COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier's says there's no shame losing to Alabama, the country's top team.

Still, Spurrier knows the 23rd-ranked Gamecocks must get past their defeat to this week's new No. 1 and fully lock onto their next opponent in Vanderbilt.

"It was a team loss and we'll put it behind us," Spurrier said Sunday. "We'll mourn a little bit today, and then get ready for a big homecoming game against Vanderbilt, a team that's beaten us the last two years."

Vanderbilt also is the team that perhaps single-handedly ruined Spurrier's chances of pushing South Carolina (5-2, 2-2 SEC) into the Southeastern Conference title chase the past two seasons.

In 2007, the Gamecocks came into their game with Vanderbilt No. 6 in the country and, at 6-1, off to its best start in six years. Spurrier, in just his third season, had appeared to pull off what few thought he could in raising South Carolina to SEC championship contenders.

But it was the heavy underdog Commodores who spoiled the mood of most of the 79,212 on hand on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium with their 17-6 victory - the first ever defeat Vandy, as Spurrier likes to call them, ever hung on the head ball coach who was 14-0 against the Commodores coming in.

Spurrier has said it was among the worst offensive games he had coached and it had a devastating effect on the Gamecocks' psyche.

The loss began a staggering downward plunge for the Gamecocks that Spurrier couldn't pull them out of and South Carolina ended the year with five straight defeats. A club that was dreaming of the Bowl Championship Series didn't even get an invitation.

Then last year, South Carolina had popped into the national rankings at No. 24 after an opening-week win on ESPN over North Carolina State and hoped to put that past Vanderbilt loss behind them with a good showing in Nashville. Instead, the Gamecocks flopped again, 24-17, lost their ranking and any momentum to move up in the SEC.

Spurrier does not want to make it three defeats in a row against a team he owned for so long. "So we'll be as ready as we can possibly be to play Vandy this week," Spurrier said.

The Gamecocks should not face the challenges next time out they did last Saturday night.

Spurrier had hoped his young offense, which has kept down its mistakes, might rise to take on its staunchest test this year. Instead, sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia was off target most of the night (20 of 46 with an interception brought back for a touchdown) and the Gamecocks rushed for just 64 yards on 27 attempts.

"I don't know if the bigness of the game, the big crowd, the big stadium, national TV, I don't know if that hit our guys to where we sort of got a little shaky," Spurrier said.

Then again, Spurrier spent the week leading up to the contest saying the Gamecocks had little to lose, and had more in common with other SEC Eastern Division teams trying to scratch into the big time like Kentucky and Vanderbilt. "Because we line up with those guys a lot better," Spurrier said last Tuesday. "So we all know that."

South Carolina defeated Kentucky 28-26 at home on Oct. 10. It gets its chance to move past Vanderbilt this week.

Spurrier says he and his staff will have the players pointed at the Commodores, who they expect will come in eager to topple another ranked Gamecock team.

"We'll keep coaching these guys. They're our players," Spurrier said. "And we need to really play well to beat Vandy.... We need to have a good week of practice and play a good game to beat them."