Rapid Reaction: Strong second half delivers victory to South Carolina
By Keith Farner
Published:
The themes of the first half of the season continued Saturday night in Williams-Brice Stadium. Tennessee continued to show improvement, and South Carolina was consistent at being inconsistent. Then, as if on cue, South Carolina delivered another stellar third quarter to make things interesting.
The Gamecocks didn’t own their first lead of the night until 5:52 left in the fourth quarter in a 27-24 victory over the Vols.
And on fourth down near midfield, Vols quarterback Jarrett Guarantano was sacked by D.J. Wonnum with just more than a minute remaining to preserve the victory.
There were a couple of questionable calls in the second half from the officiating crew, mostly on a would-be South Carolina fumble at the goal line by Ty’Son Williams that appeared to be recovered by Tennessee. But the touchdown stood and the score was 24-24.
Bentley had another interception in the first half, a trend he has developed throughout the season, and it quickly led to a Tennessee touchdown as Guarantano found TE Eli Wolf. Then Guarantano found Jauan Jennings with 2:11 left in the first half. Jennings beat Steven Montac on the play, then was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct after he laid the ball on Montac’s chest. But it was a tough first half all around for Montac, and for the second straight game a starter in the secondary was been benched coming out of halftime. Two weeks ago it was Keisean Nixon, and this week it was Montac.
The Jennings touchdown came on a drive where Tennessee was at its best. The Vols went 15 plays and 71 yards over 7:53 to take a 14-3 lead. They converted five third downs, and overcame two false start penalties.
Trailing 14-9 at halftime, South Carolina gave up another score, which gave Tennessee a 21-9 lead. But the Gamecocks showed some rare life midway through the third quarter with a seven-play scoring drive capped by a Rico Dowdle touchdown. That gave Dowdle 110 rushing yards, which was also his third 100-yard game of the season and the sixth of his career.
Always an emotional leader, Bentley’s scramble for a two-point conversion to tie the score with five seconds left in the third quarter gained back goodwill he may have lost in the first half.
Dowdle early on had one of his best games of the season, including six carries for 62 yards on one drive. It was clear early that South Carolina coach Will Muschamp and offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon would establish the run early and often. They had 17 runs in the first 20 minutes of the game, almost as many as they had in the entire Texas A&M game (18).
Tennessee, meanwhile, stood toe-to-toe on sweeps and off-tackle runs, and converted a flurry of third downs in the first half. By early in the fourth quarter, the Vols were 9-for-12 on third downs.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
