I really liked Darren McFadden in college. The guy was a beast. He was completely dominant and also helped produce the wildcat offense which just makes football more fun. His NFL career hasn’t quite worked out (because Raiders), but he was one of my all-time favorite college players. Knowing many of you to be Hogs fans, I’m sure he’s one of your favorites as well, and why wouldn’t he be? He’s arguably the best player in the history of Arkansas football, and he gave Razorbacks everywhere some unbelievable moments. He gave me one truly unbelievable moment, as well, but it was one of pain, humiliation and a truckload of rushing yards.
It was November 2007 and my Gamecocks were, shockingly, not doing well. After starting Steve Spurrier’s third season 6-1 and climbing to No. 7 in the nation, we dropped a terrible game to Vanderbilt and then lost in overtime to Tennessee. What started as a dream season had suddenly turned dreary. Not helping the situation was the fact that we had to travel to Fayetteville for our next game to face the nation’s best tandem of backs — McFadden and Felix Jones — in a night game on ESPN. Before 2009, South Carolina playing in a big game on national TV usually meant incredible disappointment and failure were on the way. This game would be no different.
I was expecting us to have trouble with the Hogs that night. McFadden was a leading candidate for the Heisman trophy and had already rushed for his career-high 219 yards on us the year before. But, being the loyal, devoted and foolishly optimistic fan that I am, I saddled into the chair next to my father in the living room and cautiously hoped for the best. Three hours and 541 combined rushing yards later, including an SEC-record 323 yards from McFadden, my now bitterly depressed father and I sat there in total dejection wondering what had just happened.
The two plays I vividly remember are McFadden throwing a touchdown pass on us out of the Wild Hog and McFadden breaking an 80-yard touchdown run as we were trying to fight back in the fourth quarter, which resulted in me throwing my shoe against the wall in our den. The rest of the game has been completely seared from my mind.
Spurrier summed up that sad night best when he said, “Looked like a Division III team trying to play an SEC team. Or maybe a Division III team could have slowed them down a little bit better than we could.”
McFadden’s 323 rushing yards in a game is an SEC record that still stands today. Go Gamecocks.
