Spencer Rattler rides impressive second half to upset victory
Last year when Oklahoma met Texas for the Red River Rivalry the Sooners might have won, but Spencer Rattler’s time as the starting quarterback for the Sooners came to an end.
Exactly one year later, Rattler walked into Lexington, Kentucky with a new team and helped South Carolina upset No. 13 Kentucky on the same day Oklahoma lost to Texas 49-0.
“You guys saw the score today of that game,” Rattler said. “We got a pretty big win, so it was a pretty good day I guess, crazy how things work.”
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Shane Beamer said that the circumstances weren’t lost on him throughout the week and said that it was “pretty special” to see Rattler captain the Gamecocks to victory.
“I told him on Tuesday it’s going to be one heck of a story when you go up to Lexington on Saturday night and get this win for us,” Beamer said. “So on the same day that Oklahoma plays Texas one year later, that ultimately led Spencer here because he lost his job at Oklahoma, he leads us to a win like this in Lexington, Kentucky tonight.”
Rattler wasn’t perfect during the Gamecocks’ 24-14 win but he shaped up when he needed it.
The difference between the Rattler that was on the field in the first half and the Rattler that was on the field in the second half was almost night and day.
During the first half Rattler was 6-for-9 through the air with only 49 passing yards. He had a fumble when the Gamecocks were in scoring position, and threw his eighth interception of the year when he missed Austin Stogner on a deep ball.
Beamer admitted that Rattler was a “little off” during the first half but that he didn’t lose faith in his starter or even consider a change at quarterback.
“I told Spencer at halftime he’s been in environments like this, I told everybody on the offense, we all just need to play better around him and he’s gonna make some plays in the second half and go win it.”
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Rattler did exactly that, going 8-for-10 in the second half for 128 passing yards and a touchdown pass. The touchdown came on a 42-yard pass to Juice Wells on South Carolina’s first drive of the second half.
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“I thought he did a great job in the second half at just kind of improvising when things weren’t there and hanging in the pocket a little bit more,” Beamer said.
Coming into halftime Rattler said the offense wasn’t worried and they knew what they had to do to come out better in the second half.
“We came in here and locked in and went out there and executed and felt like we couldn’t be stopped and left some more points on the table,” Rattler said.
Part of the second-half success, Rattler said, came from simply liking the looks the Kentucky defense was giving him better. Rattler praised the offensive line and MarShawn Lloyd for keeping the pocket clean and the wide receivers for running better routes.
“Second half overall (was) clean as a group and just definitely more precise,” Rattler said.
Rattler will look to ride the momentum from his performance into the bye week as the Gamecocks get extra time to prepare for Texas A & M in two weeks.
“We’re just taking it day by day, week by week…we gotta prepare and get better and better each week,” Rattler said.
