Gamecocks Win 17-14 Rockfight Over Kentucky

South Carolina's football team overcame their struggles in the middle quarters against the Kentucky Wildcats, and keep their bowl eligibility hopes alive.

The South Carolina Gamecocks came into Saturday night's contest looking to keep their bowl eligibility hopes alive against the Kentucky Wildcats. Although things looked bleak at certain points in the ball game, Shane Beamer's team overcame the odds in the end, winning by a score of 17-14.

In the first half, South Carolina got off to a good start, scoring on each of their first two offensive possessions, and forcing Kentucky's offense to go three-and-out on their first two drives. In that stretch, South Carolina outgained the Wildcats 125 yards to 7. What the box score didn't show, however, was that Rattler was having to essentially be superman on some plays by escaping the pocket and using his legs to get positive yardage.

That caught up to the Gamecocks in the second quarter, as Kentucky would get into a groove offensively thanks to some timely explosive plays out of play-action concepts, and made South Carolina's run game nonexistent. The saving grace for Beamer's team in that second quarter was two turnovers forced by the Gamecocks secondary, as they barely held onto a 10-7 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, that trend continued, as the Wildcats began to lean more on their star running back in Ray Davis, who scored their second touchdown of the night on a 31-yard run that saw him spin off of a Carolina defensive back and outrun everyone else to the endzone. 

Late in the period, the Gamecocks had a golden opportunity to inject life back into Williams-Brice Stadium and mount a long-awaited response to Kentucky, but on 3rd and 8 on the Wildcat's 31-yard line, with no receivers open, Rattler rolled out from pressure and into a sack that took them out of field goal range.

In the fourth quarter, South Carolina would get another chance to throw a counterpunch, and this time, they would capitalize, as they would put together a nine-play, 74-yard drive that would end in a touchdown pass to Xavier Legette from 17 yards out. With a surge of momentum back on their side, the defense would force a six-and-out from Kentucky, but the Cats would down the ensuing punt at the Gamecocks one-yard line, and force a three-and-out.

On the next Kentucky possession, Jordan Strachan would knock the ball out of Leary's hand before his throwing arm went forward, and Tonka Hemingway would catch the ball, giving Carolina the ball right back. Once again, however, Rattler and the offense were unable to muster anything positive, and had to give the ball right back to Kentucky. The wildcats, however, would do nothing, and the Gamecocks won 17-14, and kept their bowl eligibility hopes alive.

Join the community:

• Follow Andrew Lyon on Twitter: @ALyon_SC
• Follow Joseph Griffin on Twitter: @JosephGriffinJG
• Follow Fisher Brewer on Twitter: @USCTalk
• Follow Locked On Gamecocks on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter at @GamecocksDigest.