The University of South Carolina football team returned to practice Monday night at the Bluff Road practice fields after taking three days off following their upset win over fourth-ranked Ole Miss last Thursday night. The Gamecocks began preparations for South Carolina State, who comes to Columbia on Saturday night for a 7 p.m. kick, which will be televised nationally on ESPN Classic.

“South Carolina State is a very good team,” said Gamecocks’ head coach Steve Spurrier following Monday’s two-hour workout. “Coach Buddy Pough and his coaches do a super job. These guys are well coached and I know they’re coming to win, so it’s going to be a dogfight here Saturday night. Hopefully our team can play a lot better, especially on offense and see if we can act like we know what we’re doing out there Saturday night.”

Coach Spurrier confirmed that starting quarterback Stephen Garcia would be ready on Saturday after suffering bruised ribs in the win over Ole Miss. “He’ll be all right. He’s just bruised up a little bit. He didn’t throw too much (today), just a little bit here and there, but he’ll be fine.”

Coach Spurrier has a lot of respect for the Bulldogs. “They’re a very solid team. They disguise their coverages. When you look at them on tape, they look like an SEC team. They’ve got big, strong guys. They’re fast. They can run. They’re well coached. They didn’t win that conference accidentally. That conference down there is a lot better than probably a lot of people think. Those teams have all got athletes. They’ll be fast and ready to play.”

The Gamecocks will return to the practice fields on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m.

Game times and television details have been released for the non-conference portion of the 2009-10 South Carolina men’s basketball schedule. With the combination of all 16 Southeastern Conference games televised, the Gamecocks will be featured in at least 28 live television broadcasts during the upcoming regular season.

For the 2009-10 non-conference schedule, two contests will be broadcast on various FSN regional networks, including the home contest against Baylor and the away matchup at Clemson.

As part of its multi-year deal with ISP sports, six Gamecock home games (Alabama A&M, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville, Western Kentucky, Richmond, Furman) and one away contest (Wofford) will be televised on SportSouth, while the home matchup against Longwood will be broadcast on FOX Sports Carolinas (FSCR)*.

ESPNU has also picked up the matchup between South Carolina and Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Dec. 30, which brings Carolina’s total number of contests (including SEC schedule and Charleston Classic) on the ESPN family of networks to at least nine for the season.

2009-10 Non-Conference Schedule

Nov. 13 – Alabama A&M, SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Nov. 16 – Georgia Southern, SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Nov. 19-22 – at Charleston Classic (Charleston, S.C.)

vs. La Salle, ESPNU, 9:30 p.m.

vs. TBA

vs. TBA

Nov. 27 – Jacksonville, SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Dec. 2 – Western Kentucky, SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Dec. 6 – at Clemson (Clemson, S.C.), FSCR*, 1 p.m.

Dec. 16 – Richmond, SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Dec. 19 – at Wofford (Spartanburg, S.C.), SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Dec. 21 – Furman, SportSouth, 7 p.m.

Dec. 30 – at Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.), ESPNU, 9 p.m.

Jan. 2 – Baylor, FSCR*, 1 p.m.

Jan. 5 – Longwood, FSCR*, 7 p.m.