Kevin Harris’ historic day not enough for Gamecocks in shootout loss to Ole Miss
Everyone was trying to catch their breath.
Kevin Harris. The South Carolina football team’s defense. The Ole Miss fans in the stands.
But by game’s end, the Gamecocks took the final punch to the stomach.
Harris, the burly Gamecocks tailback, set the school record for rushing touchdowns (five) and yards (243) in a game against an SEC opponent, but his offense blinked late in a 59-42 shootout loss.
The game — played in front of 13,596 fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium — dropped South Carolina to 2-5 in Will Muschamp’s fifth season and snapped USC’s three-game winning streak against the Rebels (3-4).
“They fought their a-- off,” Muschamp said of his team. “We didn’t make enough plays defensively.”
South Carolina faced third and 9 with just more than nine minutes left in the game and went to a run-pass option play that resulted earlier in two touchdowns. But perimeter blocking was blown up — or the ball was incorrectly not handed off — and USC had to punt down three points. Ole Miss drove 80 yards on the next possession and scored to pull away.
South Carolina and Ole Miss combined for 1,256 yards of offense.
The battle for most of the game was simple. Harris broke big play after big play, and the rest of the Gamecocks offense mostly kept up. USC finished with 548 yards of offense, with 318 coming on the ground.
Harris’ 243 yards were fifth-most all-time in a game in school history and the most since Marcus Lattimore ran for 246 yards against Navy in 2011.
But Ole Miss and the Lane Kiffin-led scoring machine delivered score after score, getting stopped only twice in its first 10 drives.
Muschamp credited the Rebels’ scheme and skill players.
“They’re a really good football team and they’ve done this to a lot of people,” he said.
The Gamecocks have allowed 159 points over the last three games, all losses. Ole Miss accounted for 708 total yards Saturday, 513 of them passing.
“It is concerning,” Muschamp said of his defense’s performances. “There is no doubt about that.”
After opening the quarterback job through the week, Muschamp and Mike Bobo’s pick of Collin Hill managed to hold his own, calmly distributing and overcoming an early interception.
The Gamecocks put themselves in a bad spot late in the first half when they couldn’t get a first down to run out the clock. After a good punt, an apparent sack of Ole Miss QB Matt Corral was ruled an incomplete pass. Then a receiver got out of bounds just in time for a field goal that gave the Rebels the lead at halftime.
“We felt like we were better tonight,” Hill said. “Hats off to them. They’re a great football team. It is disappointing but it’s one of those things where you’ve got to learn from it and go back to work.”
Observations from Gamecocks vs. Rebels
▪ South Carolina’s defense was basically forced to play the whole game in dime formation. R.J. Roderick didn’t play last week, but he spent almost the whole game at linebacker, as the Gamecocks tried to steal a few stops.
▪ The Rebels gave the Gamecocks all sorts of fits lining star receiver Elijah Moore up in the backfired and either giving him carries or creating different ways to get him into pass patterns.
▪ The Gamecocks played most of the game without All-SEC corner/safety Israel Mukuamu. He suffered a groin injury and had to go to the the locker room before halftime. He was out of pads after the break.
▪ The win made Lane Kiffin 2-0 all time against the Gamecocks. His lone year at Tennessee, his Vols topped Steve Spurrier’s USC team.
Next USC football game
Who: South Carolina vs. Missouri
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium
TV: SEC Network Alternate
USC vs. Ole Miss scoring plays, game stats
First Quarter
SC—S.Smith 11 pass from C.Hill (P.White kick), 9:24.
MIS—Drummond 3 pass from Corral (Logan kick), 4:45.
MIS—Corral 3 run (Logan kick), :47.
Second Quarter
SC—Harris 46 run (P.White kick), 14:18.
MIS—Ealy 15 pass from Corral (Logan kick), 9:38.
SC—Harris 1 run (P.White kick), 3:36.
MIS—FG Logan 22, :00.
Third Quarter
MIS—Conner 2 run (Logan kick), 10:34.
SC—Harris 1 run (P.White kick), 5:39.
SC—Harris 44 run (P.White kick), 2:59.
MIS—Ealy 12 run (Logan kick), 1:11.
Fourth Quarter
SC—Harris 12 run (P.White kick), 12:50.
MIS—E.Moore 91 pass from Corral (Logan kick), 12:02.
MIS—Ealy 5 run (Logan kick), 6:09.
MIS—E.Moore 25 pass from Corral (C.Griffith kick), 3:40.
- Total yards: Ole Miss 708-548
- Pass yards: Ole Miss 513-230
- Rush yards: USC 318-195
- Time of possession: Ole Miss 30:41 to 29:19
— INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS —
RUSHING—South Carolina, Harris 25-243, Fenwick 9-82, Doty 1-3, C.Hill 4-(minus 10). Mississippi, Ealy 17-84, E.Moore 6-45, Parrish 7-28, Corral 10-20, Conner 8-18.
PASSING—South Carolina, S.Smith 0-1-0-0, C.Hill 17-28-1-230. Mississippi, Corral 28-32-0-513.
RECEIVING—South Carolina, S.Smith 10-117, J.Brooks 3-47, Bell 1-29, Muse 1-19, Vann 1-14, Fenwick 1-4. Mississippi, E.Moore 13-225, B.Sanders 4-141, Drummond 4-46, Yeboah 3-39, Conner 2-34, Ealy 1-15, Parrish 1-13.
MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.
This story was originally published November 14, 2020 at 11:00 PM.
