COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mississippi wasn't ready for the top five - or South Carolina's defense.
Star quarterback Jevan Snead was hounded all game and the fourth-ranked Rebels never got in gear, losing to South Carolina 16-10 Thursday night.
"I'm glad it's gone," left tackle Bradley Sowell said of the high-intensity spotlight, "so we can just get back to basics and win ballgames."
South Carolina (3-1, 1-1 SEC) had been 1-31 all-time against Associated Press top-five foes, but left Williams-Brice Stadium with the biggest victory of Coach Steve Spurrier's five seasons.
Spencer Lanning kicked three field goals and fullback Patrick DiMarco made a key 2-yard touchdown catch for the Gamecocks.
"It was good to get a win when everybody watches," Spurrier said. "It was good for all Gamecocks."
Ole Miss (2-1, 0-1) had one last chance at a go ahead touchdown that would have extended its eight-game winning streak. But Snead was sacked by Cliff Matthews, then had a fourth-down pass knocked away by Darian Stewart.
The Rebels began the day with their highest ranking in nearly four decades. But they lost their SEC opener for the sixth consecutive season - and will likely drop down the polls once the new rankings come out.
It's also the fourth consecutive week of the season in which a top-five team tumbled, following No. 3 Oklahoma's loss to Brigham Young on Sept. 5, No. 5 Oklahoma State's loss to Houston on Sept. 12 and No. 3 Southern Cal's loss to Washington a week ago.
The Gamecocks jumped around when the game ended, celebrating the type of a victory these players had never enjoyed before at their stadium. South Carolina's lone top-five victory came at North Carolina in 1981.
"It was a pretty ugly win, but a win, and we'll take it every time," Gamecocks quarterback Stephen Garcia said.
Snead came into the season heralded as one of the best quarterbacks in the country, but he flopped in front a national audience eager to see what the Rebels were made of.
The Ole Miss junior missed six consecutive throws during one stretch and only once came through with a critical play. His 45-yard touchdown pass to Markeith Summers with under 10 minutes left cut it to 16-10.
South Carolina's defense had to come through after that because the offense, which controlled things for much of the first three quarters went three-and-out on its final four possessions.
Snead's 11-yard pass to Pat Patterson brought Ole Miss to the Gamecocks' 32 with 2:55 to play. Then Coach Houston Nutt tried to outfox South Carolina.
A carry by Brandon Bolden out of the "Wild Rebel" package went for a yard. A double reverse to Dexter McCluster lost 4 yards.
Matthews followed with his sack of Snead before Stewart preserved the victory by batting down the final pass.
"We thought we could beat them. Thought it was a toss-up game," Spurrier said. "But the way it turned out, the way our defense played, 16 points was enough."
Snead had thrown at least two touchdown passes in each of his past eight games and the Rebels were averaging 424 yards and 48 points a game coming in. Yet, he finished 7 of 21 for 107 yards and the team came far short of their earlier production.
"We really hurt ourselves and we continued to do it all throughout the game, into the last series. It's tough," Snead said.
Mississippi ......................3 0 0 7 - 10 South Carolina ..................0 6 10 0 - 16 First Quarter Miss-FG Shene 42, :10.
Second Quarter SC-FG Lanning 26, 8:52.
SC-FG Lanning 20, :00.
Third Quarter SC-FG Lanning 30, 10:01.
SC-DiMarco 2 pass from Garcia (Lanning kick), 6:57.
Fourth Quarter Miss-Summers 45 pass from Snead (Shene kick), 9:47.
Attendance-74,724.
Miss SC First downs .................................14 15 Rushes-yards .......................... 40-139 34-65 Passing.......................................109 220 Comp-Att-Int ............................8-22-0 16-34-0 Return Yards ...............................36 13 Punts-Avg. ...............................6-41.7 7-42.9 Fumbles-Lost ..............................1-1 1-1 Penalties-Yards ......................... 9-70 8-65 Time of Possession ..................26:25 33:35 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Mississippi, McCluster 15-85, Bolden 10-32, Eason 7-29, Grandy 1-4, R.Scott 1-(minus 1), Snead 6-(minus 10). South Carolina, Miles 13-52, Maddox 5-18, Giles 2-8, M.Brown 1-3, DiMarco 1-1, Team 2-(minus 4), Garcia 10-(minus 13).
PASSING-Mississippi, Snead 7-21-0-107, Sparks 1-1-0-2. South Carolina, Garcia 16-34-0-220.
RECEIVING-Mississippi, Summers 2-60, Breaux 2-19, Hodge 1-11, Patterson 1-11, Allen 1-6, D.Davis 1-2. South Carolina, Gurley 4-60, M.Brown 3-85, Di-Marco 3-23, Barnes 2-22, Miles 2-13, Maddox 1-14, Saunders 1-3.
Sports, Pages 19, 22 on 09/25/2009