The South Carolina Gamecocks got the win in Neyland Stadium they needed to remain in the driver’s seat for the SEC East crown. USC beat Tennessee by the score of 14-3. Not pretty but by now, as a SC fan, you should be use to it as that is how they do it.
Tennessee simply could not get anything going on offense and when they tried it seemed that USC was there to get a interception. Credit the Gamecocks defense once again for a stout showing. They are truly one of the best defenses in the country and as the saying goes – defense wins ball games.
Here are some quick impressions:
—Shaw was 10 for 18 for 87 yards passing. He had 1 TD pass and 1 INT. Safe to say that the passing game has to get better going forward. Seems we say that each week.
—Brandon Wilds did a great job filling in for Lattimore. He had 28 carries for 136 yards.
—The Zone-Read scheme with Wilds and Shaw was highly effective in this game. Shaw had 16 carries for 64 yards and 1 TD. Don’t want to see him run that much but UT left the field open for him so take it.
—Rory Anderson’s touchdown was a great play call by Spurrier on fourth down. The Ol’ Ball Coach still has it.
—Ace Sanders fumbled punt…erase from memory. Ace, practice a ton so that does not happen ever again.
—DJ Swearinger had a great INT. Play of the game in my view as UT was oh so close to getting back into the ball game but that shut the door. Swearinger has back-to-back games with INT’s.
—This Gamecocks football senior class now has a new school record for wins in a four-year period (30 and counting).
—From 1965-2004, Tennessee won 17 of 18 games against the Gamecocks. Spurrier has now defeated Vols 4 times in his 7 seasons in Columbia.
—South Carolina had 20 first downs, 318 total yards, 10 third down conversions, and held the ball for a little over 36 minutes. Tennessee, on the other hand, had 10 first downs, 186 yards (only 35 rushing), 2 third down conversions, and held the ball for almost 24 minutes.
—Best stat of the game was that USC was 10 for 18 on 3rd down conversions as a offense and held UT’s offense to 2 for 14 on defense.
—USC has now won six road contests in a row & Connor Shaw is now 4-0 as a starting quarterback at USC.
Those were just some of the quick impressions. Main point is it was a win. Things to improve on but take the win and begin to think about Arkansas now.
The Gamecocks (7-1, 5-1) remain in control of the Southeastern Conference’s East Division. Next up for the Gamecocks will be Arkansas on November 5 at 7:15 p.m. on ESPN.
