Greene's 3 TDs lead Iowa past South Carolina in Outback Bowl

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• Greene Helps Iowa Run Past South Carolina, 31-10

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Also See

• Iowa's prolific RB Greene to enter NFL draft
• Gamecocks' Munnerlyn, Norwood will turn pro

Bowl Overview

It was over when... Shonn Greene's two touchdowns helped the Hawkeyes build a 21-0 halftime lead over the Gamecocks. Gameball goes to... Greene, who finished the day with 121 yards and three touchdowns to spark the Hawkeyes. Stat of the game... 13. Greene is the only FBS player to rush for at least 100 yards in every game this season. Complete Bowl Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	17	22
Total Yards	313	328
Passing	270	147
Rushing	43	181
Penalties	10-100	6-50
3rd Down Conversions	5-11	8-12
4th Down Conversions	1-2	0-0
Turnovers	5	3
Possession	24:06	35:54

Air/Ground Leaders
South Carolina Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Smelley 16/31 179 1 0 Garcia 9/18 79 0 3	Iowa Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Stanzi 13/19 147 1 2
South Carolina Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Garcia 5 25 0 12 Maddox 3 17 0 7	Iowa Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Greene 29 121 3 11 Hampton 12 54 0 13
South Carolina Receiving   REC YDS TD LG McKinley 6 86 0 20 Baker 1 42 0 42	Iowa Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Myers 4 49 0 17 Moeaki 3 43 0 39

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				SCAR	IOWA
	TD	07:39	Trey Stross 6 Yd Pass From Richard Stanzi (Daniel Murray Kick)	0	7
	TD	04:41	Shonn Greene 1 Yd Run (Daniel Murray Kick)	0	14
SECOND QUARTER				SCAR	IOWA
	TD	08:09	Shonn Greene 1 Yd Run (Daniel Murray Kick)	0	21
THIRD QUARTER				SCAR	IOWA
	FG	09:09	Daniel Murray 18 Yd	0	24
	TD	00:04	Shonn Greene 11 Yd Run (Daniel Murray Kick)	0	31
FOURTH QUARTER				SCAR	IOWA
	TD	13:35	Jared Cook 10 Yd Pass From Chris Smelley (Ryan Succop Kick)	7	31
	FG	02:02	Ryan Succop 48 Yd	10	31

TAMPA, Fla. -- From carrying couches to an All-American carrying a football. Now, Big Ten MVP Shonn Greene figures he's ready for the next level.

The Iowa running back turned Thursday's Outback Bowl into a farewell party, leading the Hawkeyes past South Carolina 31-10 and then announcing he intends to skip his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

Rittenberg: Iowa Rebounds

After three middling seasons, Iowa has restored its place among the Big Ten's elite by winning six of its final seven games and routing South Carolina in the Outback Bowl, writes Adam Rittenberg. Blog •  Big Ten archive | Blog network

"I don't think there's really a lot more I can do here," Greene said. "People talk about the Heisman, but I think that's a lot of politics. I don't like getting caught up in all of that, so I just figure I'll try my chances."

Greene ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for more than 100 yards in all 13 of Iowa's games, scored in all but one, and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back.

"He's been the same guy each and every week," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said, using words like "humble" and "modest" to describe the 235-pound junior, who worked at a furniture store and didn't play football while attending community college to improve his grades.

Greene, of Sicklerville, N.J., finished with school single-season records of 1,850 yards and 20 TDs.

"I'm speechless right now. I never imagined this happening. All the success, all the accolades and stuff like that," said Greene, who sat out the 2007 season after losing his scholarship because of academic problems.

He said earlier this week he planned to meet with his family and consider information from the NFL college advisory committee before making a decision on whether to turn pro.

His Outback performance sealed the deal.

"I'm proud of the way he's handled his recognition and accolades. He's going to be extremely valuable and a great asset to any team that's smart enough to take him next year," Ferentz said.

Iowa (9-4) won for the sixth time in seven games since losing three straight to fall to 3-3. South Carolina (7-6) lost three straight down the stretch while being outscored 118-30.

Greene scored on a pair of 1-yard runs to help Iowa build a 21-0 halftime lead, then added an 11-yarder to make it 31-0 late in the third quarter. South Carolina scored on Chris Smelley's 10-yard TD pass to Jared Cook and Ryan Succop's 48-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

After struggling offensively in lopsided losses to Florida and Clemson, Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier decided to start quarterback Stephen Garcia, a highly regarded redshirt freshman from Tampa who was the centerpiece of his recruiting class in 2007.

But Garcia, who nearly undermined his career by being arrested twice within his first month on campus, turned the ball over four times in the first half and was replaced by Smelley after going 9-for-18 for 79 yards and three interceptions.

"I thought he would play a little bit better, but maybe he just wasn't ready," Spurrier said. "Maybe that's the answer."

The 20-year-old's homecoming and third career start turned sour in a hurry. His first pass was intercepted and returned 29 yards to set up an Iowa touchdown, then the dual-threat quarterback fumbled on his first run to give the Gamecocks turnovers on two of their first four offensive plays.

The next two South Carolina possessions ended with interceptions. After Bradley Fletcher picked off Garcia in the end zone, Iowa drove 80 yards to take a 21-0 lead on Greene's second touchdown.

"I can't take a lot from this. The way it ended was not the way it was supposed to go. It's pretty frustrating for me, playing in my home city and to not do well," Garcia said. "I've just got to get better. Losing a bowl game in general is pretty frustrating, but doing so in my hometown in front of my family is worse."

Ricky Stanzi was intercepted twice before halftime, but neither mistake really hurt the Hawkeyes. Iowa was trying to turn's Garcia's third interception into a quick TD when South Carolina's Chris Culliver made a leaping pick in the end zone.

Smelley, who started nine games for South Carolina this season, replaced Garcia at the start of the second half. Moe Brown fumbled on the quarterback's first completion to set up an Iowa field goal, but the Gamecocks finally had some success moving the ball the rest of the game.

Stanzi was 13-of-19 for 147 yards, including a 6-yard TD throw to Trey Stross on the first drive of the game. Smelley finished 16-of-31 for 179 yards and no interceptions.

Spurrier fell to 7-8 in bowl games, 1-2 at South Carolina. None of the previous teams making postseason appearances under him scored fewer points.

"I thought we had pretty good practices ... and I thought we had a decent game plan," Spurrier said. "Then we throw it right to them and fumbled right to them. ... And we're not, obviously, good enough to do that."