The year was 2006 and South Carolina was playing No. 12 Georgia with Matt Stafford under center.

The Gamecocks put up a goose egg on the scoreboard in an 18-0 loss. Then quarterback Blake Mitchell completed 16 of 22 passes for 156 yards while also leading the team in rushing with just 22 yards.

What Steve Spurrier remembered about the game Thursday on the Paul Finebaum show was the officiating. Spurrier thought it was particularly bad, but also reminiced about how kind the late SEC commissioner  Mike Slive was about the situation after the game.

“He was gracious to me back in ’06,” Spurrier told Finebaum. “I complained probably a little louder than I should have about the officiating. It was a South Carolina-Georgia game. I think I turned in 12 calls to (SEC Coordinator of officials at the time) Rogers Redding and he said ‘Yeah we missed 11 of the 12. We missed them’ and there was no replay back then so it was just tough luck. I probably criticized those dudes a little more than I should have.”

Yet it was Slive, who died Wednesday at the age of 77, that decided to take pitty on the coach.

“He (Slive) called me and said, ‘You know you can’t do that anymore. I could have fined you a whole bunch but I’m not going to.’ I said, ‘I appreciate it commish’ and I tried to keep my mouth shut after that but that’s the kind of guy he was. He didn’t try to make a big deal if he didn’t have to.”

Spurrier added he didn’t find out about Slive’s passing until he opened up the paper on Thursday morning. He also noted Slive’s role in the creation of the SEC Network and help he provided in pushing the conference forward.

The Gamecocks would go on to win four of their next five games that season. South Carolina finished with an 8-5 record including a win over Clemson and a victory over the University of Houston in the Liberty Bowl.