Why Jake Bentley took a deep shot on a key third and 3

South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley narrowed his eyes, going through the different aspects of the play and the decision.

It's unsurprising his recall was pretty good.

The situation was this, South Carolina faced third and 3 from its own 44 with about 8 1/2 minutes remaining against Louisiana Tech, trailing by six points. The Bulldogs had an extra man in the box, plus a defender close who was matched up with Hayden Hurst. To the wide side of the field, were two receivers and two defensive backs.

USC needed 3 yards. The pass went more than 25, with Shi Smith seeming to lose it in the air while running a corner route. The decision might have drawn some questions, but Bentley was firm with his logic.

"It was a 1-on-1 matchup," Bentley said. "I felt good about it. Little miscommunication on the spot he was supposed to hit. I would have liked him to maybe run it a little wider. I could've thrown it a little better. But that's one thing today, we probably threw that route 20 times, (Tuesday). Just working on that, trying to perfect that route.

"It's a 1-on-1 matchup for an explosive player and you try to take a shot down the field to go score. That's always been my mindset to give my guys a chance because they're great receivers that have excellent ball skills."

At the snap, Louisiana Tech had its corners pressed up on both outside receivers. The two receivers to Smith's side ran what's called a Smash route combination, where the inside receiver runs a corner route and the outside one runs either a hitch or short in.

Against zone, it puts corners in a high-low conflict. Against man, which La. Tech appeared to be in, it leaves receivers to make a play 1-on-1.

Smith nearly hauled in a touchdown on the same route combination in the first quarter, but the pass was just off his hands.

Both OrTre Smith and Bryan Edwards looked to be somewhat open running in-breaking routes on the fourth-quarter, but that was after Bentley had started his throw. Will Muschamp has oft been described as a conservative coach, but after the game, he made no indication he'd want to see it done differently.

"At the end of the day, it's a 1-on-1," Muschamp said. "We felt pretty good about taking the shot there in that situation. We did have an underneath throw that was open, but Jake took the shot and I wouldn't grade him down for that."

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Why Jake Bentley took a deep shot on a key third and 3."