South Carolina Football: Gamecock great makes game-winning play for Dallas Cowboys

Monday Night Football is always one of the most-watched bits of television each week during football season, but the ratings numbers do a little bit better when America’s Team is playing. This Monday, the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers engaged in one of the tightest games of the NFL weekend. As it turned out, a South Carolina football alum made the deciding play.

Shortly after his Dallas Cowboys squad took a 20-17 lead over the Chargers, cornerback Stephon Gilmore made a huge play with 1:30 left in the game to seal his team’s win. As LA quarterback Justin Herbert had pass rushers converging all around him, he tried to hit Quentin Johnston for a 1st down. Gilmore, though, had other plans.

Gilmore stepped in front of Johnston and intercepted the low pass, ending the Chargers’ drive and crushing their hopes of another Herbert-led 4th quarter comeback. The Cowboys held on for the 20-17 win, pushing their record to 4-2 on the young season, just one game back of the Philadelphia Eagles for the NFC East lead.

Now 33 years old, Gilmore is no longer a Defensive Player of the Year candidate (he won the award in 2019), but he proved on Monday night that he still has something left in the tank. The interception was Gilmore’s first since week 1 when he picked off Daniel Jones of the New York Giants. Against the Chargers on Monday, Gilmore added three tackles and another pass defense.

Gilmore has a chance to become the first Pro Football Hall of Famer to have played for the South Carolina football program. Winning a Super Bowl and a Defensive Player of the Year award highlight his resume, and a couple more years in the game should solidify his spot in Canton.

Former Gamecock players like Sterling Sharpe, Tom Addison, Bobby Bryant, John Abraham, and Dan Reeves (as a coach) all also have a shot to be inducted (by veteran’s committees for Sharpe, Addison, Bryant, and Reeves or by traditional voting for Abraham).