South Carolina Football: Full game notes from win over Mississippi State

South Carolina football welcomed the Mississippi State Bulldogs to Columbia on Saturday night for the team’s SEC home opener. Another sold-out crowd was electric for the 7:42 kickoff in Williams-Brice Stadium.

On the field, it was a tightly contested game through the first two quarters, and the second half was even closer.

For a shorter summary of the Georgia game, click here.

South Carolina Football vs. Mississippi State:
A Game Summary

A flexed kickoff slot pushed the game back about twelve minutes, and the Mitch Jeter kick sailed through the end zone, getting this game underway.

Doing something that has been too rare in the early goings of the season, the Gamecocks recorded a tackle for loss on the game’s first snap as TJ Sanders (last week’s SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week) blew up a carry from Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks, resulting in a Jordan Strachan stop. However, two plays later, State quarterback Will Rogers found Tulu Griffin for a 33-yard gain.

Bryan Thomas, Jr. smacked Marks behind the line again on the next 1st down, and the USC defense held strong to force a punt. Mississippi State punter Andrew Osteen pinned the ‘Cocks inside the 5-yard line.

The Gamecocks rammed DK Joyner up the middle to get them out of the shadow of their own goalposts, and Rattler found Trey Knox over the middle for the 3rd down conversion. After two more touches for Joyner, Xavier Legette took a shallow crossing route and sliced through the Bulldog secondary for a 76-yard touchdown, the Gamecocks’ longest play of the season.

Defensive coordinator Clayton White’s unit forced another Keelan Crimmins punt, but the Gamecock offense was pinned inside the 1-yard line. The Gamecocks earned a couple of first downs, including some hard runs from running back Mario Anderson.

Not to be outdone by his fellow running back, after the drive was extended by a horse collar tackle, DK Joyner ran over an MSU defender before a Luke Doty first down grab. Rattler and Anderson ran the ball for a couple more first downs before the Gamecocks were gifted a 1st down on an encroachment penalty. On the next play, Rattler found Trey Knox for his first Gamecock touchdown.

The two 95+ yard touchdowns were the two longest drives of the Shane Beamer era (other than Xavier Legette’s 100-yard kick return and O’Donnell Fortune’s 100-yard interception return. The Gamecocks were up 14-0 with just under 15 minutes to play in the first half.

Mississippi State would answer, however, as on the second play of the next drive, Rogers found Tulu Griffin for a 66-yard touchdown in which he beat DQ Smith over top after a play action fake. All of a sudden, a game teetering on the verge of a blowout was competitive again, and a crowd that was shaking the foundations of Williams-Brice was suddenly very quiet.

A 3-and-out from the offense didn’t give the South Carolina football fans any more life, and the Bulldogs took over with some momentum.

Another huge gain from Griffin saw the Mississippi State speedster beat Smith again, this time for 47 yards. The Gamecocks lost contain in the red zone as Woody Marks scampered into the end zone. However, a barrage of yellow flags showed exactly how that contain was lost: holding on the Bulldogs. A controversial David Spaulding interception inside the 5-yard line flipped the momentum back in USC’s favor.

The Gamecocks were searching for another long touchdown drive, but after just one first down (another Rattler-Legette connection), it was not meant to be. A short Kai Kroeger punt gave Zach Arnett’s group the ball around their 30-yard line.

The Gamecocks continued to have no answer whatsoever for Tulu Griffin. He hauled in a 60-yard bomb from Rogers, this time beating O’Donnell Fortune. On the next play, Woody Marks plunged in for the tying score. Griffin had 4 catches for 205 yards and a touchdown with 7:02 to play in the half.

Things were looking like they could really start swinging Mississippi State’sway as they had the Gamecocks being the sticks at 3rd-and-13, but Rattler took off for over 20 yards and the conversion. The rest of the drive was the Spencer Rattler and Mario Anderson show as the duo accounted for every yard until a DK Joyner wildcat carry found paydirt from 3 yards out.

A well-designed 2-point conversion try failed when Kai Kroeger put too much air under a pass to a wide-open TJ Sanders (yes, that TJ Sanders). The Gamecocks took the 20-14 lead with about 40 seconds to play, but the Bulldogs raced down the field against Carolina’s prevent defense. A 54-yard field goal attempt fell short, but a Gamecocks penalty gave Kyle Ferrie a re-try from 49 on an untimed down.

After the make, the halftime score stood 20-17.

That score lasted for all of one play in the second half. Xavier Legette got just enough separation from the press coverage to haul in a deep shot from Rattler, and the 75-yard strike pushed the score to 27-17. Legette became the first Gamecock to ever catch two 75-yard touchdowns in the same game.

The Gamecocks finally brought down Will Rogers on the next possession as several Gamecocks collapsed the pocket until Boogie Huntley wrapped him up in his sizeable paws. However, Rogers would convert the 1st down throw to Jordan Mosley on the next snap and then a 29-yarder to Tulu Smith that broke the MSU single-game receiving record.

Once Kevin Barbay’s offense got close to the end zone, backup quarterback Mike Wright came in and scored an untouched rushing touchdown to bring the scoring margin back to 3 at 27-24. The Gamecocks got nothing going on offense on the ensuing drive, and a double A-gap blitz brought Rattler down and forced another Kai Kroeger punt.

The Carolina defensive line stepped up to force a stop on the next drive. TJ Sanders came up with a big sack on 1st down, and Tonka Hemingway knocked down Will Rogers’ pass at the line of scrimmage to force the punt after 4th down.

A nice return from Eddie Lewis gave the Gamecocks good field position near midfield, but DK Joyner coughed the ball up on the next play after being hit by defensive back Shawn Preston who had been suspended in the 1st half for a targeting penalty last week. State recovered.

After the Bulldogs took over, Jordan Strachan tackled Mike Wright on 1st down for a loss of 6, but Rogers hit Zavion Thomas for a big gain for the 1st down. A few plays later, after a Will Rogers scramble, Stone Blanton punched the football loose, and a mad dash for the football took place. Nick Emmanwori recovered, but a Bulldog wrestled it back and was awarded the recovery despite Emmanwori clearly having possession while on the ground.

The Gamecock defense held up, and Arnett elected to kick a short field goal on 4th down. The game was tied 27-27, but Jo’Quavious “Woody” Marks left the game with a leg injury during the drive.

Xavier Legette set a new career high in receiving on the ensuing drive as he caught a tip-pass jet sweep and ran around the edge for 17 yards to bring his total to 189 yards on the day. The pass was also the 16th completion for Rattler as he remained without an incompletion on the day.

After a long Rattler scramble put the Gamecocks inside the 10-yard line, O’Mega Blake was mugged by the Mississippi State defender in the end zone, but no flag was thrown. Rattler’s first incompletion was followed up with a coverage sack, but Mitch Jeter banged through a 35-yard field goal to put his team back in front 30-27.

Woody Marks returned and got the first carry of the next possession, and then Tulu Smith added to his record-breaking day to secure a 1st down. Jordan Strachan hit the arm of Will Rogers as he threw, but the ball was loose before his arm moved forward. Gamecock defensive back Judge Collier picked up the loose ball and returned the fumble into Bulldog territory.

Eddie Lewis took the next Spencer Rattler pass inside the red zone, and Mario Anderson picked up a 1st down. Two plays later, Anderson got behind his pads and Big Tree Babalade and rumbled into the end zone from nine yards out to put the home team up 37-27.

A Marcellas Dial pass interference call and a 4th down conversion got Rogers and the maroon and white offense to midfield, but back-to-back big plays from Boogie Huntley (a sack and a pass deflection at the line) put them in 3rd-and-16. A short completion was followed with an airmailed Rogers pass, giving the ball back to the ‘Cocks with just over 6:00 remaining in the game.

The Gamecock offense only ran a minute off the clock as Trey Knox dropped a 1st down, and Rattler was sacked. A good Kroeger punt and a hold on the return put Arnett’s Bulldogs back to the 3-yard line.

Marcellas Dial and DQ Smith got mixed up and surrendered a big gain to Justin Robinson, and linebacker Debo Williams just missed an interception. White’s defense gave up a 4th-and-10 conversion but then stiffened to force another Ferrie field goal.

The 47-yard attempt was good to make the score 37-30, but Ferrie’s onside kick try was right to DK Joyner who pulled it down with 2:12 left on the clock.

Rattler and the offense kneeled out the clock, and the Gamecocks improved their record to 2-2.

Spencer Rattler and Xavier Legette were special once again. Legette is still on the fastest pace in the history of South Carolina football for receiving. Through four games, no Gamecock has more receiving yards than Legette has put up through four games in 2023. Mario Anderson was good at running back.

The defensive line had its best game overall. The offensive line had some good moments, as well. The Gamecocks showed some signs of improvement but are far from a finished product heading into their week 5 game against Tennessee next Saturday.