South Carolina upsets No. 13 Kentucky on the road

South Carolina walked into a sold out Kroger Field on Saturday and left with a big upset win, beating No. 13 Kentucky 24-14.

The win is the Gamecocks first over the Wildcats since 2019 and the first in Lexington since 2012.

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The first quarter of the game was about as chaotic as a first quarter can get. 

Kentucky started the game off with the ball but turned it over on the first play of the game. South Carolina broke up a pitch attempt and Tonka Hemingway returned the ball to the one yard line, setting up a touchdown rush by MarShawn Lloyd a play later. 

On the Wildcats next drive the Gamecock defense came up big again when King-Demenian Ford blocked a punt and set up South Carolina’s offense just outside of the red zone. 

The Gamecocks ultimately couldn’t capitalize on the field position, with Spencer Rattler fumbling the ball a play later. 

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The icing on the cake of the crazy first quarter came when Kentucky missed a 45-yard field goal that careened off the left upright. 

South Carolina only totaled 26 yards of offense in the first quarter and averaged 2.6 yards per play. Luckily for the Gamecocks, it was enough to take a 7-0 lead into the second quarter. 

Kaiya Sheron helped Kentucky get back into the game midway through the second quarter. Sheron faked a pitch to the right and found tight end Jordan Dingle for a 16-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at seven a piece.

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Sheron was replacing Will Levis, who was out with a foot injury, under center. Sheron hadn’t played a snap of football for Kentucky coming into the game and it showed. While he delivered in some moments, the redshirt freshman clearly struggled and was sacked six times by the Gamecocks.

Sheron finished the game 15-for-27 through the air for 178 yards with two touchdowns.

After only amassing 90 yards of offense in the first half, South Carolina finally found its stride in the third quarter.

Rattler threw his eighth interception of the night right before halftime but led a crucial scoring drive to open the second half.

A short pass on a bubble screen to Juice Wells quickly turned into a 42-yard touchdown pass that put the Gamecocks up 14-7. Rattler looked much more confident in the second half after a shaky first half and finished the game 14-for-19 with 177 yards.

Mitch Jeter helped add on some insurance points late in the third quarter when he drilled a 32 yard field goal to put South Carolina up 17-7. The field goal capped a drive that lasted over seven minutes and ate up almost all of the third quarter.

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Outside of the one scoring drive for the Wildcats, the Gamecock defense had a tremendous showing.

South Carolina forced Kentucky to punt six times and kept the Wildcat offense under wraps for most of the game. Kentucky was only able to rush for 121 yards and averaged 3.4 yards per carry.

Although Chris Rodriguez was able to total 126 rushing yards, the Gamecock defense was able to keep him out of the end zone the entire game.

The Gamecocks put the game to bed late in the fourth quarter when Jalen Brooks took an end around 24 yards to the house to make the score 24-7. The score was set up by a 45 yard rush from MarShawn Lloyd who finished the game with 110 yards.

Sheron and the Wildcats were able to finally get their first points of the second half on a 10-yard touchdown pass with a little over two minutes left in the game.

A late interception by David Spaulding officially sealed the game with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

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