South Carolina Football: Ranking the top-15 offensive performances in Gamecock history

South Carolina Football’s No. 10 Greatest Offensive Performance of All-Time:
Steve Taneyhill and Stanley Pritchett vs. Mississippi State

Stanley Pritchett did a little bit of everything for the South Carolina offense of the early ’90s. The big-bodied back played both running back and fullback on and off during his career and even spent a little bit of time at tight end. Whatever it was that his team needed him to do to win the game, Pritchett would do it. This mentality was a big factor in him becoming the first Gamecock to have over 1000 yards rushing and over 1000 yards receiving in his career.

Often deployed as the lead blocker for feature backs Brandon Bennett (’92-’94) and Duce Staley (’95), Pritchett also had a good connection with Gamecock quarterback Steve Taneyhill. Taneyhill was a gunslinger with a mullet who played with a tremendous amount of swagger. Typically a quarterback who liked to take chances down the field and over the middle, he rarely would “check down” to his running backs on shorter, safe patterns…unless it was to Stanley Pritchett.

The connection between #19 and #39 was on full display against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in 1995. Taneyhill ended the day with an absurd 38/44 passing and 3 touchdowns (this was the middle game of a three-game stretch in which he went for over 1000 yards and 12 touchdowns with 0 turnovers). 12 of those completions, including one touchdown, went to Pritchett who tallied 113 yards receiving on the day. He also added three rushing touchdowns, including two that were audibles called by his quarterback.

Carolina scored 65 points against the Bulldogs on the day, marking the third time that season that Carolina scored 60 points in a game. Wide receiver Zola Davis had 185 yards receiving for the game and was somehow the third-most impressive performance of the day.