Doty doesn't shy away from moment in first extended action

South Carolina may have messed around and found its quarterback Saturday night.

Trailing 17-0 at halftime, interim head coach Mike Bobo made the decision jogging out of the locker room to put in Luke Doty for the remainder of the game and it almost worked out perfectly.

The Gamecocks ultimately lost 17-10, but Doty appeared to give South Carolina’s offense a spark it desperately needed.

"That’s a tough situation for any young man to go into off the bench down 17 to nothing. He responded. He didn’t blink. He played with confidence. He looked like he belonged,” Bobo said after the game.

“When you talk about playing for Carolina and wanting to be here and it being about the team and not himself, that’s Luke Doty.”

Also see: Instant analysis from Saturday's loss

South Carolina’s offense struggled mightily in the first half, getting shut out and putting up just 68 yards when Bobo opted to go with the true freshman.

Doty immediately led the team down the field on a 10-play, 43-yard drive that ended in points before leading a 13-play, 77-yard touchdown drive two series later.

Of the five drives Doty started, only one was a three-and-out and four went for at least 30 yards.

He struggled to start, completing just three of his first eight passes for 32 yards, but finished really well. He’d end the game completing 11 of his final 15 passes for 98 yards.

His final stat line: 14-for-23 for 130 yards (5.7 yards per attempt) and one interception. He’d finish the Gamecocks’ leading rusher, gaining 59 yards on 11 attempts (5.4 yards per carry).

Also see: What the Gamecocks are getting in Woodley

“I’ll say this about Luke Doty: the moment’s not too big for him. That was obvious in this game. He was calm, he was cool and he was collected,” Bobo said. “I was proud of him. I think the team was proud of him and the way they battled.”

After an anemic first half, it seemed Doty finally gave the Gamecocks something to rally around offensively at the quarterback position and it showed in the stats.

South Carolina’s offense scored the only points of the second half—a Deshaun Fenwick one-yard touchdown run—piling up 215 yards after halftime and averaging 5.5 yards per play.

They’d convert half of their eight third downs and pick up 13 first downs compared to just five in the first half.

“We definitely felt the crowd. The environment started to get in the game,” Ernest Jones said. “When Luke came in it kind of changed the tempo. He did his job. I’m proud of him as well.”

His lone mistake came on a potential game-tying drive where Doty misread Missouri’s coverage and threw the ultimately game-ending interception, but he showed his teammates enough in his half of football.

Also see: What Mike Bobo said postgame

“Man, I thought Luke played his tail off tonight. Regardless of the mistakes, you can’t ask too much more than what he did today,” Sadarius Hutcherson said. “I’m proud of him. I think we played good around him and we just have to build off this.”

The Gamecocks turn around in a week and play Georgia at home.

While it’s not a foregone conclusion Doty will start—Bobo said he has to go watch Georgia on film before naming a starter—he certainly made a strong case to get the nod on senior day.

“We’ll go to the drawing board,” Bobo said. “We got to look at Georgia and see what gives us the best chance to win the ballgame. Luke definitely helped his cause going into next week.”