Greene leads Hawkeyes, plans to try NFL draft

TAMPA, Fla. -- From carrying couches to an All-American carrying a football. Now, Shonn Greene, the Big Ten’s most valuable player, 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 make himself eligible for the NFL draft.

“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 such as “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 touchdowns.

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 one-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 touchdown 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 nine 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.

Spurrier fell to 7-8 in bowl games, 1-2 at South Carolina.

“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.”