Davis shrugs off fumbles to key passing attack

Mike Davis’ teammates never gave up on him Saturday night, he said, and he never gave up on South Carolina’s chances of a comeback despite a bleak outlook at times Saturday night.

Davis fumbled twice in the first half, including once at Missouri’s 2-yard line, as the No. 5 Tigers built a 17-0 lead. But he rebounded to lead the No. 20 Gamecocks with 51 yards rushing and finish second on the team with 99 yards receiving in a 27-24 double-overtime victory.

“Mike Davis actually had a heck of a game even though he had those fumbles,” coach Steve Spurrier said. “We yelled at him a little bit, but the kid is the leading rusher in the conference, we’re not going to yell at him too much.”

Added Davis: “I didn’t lose hope at all. I tell you what, our guys today, they came together, and we all played for each other. We never gave up. My teammates (were) picking me up and telling me to forget about it, don’t worry about it.”

Davis turned out to be more valuable catching screen passes than running the ball. He burned Missouri several times catching the ball just beyond the line of scrimmage and rumbling for yardage in the middle of the field. The Gamecocks threw for 423 yards, their highest passing output since 1995 against Mississippi State.

“I don’t know how many yards we threw for, but the screens were a big part of it,” Spurrier said.

Wide receiver Bruce Ellington led the Gamecocks with 136 receiving yards on 10 catches, including a 15-yard scoring pass on fourth-and-goal that tied the game in the first overtime. The Tigers played zone most of the night but were in man coverage on the pass to Ellington.

Wide receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. “said, ‘Try the corner right and maybe they are playing man again,’ ” Spurrier said. “We were just very fortunate.”

South Carolina ran a season-high 91 plays and outgained Missouri 498 yards to 404. The Gamecocks had 196 yards in the fourth quarter and overtime.

When Shaw entered the game midway through the third quarter, he told himself, “Stay calm. We are not going to win a game in a series so we just have to take it play by play. I am so proud of our guys for battling throughout the game. We had been moving the ball on them all game long, we were just shooting ourselves in the foot. So I had the piece of mind we were going to be able to move the ball in the second half.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2013 at 2:05 AM.