut had played in the 2009 International Bowl the previous year. In general, bowl games and conferences prefer to have different teams play in each game each year. Partly because of this, Rutgers went to the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl, South Florida to the 2010 International Bowl, and Connecticut to the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl.
For Connecticut's opponent, the PapaJohns.com Bowl had the right to select a SEC team, but only after all other bowls with contracts with the SEC made their selections. Conference champion Alabama finished No. 1 in the BCS standings and earned a berth to the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. Conference championship game loser Florida took the SEC champion's automatic slot in the 2010 Sugar Bowl, vacant since Alabama was selected to appear in the national championship game. The Capital One Bowl had the next selection and opted for Louisiana State University (LSU). The Cotton Bowl and Outback Bowl selected Ole Miss and Auburn respectively. The Chick-fil-A Bowl, which had the next pick, selected Tennessee. The next selections were shared by the Liberty Bowl and Music City Bowl, which opted for Arkansas and Kentucky, respectively. The Independence Bowl, with the next-to-last selection, picked Georgia, leaving the PapaJohns.com Bowl with the last available bowl-eligible SEC team, South Carolina.
The game was the first meeting between the two schools and the first PapaJohns.com Bowl appearance for each. The game was the 30th anniversary of South Carolina's last postseason game at Legion Field, in the December 1979 Hall of Fame Classic, and it was the 20th anniversary of head coach Steve Spurrier's last Legion Field bowl game, with Duke in the December 1989 All-American Bowl.
South Carolina
The South Carolina Gamecocks went 7–6 in 2008, losing their final three games, including the 2009 Outback Bowl against Iowa, by a combined score of 118–30. Steve Spurrier was named head coach of the Gamecocks in 2005; in his four seasons in charge of the program, the team had a combined record of 28–21 and was bowl-eligible every year.
Early season South Carolina opened its 2009 season with a win against North Carolina State. Their next game, against No. 21 Georgia, featured a kickoff returned for a touchdown, an interception returned for a touchdown, a safety, a blocked extra point attempt, and 24 penalties. In the end, quarterback Stephen Garcia's pass on 4th-and-4 from the 7-yard line with 22 seconds remaining was batted down by the defense and fell incomplete, preserving a 41–37 win for Georgia. South Carolina proceeded to beat Florida Atlantic 38–16.
In their next contest, South Carolina faced No. 4 Mississippi, and came away with a 16–10 upset; the Gamecocks had lost their previous 22 games against AP top 5 teams. Next up was a win against in-state Division I-FCS opponent South Carolina State With the victory, the Gamecocks earned their first Top 25 ranking of the 2009 season, appearing in the AP Poll at No. 25. South Carolina finished the first half of their season against SEC opponent Kentucky. Defensive end Cliff Matthews knocked down Kentucky's pass attempt on what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion to preserve the 28–26 win. After six games, the Gamecocks had a record of 5–1 overall, 2–1 in the SEC, and were a consensus No. 22 in the AP, Coaches', and Harris polls.
Late season After winning five of their first six games, the Gamecocks proceeded to lose four of their next five. Against No. 2 Alabama, eventual Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram II ran for a then-career record 246 yards and a touchdown; South Carolina lost 20–6. The defeat dropped the Gamecocks to No. 23 in the AP and Coaches' polls, and out of the Harris poll altogether; in the first BCS standings released that week, the Gamecocks were ranked 24th. South Carolina came back to beat Vanderbilt 14–10; the Gamecocks rose to No. 21 in all three polls, and No. 22 in the following week's BCS standings. The next game, against Tennessee, was never close; South Carolina fell behind 21–0 early in the second quarter and lost 31–13. The loss caused the Gamecocks to fall out of all three polls as well as the BCS standings. South Carolina then faced Arkansas, who scored 23 unanswered points on their way to delivering the Gamecocks a 33–16 loss. The following game was against No. 1 Florida, who was undefeated. South Carolina was within three points of Florida as the fourth quarter began, but Garcia was subsequently sacked four times and intercepted twice; Florida won 24–14. The Gamecocks' record fell to 6–5 overall, 3–5 within the SEC.
After a bye week, South Carolina closed out their regular season with a game against their fierce in-state rivals, the No. 15 Clemson Tigers, who had already clinched a berth in the 2009 ACC Championship Game the next week. Clemson star running back C. J. Spiller returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown; he was held to 18 yards rushing the rest of the game. The Gamecocks scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24–7 lead through three quarters, and matched the Tigers the rest of the way to win 34–17. This win gave South Carolina a final regular season record of 7–5 overall, 3–5 in the SEC.
Connecticut
The Connecticut Huskies finished 8–5 in 2008, ending the season with a victory in the 2009 International Bowl. The departure of running back Donald Brown—the NCAA rushing leader in 2008—as well as three other Huskies selected in the first two rounds of the 2009 NFL draft, was expected to hurt the team. In the Big East preseason media poll, the Huskies were picked to finish sixth in the conference.
Early season The Huskies opened the 2009 season at Ohio University, and never trailed in the game, winning 23–16. UConn's next game was its home opener, versus No. 19 North Carolina. Connecticut led 10–0 through three quarters, but North Carolina tied the game with 2:36 left and took the lead when UConn was called for a holding penalty in its end zone, which by rule resulted in a safety. North Carolina won the game 12–10. Connecticut rebounded in its next game at Baylor, winning 30–22; they then faced Division I-Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-FCS) opponent Rhode Island, an historic rival of the team, and defeated them 52–10.
The Huskies opened Big East conference play at the Pittsburgh Panthers. UConn held a 21–6 lead with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, but Pittsburgh rallied to win with a field goal as time expired. Connecticut closed the first half of its season versus Big East opponent Louisville on homecoming weekend. In the third quarter, with UConn leading 21–13, Louisville running back Bilal Powell ran off left tackle near the end zone. He was caught by cornerback Jasper Howard, who forced a fumble. Connecticut kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive and won the game 38–25, giving the Huskies a 4–2 overall record, 1–1 within the Big East conference.
Jasper Howard murder Later that night, Howard and several other UConn football players were at a dance at the Student Union Center on the Connecticut campus. At 12:26 am a fire alarm sounded, forcing the evacuation of the building. As the students exited, an altercation broke out between a group of UConn football players and a group of non-students. The attackers brandished knives and stabbed Howard before fleeing. Howard was taken by ambulance to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, and then evacuated by helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where he was pronounced dead. Coach Randy Edsall was summoned to identify the body. Howard's murder was the first homicide on UConn's campus in more than thirty years.
Connecticut's next game, one week after Howard's death, was at West Virginia. In a close-run game, Connecticut lost 28–24 after West Virginia responded to the Huskies' late go-ahead score with one of its own. Two days after the game, the entire UConn team traveled to Howard's hometown of Miami, Florida, for his funeral. The next game, the first at Rentschler Field since Howard's death, was against Rutgers. Connecticut came back in the fourth quarter to take a 24–21 lead with 38 seconds remaining; Rutgers completed an 81-yard touchdown pass one play later to win 28–24. UConn also lost the following game, 47–45, at undefeated No. 5 Cincinnati. After three straight losses, the Huskies' record dropped to 4–5 overall; 1–4 in the Big East. The losses to this point were by a combined total of 15 points.
Late season