SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

For a brief stint of time it looked like South Carolina had a chance for lightning to strike twice, but at the end of the day Alabama was just too much to handle.

The Gamecocks dropped Saturday's marquee matchup against the Tide 47-23, dropping them to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in the SEC.

It looked like it could be a close game with the Gamecocks making it 14-10 but after that it was almost all Bama.

The Tide would go on a 33-13 run after that, using a few explosive plays and near-perfect play from Tua Tagovailoa who finished with a career-high 444 yards and five touchdowns.

Also see: Full updates from Saturday's game at Williams-Brice

The Gamecocks tried to pull out all the stops Saturday with a fake field goal—that went for a touchdown but was called back—a fake punt and an onside kick but it didn't do enough to turn the tide of the game.

It looked like late in the first half, with the Gamecocks trailing by two touchdowns, they'd be able to cut it to one score before the break. Rico Dowdle got it to the inch line and looked to have scored but the officials ruled him down and didn't review the play.

After that, Ryan Hilinski threw an incompletion, then the snap was fumbled on third down and on fourth Muschamp opted to go for the score and Hilinski fired incomplete.

Hilinski, in his first start against an FBS team, finished 36-for-57 with 324 yards and two touchdowns, and his lone interception coming down big in the fourth quarter. He'd connect with Shi Smith on a beautiful touchdown catch 31 yards with Smith finishing his day at 90 yards on six catches.

His 57 attempts are the second-most in school history, one behind tying the record, and the most ever by a true freshman while his 36 completions are third all-time in history and the most for a first-year player.

Also see: Latest recruiting scoop from Willy B

South Carolina offensively was able to move the ball, putting up over 400 yards on the second-ranked team in the country, but stalled some in the red zone. They'd go 2-for-3 with one touchdown.

Rico Dowdle proved the Gamecocks' rushing attack the first two weeks wasn't a fluke, contributing 102 of the team's 135 rushing yards and averaging 8.5 yards a carry.

It was defensively where the problems occurred with poor tackling taking center stage again with the Gamecocks just giving up just too many big plays to a potent Tide offense.