Will Muschamp explains what South Carolina did in the fourth quarter to shut down Ole Miss, earn road win
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Things weren’t looking good for the Gamecocks entering the fourth quarter from Oxford. Ole Miss had put up 600 yards of total offense in only three quarters of play and were knocking on the door to add another touchdown entering the final stanza.
The Rebels did indeed punch the ball into the end zone to start the fourth quarter, which gave Ole Miss a 44-34 lead just moments into the fourth quarter but it was all South Carolina following that point. The Rebels finished the game adding only 15 yards of offense following the score and the Gamecocks added two touchdowns to come away with the 48-44 win in Oxford.
Following his team’s comeback win, Will Muschamp was asked to share his thoughts on winning in a game that featured so much offense.
“I like that we won, I could care less (about how),” Muschamp said. “We were down to our sixth or seventh safety. Linebackers we were short, we were playing a bunch of snaps. Offensively, (Ole Miss QB) Jordan (Ta’amu) was on fire. We had good coverage at times, he threw some really good balls on us. Give Ole Miss credit but I really want to give our guys credit, they played their guts out, won the fourth quarter.”
The South Carolina coach was asked about what changed in the fourth quarter that allowed his defense to slow down a Rebel offense that was firing on all cylinders leading up to that point,
“We played a little more man coverage, we pressed a little more than we had early in the game,” he answered. “I thought T-Rob did a nice job adjusting to things, I’m just real proud of our team.”
Finally, on his running back Mon Denson, who is fourth-string on the team — Denson finished the game with 102 yards on only 12 carries.
“Outstanding. Huge runs out there but we have confidence in him,” Muschamp noted. “We don’t look at him as a fourth-string running back. He’s a starter to me.”
Following the win, South Carolina improves to 5-3 on the season and 4-3 in SEC play.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
