Gamecocks buried by Bulldogs in Starkville

In the first four minutes of Saturday night’s game against Mississippi State, South Carolina saw its best offensive player and a starting defensive player leave the game due to injury and itself fall behind 7-0.

It didn’t get better from there. In fact, it got a lot worse.

For the second time in two weeks, the Gamecocks went to the halftime locker room with no points, and this time they couldn’t come back from the deficit, falling 27-14 to Mississippi State in front of 57,763 cowbell clanging fans in Davis-Wade Stadium.

South Carolina came into the game off a feel-good win over Vanderbilt. It left 1-1 overall, 1-1 in the SEC and with issues to fix before it faces East Carolina in its home opener on Saturday in Williams-Brice Stadium.

Mississippi State came into the game off a loss to South Alabama, and it dominated South Carolina. The Bulldogs gained 324 yards and scored 24 points in the first half. The Gamecocks turned the ball over twice and totaled 90 yards in the first half.

Mississippi State led 24-0 after 30 minutes, and the only break South Carolina got was a lightning delay that extended halftime to one hour and three minutes.

The extra time to regroup didn’t help much. Mississippi State outgained South Carolina 487 yards to 243 yards.

The Gamecocks saw wide receiver Deebo Samuel limp off the field after the first play of the game when he appeared to injure his leg running for a long pass. Samuel returned to the game but never to full strength. On Mississippi State’s first drive of the game, starting safety Chaz Elder was injured trying, and failing, to stop MSU wide receiver Fred Ross from making a 6-yard touchdown catch. Later in the game, sophomore Blake Camper, who started at right tackle, left the game with an injury.

The loss snapped South Carolina’s seven-game winning streak against Mississippi State. The Gamecocks last loss to the Bulldogs had been on Sept. 25, 1999.

TURNING POINT

South Carolina had a chance to weather the storm of its early mistakes after the defense forced a turnover on downs at its own 3-yard line to keep Mississippi State’s lead at 7-0. The Gamecock offense then drove 60 yards to set up a 55-yard field goal attempt from Elliott Fry. The senior who hit a 55-yard game winner last week hit the ball straight, but it fell 1 yard short. The Bulldogs immediately drove 63 yards in nine plays to go ahead 14-0 with 12:15 left in the second quarter.

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: It wasn’t a Gamecock. Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald was the leading passer and runner in the game (more on his running later). After appearing to lose his starting job last week, Fitzgerald completed 19-of-29 passes for 178 yards and got the first victory in the post-Dak Prescott era in Starkville.

Play of the game: Freshman quarterback Brandon McIlwain threw his first career touchdown pass in the third quarter. McIlwain found starting running back A.J. Turner on the right sideline for an 18-yard score that capped an 80-yard scoring drive with five seconds left in the third quarter to cut South Carolina’s deficit to 17 at 24-7.

Stat of the game: Fitzgerald entered the game with 138 career rushing yards on 23 attempts. He finished Saturday night with 17 for 195 yards, including a 74-yard run in the first half on which he appeared to adjust his facemask and break a tackle simultaneously. It was an MSU record for rushing by a quarterback. Clearly, South Carolina’s problems defending mobile quarterbacks from last year have carried over into this season.

OBSERVATIONS

Where’s McIlwain: McIlwain, who played four series in the first half last week against Vanderbilt, did not play in the first half Saturday night. McIlwain entered the game on South Carolina’s first possession of the second half. His first play featured a high snap from center Alan Knott that McIlwain could not handle, leading to a 14-yard loss. McIlwain played the entire second half, finishing with 126 passing yards and 17 rushing yards.

Running back rotation: It looks like junior tailback David Williams fell further out of favor with last week’s five-carry, 7-yard performance. Former walk-on Rod Talley was the second back, although he had one carry. Turner rushed 16 times for 32 yards, and the Gamecocks had 34 rushing yards as a team.

Shuffling up front: USC had a surprise on the starting offensive line, putting Knott at center, Cory Helms at right guard and Camper at right tackle. The moves to go with Knott and Helms to make up for Donnell Stanley’s absence were expected, but D.J. Park was expected to start at right tackle. Instead, Camper took the job. Park rotated in at right tackle in the first half and then took over the job for good when Camper left in the second half with an injury.

UP NEXT

Who: East Carolina at South Carolina

When: 4 p.m. Saturday

Where: Williams-Brice Stadium

TV: SEC Network

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Gamecocks buried by Bulldogs in Starkville."