COLUMBIA, S.C. - It was something subtle that wasn't witnessed by many fans Thursday night because most had long since departed Brice-Williams Stadium as result of a lightning delay. A good portion of the national TV audience had probably already turned away from the long-since decided game between No. 6-ranked South Carolina and North Carolina.

South Carolina had retained possession with less than a minute to play and holding a comfortable 27-10 advantage over the Tar Heels. One would expect the Gamecocks would run the clock out in such a situation.

That would be the strategy of a head coach under normal circumstances. But anyone who's been around South Carolina's Steve Spurrier over the years knows he's not one to stick to the script, especially when he's in a game against North Carolina.

Spurrier's disdain for the Tar Heels goes back to his days as head coach at Duke between 1987-89. He's never tried to hide it or sugarcoat his feelings, and even admitted earlier this week that he never grows tired of sticking it to UNC whenever he can.

Apparently, that opportunity came in the final seconds of his team's win. Instead of having quarterback Connor Shaw drop to a knee and run the clock out, Spurrier called for a long pass on second down from the Gamecocks' 2-yard line. The pass was overthrown and out of the reach of receiver Pharoh Cooper, but the message the attempt sent to the opposing sideline was clear to his UNC counterpart, Larry Fedora.

In an attempt at mind reading, I think Fedora regarded the play call as an attempt to embarrass the Tar Heels. So, while his team was obviously overmatched and the outcome of the game had been long since been determined, Fedora sent Spurrier a return message in the only way he could - by calling a time out with 5 seconds to play.

South Carolina players and coaches had already spilled out onto the playing field to start celebrating their victory when the time out call came. A chorus of boos rang out from the fans who had braved the lightning and rain that delayed the game for an hour and 44 minutes as officials herded the players back to the sideline.

When asked after the game why he called the time out, Fedora said, "I thought I could make them punt.''

"Why did you want to see them punt?'' a reporter responded.

"Because I was going to try to block" the kick, Fedora said.

Those responses, however, hid the real truth. Fedora's time out call was the fiery Texan's way of showing a middle finger to Spurrier for the downfield pass. That assertion became even more evident as Fedora's postgame press conference came to a conclusion.


"Probably not,'' Fedora said. Then, as he left the interview room, he added, "Thanks, I was waiting for someone to ask that question.''

Spurrier, obviously, got the final word with a fairly dominant season-opening win against the Tar Heels. He also responded to Fedora's timeout call by calling one of his own.

But if you're a UNC fan, you've got to love and admire Fedora's moxie and refusal to sit back and not respond at all to Spurrier's antics. That's the kind of attitude that helped Fedora motivate the Tar Heels a year ago to an 8-4 finish, despite the weight of an NCAA postseason ban hanging over their heads.

If the Tar Heels can match Fedora's fire again, then they'll have no problem recovering from Thursday's defeat and go on to produce another successful season.

Fedora, meanwhile, can look forward to exchanging pleasantries with Spurrier again in 2015 when the teams meet again to kick off the season in Charlotte. By then, Fedora hopes UNC will be better able to compete with the Gamecocks.

"We've still got a lot of work today,'' he said. "We're sill in Year Two and I wish we were further along, but we're not. This was a good measuring stick for us. I didn't look at tonight and say, 'Gosh, we're so far away we'll never make it.' That's not how I'm coming out of the game. I don't think we're that far away. We've just got to execute.''
