South Carolina used a tried and true game plan to get on the scoreboard early against Ole Miss. Kevin Harris runs, and Shi Smith catches.

The latter proved to be the scoring play the Gamecocks needed to get an early lead in Oxford. With a one-handed grab on man-to-man coverage, Smith made an 11-yard touchdown catch, and held on as defenders converged on him to make a tackle in the end zone. It capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive for the Gamecocks to score with 9:24 left in the first quarter.

Smith had three catches for 44 yards on the drive, while Harris had seven carries for 31 yards. The other key on that drive was the Gamecocks took 5:24 off the clock and, more importantly, kept the high-flying Ole Miss offense off the field.

In a matchup of 2-4 teams, South Carolina needed this good start following lopsided losses to LSU and Texas A&M, which were sandwiched around a bye week. There has been increasing pressure on coach Will Muschamp from the fan base, and the coaching staff opened the quarterback job during the week only to settle on starter Collin Hill once again. Hill was 3-for-3 on that opening scoring drive.