Recap: Gamecocks hold off UMass for 34-28 win

South Carolina looked to snap a three-game losing streak against FBS independent Massachusetts Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium. UMass gave Florida and Mississippi State all they wanted and more earlier in the season. How did the Gamecocks fare?

FINAL: South Carolina 34, Massachusetts 28

UMA: 0-14-0-14 = 28

USC: 14-13-7-0 = 34

SCORING SUMMARY

1Q – USC, Rico Dowdle 1-yard run (PAT Good), 12:19 (7-0)

1Q – USC, David Williams, 1-yard run (PAT Good), 8:58 (14-0)

2Q – UMA, Adam Breneman 14-yard pass from Ford (PAT Good), 14:53 (14-7)

2Q – USC, KC Crosby 16-yard pass from Bentley (PAT No Good, Pass Failed), 7:18 (20-7)

2Q – USC, Bryan Edwards 24-yard pass from Bentley (PAT Good), 3:45 (27-7)

2Q – UMA, Jalen Williams 74-yard pass from Ford (PAT Good), 3:22 (27-14)

3Q – USC, David Williams 1-yard run, 7:53 (PAT Good)(34-14)

4Q – UMA, Andrew Ford 8-yard run, 9:59 (PAT Good)(34-21)

4Q – UMA, Adam Breneman 18-yard pass from Ford, 4:32 (PAT Good)(34-28)

FIRST QUARTER: The Jake Bentley Era began on a positive note as the Gamecocks took the opening kickoff and drove 76 yards in 9 plays for the first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run by Rico Dowdle. The big play of the drive came on the first third-down faced by Bentley. He fired a 14-yard pass to Bryan Edwards for a first down. Moments later, David Williams broke loose for a 33-yard run to the UM 16. Dowdle took over from there with a 12-yard run and then a 1-yard plunge for the TD. The Gamecocks jarred the ball loose from UMass TE Adam Breneman on the fifth play of the Minutemen’s opening possession and Chris Lammons scooped it up. He was eventually tackled at the SC 32. The Gamecocks needed just seven plays to drive 68 yards for another TD on a 1-yard run by Williams. A well-executed screen pass to Deebo Samuel turned into a 47-yard gain to the UMA 9 and set the stage for Williams’ first rushing TD of the season. The Gamecocks forced another fumble from the Minutemen on their second possession (DT Keir Thomas credited with FF), but USC couldn’t do anything with it as they punted for the first time in the Bentley Era. UMass took over with 6:02 left in the first quarter and drained the clock by driving all the way to the SC 14 when the first quarter ended. UMass ran 13 plays for 78 yards, most of them out into the flats and the perimeter.

END FIRST QTR: South Carolina 14, UMass 0

SECOND QUARTER: UMass capped off a 14-play, 92-yard drive on the opening play of the second quarter when the Minutemen QB found Breneman in the middle of the end zone. Brenemena outmuscled the Gamecock defender for the ball. The Gamecocks failed to take advantage of a long kickoff return by Rashad Fenton when McIlwain ran the Wildcat on fourth-and-1 from the UM 39, but was tackled for no gain. Terry Googer caught a 13-yard pass on 3rd-and-14 to set up the fourth down play. UMass’ third-and-10 play deflected off the hands of a receiver into the arms of LB TJ Holloman for his 7th career INT. The Gamecocks drove 49 yards in 8 plays, taking a 20-7 lead on a perfectly thrown 16-yard fade pass by Bentley to KC Crosby into the right corner of the end zone with 7:18 left in the second quarter. It was Bentley’s first career TD pass. However, the PAT snap was low and led to Elliot Fry scrambling to his right and lofting a pass out of bounds. Fry was hammered by a UMass defender, but looked OK. After the defense forced a 3-and-out, the Gamecocks took over at the UM 44 as a result of a 19-yard punt return by Chris Lammons. A pass interference call on third down against the Minutemen gave the Gamecocks a first down at the UM 29. Three plays later, Bentley lofted another perfectly thrown fade pass to freshman WR Bryan Edwards to the right corner of the end zone for a TD to give USC a 27-7 lead. It was the first TD reception by a Gamecock wide receiver this season. UMass wasted little time getting that score back as the Gamecocks secondary botched the coverage, leaving a UMass receiver wide open down the middle of the field. USC punted om its final possession of the first half. Bentley was 13-of-21 passing for 168 yards and 2 TDs in first half.

HALFTIME: South Carolina 27, UMass 14.

THIRD QUARTER: The Gamecocks defense came up with another key stop on UMass’ first possession of the second half when Bryson Allen-Williams timed the fourth down snap perfectly and blew up the play behind the line of scrimmage to give the Gamecocks the ball at the UMA 36. But the Gamecocks couldn’t take advantage of the excellent field position as Bentley was sacked on third down. Sean Kelly’s punt was fair caught at the UM 7. The Gamecocks defense forced a 3-and-out and a short UMass punt gave USC the ball at UMA 38. A roughing the passer penalty moved the ball to the UM 18. AJ Turner made his first appearance of the afternoon, but was dropped for a 1-yard loss. Two plays later, David Williams plowed over from 2 yards out on an inside zone play for his second rushing TD of the game to give the Gamecocks a 34-14 lead with 7:53 left in the third quarter. But UMass responded with a nice drive of its own. Completing 5 of his first 6 passes, Ford led the Minutemen into the red zone. UMass faced a 3rd-and-10 at the SC 12 when a run play lost 2 yards. UMass attempted a 32-yard field goal, but the kick was no good. Deebo Samuel took the speed sweep handoff on the first play of USC’s ensuing possession and raced 23 yards to the SC 43. But the Gamecocks did nothing after that and punted the ball away with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.

END THIRD QTR: South Carolina 34, UMass 14

FOURTH QUARTER: The two teams combined for three turnovers in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. First, Chris Lammons muffed a punt and UMass recovered at the SC 30. But the UMass QB returned the favor by heaving an interception into the arms of Lammons inside the 10-yard line for his third INT of the season. However, Deebo Samuel caught a short pas and fumbled at the SC 36. UMass scooped up the loose ball and returned it to the SC 30. From there, the Minutemen needed 7 plays to score a touchdown on an 8-tard run by Ford around the left side with 9:59 left in the fourth quarter. All of a sudden, UMass was within two scores at 34-21. The Gamecocks needed to put together a time-consuming drive, but went three-and-out as they couldn’t convert a 2nd-and-2 situation. Two running plays went nowhere. UMass drove as far as the SC but three straight incompletions brought up 4th down. The Minutemen converted with a completion to the 23. Moreover, the Gamecocks were flagged for a personal foul penalty to move the ball to the SC 8. On third and 17, Ford connected with Breneman for an 18-yard TD with 4:32 left to slice the deficit to 34-28, making a lot of people nervous inside Williams-Brice. The Gamecocks finally came up with a couple of big plays with a 25-yard completion to Deebo + pass interference call on UMass. Another pass interference gave USC a first down at the UM 35 with 1:49 left. The Gamecock ran out the clock from there as they picked up a decisive first down with about a minute left.