SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

On Oct. 12, it was South Carolina storming the field at Sanford Stadium, fresh off an upset over then-No. 3 Georgia.

Fast forward two weeks and it's the Gamecocks, losers of two straight now, walking off the field dejected after a 41-21 loss to Tennessee filled with a bevy of second-half miscues.

The loss is the first to Tennessee in four years—the first of Will Muschamp's head coaching career—and the worst loss to the Vols since losing 30-7 in 1999, and puts a heavy dent into the team's bowl hopes.

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Every time the Gamecocks (3-5, 2-4 SEC) earned an inch of momentum, it would immediately get ripped out from under them with either a big catch from either Marquez Callaway or Jauan Jennings, a penalty or anemic offense resulting from either poor play calling or poor execution.

A defense which spent the last two weeks developing, and backing up, a reputation of being one of the best in the SEC, looked pedestrian against a Tennessee team coming in averaging 21.6 points and 194.3 passing yards per game.

The Vols left Neyland Stadium Saturday with 41 points, the most they've scored in SEC play, and a season-high 351 yards through the air with Callaway and Jennings accounting for 276 of those.

South Carolina's pass rush, which had been a menace for the better part of the season, couldn't get to a Vol offense starting two freshmen tackles and rotating its second and third string quarterbacks.

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The Gamecocks, who preach excelling on special teams, gave up two non-offensive touchdowns with a punt return touchdown and a blocked punt. A team that preaches winning the fourth quarter was outscored 10-0 the final 15 minutes, bringing their fourth quarter scoring margin to minus-38.

Meanwhile, offensively, the Gamecocks had stretches where they strung together drives but failed to pick up points when they needed to; they'd be shutout in the second half of a game for the second time in three weeks.

They'd get 75 of their 397 total yards on the opening play of the game, a touchdown pass to Shi Smith, but averaged just four yards per play after that.

Ryan Hilinski, who's battled injuries the last few weeks, struggled at times in his third road start, finishing 28-for-51 with 319 yards, an average of 6.4 yards per attempt.

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He wasn't helped by his receivers in large part with the drops that plagued the team last season rearing its head again.

A first half which showed so much promise with the Gamecocks leading on the road in the SEC quickly turned sour as they couldn't uphold the things this coaching staff preaches every day.

It'll need to find a way to regroup quickly with three must-win games next if they want to sniff the postseason this year.