Deebo Samuel, Kiel Pollard both race for long catch-and-run scores to give USC life

Midway through the second quarter in Saturday’s Palmetto Bowl, South Carolina football needed a shot of life. After an opening-drive touchdown, the Gamecocks had given up 21 consecutive points to Clemson and was in danger of letting the game get out of hand.

On third down and four at USC’s 33-yard line, junior quarterback Jake Bentley scrambled out of the pocket, searching for anyone to keep the drive going.

He found junior tight end Kiel Pollard, barely muscling a throw on the run past a Clemson defender to hit Pollard behind the Tigers’ secondary. From there, Pollard took off and managed to out-run the Clemson defense to the end zone to make it 21-14 and a one-score game with just over six minutes left before halftime.

Then, after Clemson came back with a touchdown of its own, Bentley found senior reciever Deebo Samuel on the first play of the next drive for a 75-yard catch-and-score to make it 28-21. It was Samuel’s second touchdown of the night and eighth receiving on the season.

Pollard’s score was just his second of the season and his career and the longest play of his career.

This story was originally published November 24, 2018 at 8:27 PM.