Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia: No one, but no one saw this one coming. USC, a 22-point underdog to fifth ranked Tennessee, played, without question, one of their best games in their long history in whipping the Vols 63-38 before an announced crowd of over 79,000 Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium. Spencer Rattler passed for a school record six touchdowns and the Gamecocks scored touchdowns on nine of their ten possessions in handing the Vols their second loss of the season and ending their hopes of making the College Football Playoff.
A much-maligned Gamecock offense was the story of the game. In a word, on his night, everything offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield dialed up worked, starting with the right arm of Rattler, who completed 30-37 passes for a career record 438 yards, a career high 6 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Twelve different receivers caught passes led by Juice Wells who was targeted 16 times. He caught 11 for 177 yards. Jaheim Bell and Josh Vann each had two touchdown catches. Dakereon Joyner rushed for two touchdowns as a quarterback, and he also caught two passes. Bell also led the Gamecocks in rushing with 89 yards.
The Gamecocks totaled 606 yards, their ninth most all-time, and a school record 35 first downs. They were 8-11 on third down and 2-2 on fourth down. And they were 8-8 scoring in the red zone, and of course, they were all touchdowns.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak to Tennessee. The Gamecocks are 7-4 going into the Clemson game next week, and they finished third in the SEC East with a 4-4 league mark.
Final Stats
Here’s my view from Williams-Brice Stadium
Gamecock Postgame Media Sessions
Shane Beamer
Spencer Rattler & Juice Wells
Josh Vann & Dakereon Joyner
Cam Smith & Jaheim Bell
Tenn defense sucked especially the DB’s Caroline exploited that and won the game
Tenn. was over rated USC defense handled when they had to’