The day was September 29, 2006 when Steve Spurrier, then in his second year as head coach at South Carolina, told fans, ‘Please don’t clap if we get beat.’ The Gamecocks played second-ranked Auburn to a 24-17 final but a would-be game-tying touchdown pass was dropped in the waning minutes of the game, and three jump balls to Sidney Rice fell incomplete.
The players were clapped off the field that Thursday night on ESPN as the nearly 75,000 in attendance at Williams-Brice Stadium wanted to show their appreciation of the effort to come close…