Shane Beamer has oft talked about his team’s fight and it at least showed up Saturday night in Missouri. But, it wasn’t enough in a 31-28 loss to Missouri.

The Gamecocks trailing at one time late into the fourth quarter by 17 points, would scrap and claw to get back into the game and shrink Missouri’s lead to just three points but ultimately came up short after digging too deep of a hole to climb out of.

South Carolina (5-5, 2-5 SEC) found itself down in large part to a listless offense in the third quarter, gaining just 14 yards on their first 15 plays of the half as Missouri saw its three-point halftime lead balloon to 17 points with just over eight minutes left.

But things changed in an instant with ZaQuandre White housing a screen pass for the Gamecocks’ first touchdown since the second quarter and picking off Connor Bazelak on the ensuing drive and White plowing into the end zone a few plays later to make it a three-point game.

White ended his day with 60 rushing yards on 10 carries and 42 yards receiving, but it wasn’t enough as the Gamecocks’ offensive slog early hampered chances of a major comeback in the fourth quarter.

After jumping out to a quick touchdown lead thanks to a short field and a two-yard Kevin Harris rush, the Gamecocks found themselves with the ball in Missouri territory but things spiraled before the fourth-quarter surge.

MarShawn Lloyd fumbled at the Missouri 17-yard line going in, sparking 14 unanswered points by the Tigers.

South Carolina would tie things up at 14 but wouldn’t score again as Missouri notched a field goal right before halftime and would push the lead to double-digits near the end of the fourth quarter, strip-sacking starter Jason Brown and recovering his fumble in the end zone.

Brown, in his second FBS start, finished 16-for-30 for 193 yards (6.4 yards per attempt) with two scores and an interception with two more picks being overturned because of Missouri penalties.

South Carolina—after not turning the ball over and committing one penalty against Florida—had three giveaways leading to 14 Missouri points and five penalties for 35 yards.

Brown was running for his life the majority of the time with an offensive front allowing pressure seemingly every snap—sacked three times for 48 yards—while the run game failed to get going against one of the worst rush defenses in the FBS.

Taking out sack yardage South Carolina rushed for just 105 yards and averaged 3.3 yards per carry.

The Gamecocks defensively struggled to stop the run again, giving up 258 yards and 5.6 yards per carry on the ground with Tyler Badie accounting for 209 of those. Missouri iced the game with an eight-play, 51-yard drive after South Carolina’s touchdown to make it a three-point game.

It’s the latest in a long line of losses over the last three seasons after the best win of South Carolina’s season as the Gamecocks remain in search of the ever-elusive sixth win of the season.

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