South Carolina Gamecocks vs Kentucky Wildcats: A tale of two Halves

Sept 29, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats cornerback Martavius Neloms (1) tackles South Carolina Gamecocks wide receiver Ace Sanders (1) during the first half at Commonwealth Stadium. Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s call this game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Kentucky Wildcats exactly what it was. A blowout.

A weird blowout, but a blowout nonetheless.

Trailing 17-7 at the half, the #6 Gamecocks went on a 31-0 run, and literally never looked back.

Before that second half scoring spree, the Gamecocks looked like the 6th worst team in the nation.

In defense of the Gamecocks, though, Kentucky was aided by two blown calls by the refs (whatever your opinions on refs deciding games, according to NCAA rules, they were blown calls) in the first half.

In the 2012 NCAA rulebook, a face mask penalty is defined as follows: “No player shall grasp and then twist, turn or pull the face mask, chin strap or any helmet opening of an opponent. It is not a foul if the face mask, chin strap or helmet opening is not grasped and then twisted, turned or pulled. When in question, it is a foul.”

Replay clearly showed that Damario Jeffery grabbed the top of Jalen Whitlow’s helmet, not the face mask, chin strap or helmet opening. Instead of third and long inside Kentucky territory, the Wildcats had it first and 10 at Carolina’s 34. They scored a touchdown a few plays later.

The worst call (or no call) of the game, though, came on Kentucky’s blocked punt. The guys on SC’s radio network explained it very well, pointing out the way the UK play launched himself before blocking that punt deserved a flag. I’m not sure whether he used another player for leverage or not, but the guys on the radio were confident that he got away with an illegal play.

Kentucky scored on their next drive.

Forget the refs, though. South Carolina still won, and like Akeem Auguste said after the game, they needed a game like this before their titanic clash with UGA.

In the second half of this game, we found out what South Carolina was made of. They turned a 10 point deficit into a 21 point win. It doesn’t matter if they were playing Kentucky or Buffalo. Coming back, on the road, against an in-division opponent to win by that many points is impressive.

Check back in with Garnet and Cocky tomorrow to see our new top 25 poll, our second installment of “(Not) Holding in the SEC” and a special column on the importance of College GameDay heading to Columbia for the second time in four years.