Garnet and Cocky
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South Carolina Gamecocks vs UCF: Five Key Plays

By Sanders Early

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The South Carolina Gamecocks picked up a much needed win on Saturday over the struggling UCF Knights. The win gives the Gamecocks some momentum as they head on the road to take on the Missouri Tigers this Saturday. While it wasn’t pretty, the game against UCF provided plenty of highlights. Here are my five key plays.

  1. With the South Carolina offense struggling, Sean Kelly managed to pin a punt down on Central Florida’s 2 yard line on the very first play of the 2nd quarter. Boosie Whitlow had already made his presence felt in the game, and charged into the backfield on UCF’s first play tackling Taj McGowan for a safety that gave the Gamecocks a 5-0 lead.
  2. Pharoh Cooper had a horrible start to the game. One of his lowlights was muffing a punt that gave UCF the ball on the Gamecock 1 yard line. This led to a touchdown that gave the Knights a 7-5 lead and left fans quite unhappy. With an anemic offense at the time, it was a mistake that you would not expect to see from your star player.
  3. The Gamecocks trailed 14-8 at the half, and were in need of a spark on offense if they wanted to win the game. Pharoh Cooper came up big as the Gamecocks called a trick play that was supposed to be a pass. Cooper could not find an open receiver and decided to take off and run to avoid the sack. What wound up looking like a busted play, turned into a Sports Center highlight run that totally redeemed Cooper from dropping a touchdown pass and dropping that punt.
  4. On the very next UCF possession, the Gamecocks finally utilized the momentum they had built and TJ Holloman came up with an acrobatic interception as he caught the ball just inches away from touching the ground.
  5. The interception by Holloman really sparked the Gamecocks. Nunez drove the team 40 yards down the field in 4 plays and threw his first career touchdown pass to Jacob August. The reception also happened to be August’s first career touchdown reception.

The Gamecocks wound up winning the game 31-14 and picked up some momentum heading into the next game against Missouri. The game will be played in Columbia, Missouri and kick-off is at noon on the SEC Network.

Next: South Carolina Gamecocks Biggest Mistake this Offseason?

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