NASHVILLE — Rocket launch to bowl eligibility.

For the second time in three years, South Carolina football arrived for its game at Vanderbilt with a 5-3 record, one win away from clinching bowl-eligibility. And for the second straight road trip, the Gamecocks beat the Commodores to clinch a 13th game for the 2024 campaign.

Three Rocket Sanders touchdowns in the second half powered South Carolina past Vanderbilt 28-7 in a rain-soaked slugfest at FirstBank Stadium, its 16th consecutive win in the series and third straight for 2024. Sanders scored on a 33-yard touchdown to open the second half, capped off a drive from a yard out later in the third quarter and put the final nail in the coffin late when he caught a screen passed and zigged and zagged his way to paydirt for a 43-yard touchdown.

The win clinches bowl eligibility for the third time in four seasons of the Beamer era, and clinches at least a .500 record in conference play, with an opportunity to secure a winning SEC season next week against Missouri.

In a game featuring two defense-leaning teams with run-heavy offenses, the expected methodical pace played out to script. South Carolina’s (6-3, 4-3 SEC) opening drive of the game lasted over six minutes as the Gamecocks moved the ball into scoring range, but ended without any points as a 42-yard Alex Herrera field goal attempt sailed wide left.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a rainy game without a couple turnovers. Two in a row, in fact. After LaNorris Sellers fumbled at his own 15 to set Vanderbilt (6-4, 3-3 SEC) up with a prime opportunity to score first, Kyle Kennard flew in off the edge, stripped the wheeling-and-dealing Vanderbilt signal-caller Diego Pavia, and recovered the fumble himself to bail out his quarterback and end the scoring threat.

Eventually Sellers and the offense got moving when he connected with Joshua Simon for a 23-yard touchdown, the fourth score for Simon in the last three weeks. Those were the only points of the first half, 30 minutes of physical football which ended with the Commodores only producing 83 yards of total offense and six first downs.

Still, South Carolina needed a player to throw the knockout punch. Not only did Sanders oblige, he did it repeatedly.

Bam Martin-Scott had the biggest defensive play of the second half when he flew through on a fourth-and-1 play to knock down a Pavia pass, extinguishing Vanderbilt's final promising drive of the game and getting the ball back for the offense, where Sanders promptly scored his third and final touchdown.

Six wins in the bank, a three-game winning streak and three more opportunities to raise the total.

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