South Carolina clinches bowl berth with win over Vanderbilt

South Carolina extended its impressive win streak over Vanderbilt to 14 games on Saturday with a 38-27 victory in Nashville. 

The win helps the Gamecocks improve to 6-3 (3-3 SEC) on the year, officially clinching bowl eligibility. This is the fastest South Carolina has gotten to six wins since it beat Vanderbilt on Oct. 28, 2017. 

After a less-than-ideal offensive showing last week against Missouri, Marcus Satterfield’s offense seemed to finally find some traction against the Commodore defense.  

South Carolina totaled 492 yards in the game, 289 more than the abysmal 203 it put up last week at home. The Gamecocks also made huge strides in the average yards per play, averaging 7.8 Saturday versus 3.8 last week. 

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Spencer Rattler got South Carolina on the scoreboard quickly when he found Xavier Legette wide open in the middle of the end zone for a 29 yard touchdown pass. 

The score was set up by an interception from Darius Rush that was one of the few highlights the Gamecock defense could claim in the game. 

South Carolina went on to score on six of its 12 drives in the game and only had to punt five times.

The Gamecocks thrived on explosive plays and used them to catapult them to victory. After Rattler got the scoring started with a big play to Legette, Dakereon Joyner got to shine at quarterback with a big touchdown pass to Juice Wells.

Joyner lined up under center in the wildcat and then motioned for Juju McDowell to slide under center. McDowell then handed the ball off to Joyner who rolled out the opposite way and turned a busted play into a 68-yard touchdown pass to Juice Wells.

The trick play was the first of Joyner’s four pass attempts on the night. He successfully completed three of them for 82 yards.

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A chip-shot 31-yard field goal from Mitch Jeter helped the Gamecocks take a 17-7 lead into the second quarter.

South Carolina scored twice more in the second quarter on back-to-back drives. Christian Beal-Smith, filling in for an injured MarShawn Lloyd, found pay dirt at the end of a 52-yard rush and Josh Vann scored on a 19-yard pass from Rattler.

The Gamecocks scored one more time in the third quarter, thanks to a 17-yard pass from Rattler to Wells.

Rattler finished the game 16-for-23 through the air for 186 yards and three touchdowns.

In true Beamer Ball fashion, the touchdown was set up by a fake field goal that found Kai Kroeger connect with Tonka Hemingway for a first down on a 16-yard pass.

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The Vanderbilt offense excelled in uncharacteristic fashion on Saturday, totaling 454 yards of offense and averaging 6.1 yards per play. The Commodores ran for 226 yards, the most against an SEC opponent this season and second most in the season as a whole. 

Vanderbilt running back Ray Davis sliced through the defense like butter at times, finishing with a career high 167 yards on the night. While Davis averaged 8.4 yards per carry, the South Carolina defense did keep him out of the end zone. 

As a team, Vanderbilt’s run game kept the Gamecocks on their toes all night long. The Commodores ran the ball 41 times and averaged 5.5 yards per rush — the second-most of any opponent South Carolina has faced this year.

There were some bright spots for the Gamecock defense though. They kept Vanderbilt from scoring on five of its 12 drives and forced two fumbles and two interceptions.

After going into the fourth quarter 38-21, Vanderbilt was able to tag on another touchdown with just over six minutes left in the game. Mike Wright threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Ray Davis to bring the score to 38-27.

Wright replaced AJ Swann after the latter left with an injury and finished the game 8-for-15 though the air with 101 yards. Wright also ran for 43 yards.

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