How South Carolina’s defense came to rescue vs. UK when sluggish offense needed a lift
Alex “Boogie” Huntley stood in the middle of the huddle. All eyes on him.
He was trying to motivate the Gamecocks at the start of the fourth quarter. Down by four, USC had struggled to find a way to score — or even get a first down — for the better part of 30 minutes.
Huntley knew the offense would get another shot. But first, the defense needed to step up and lead the way.
“It’s gonna be on defense!” he yelled.
Said defensive back Nick Emmanwori: “He was preaching that the offense just needs one more (score).”
After weeks of criticism and frustration aimed at the South Carolina defense, they were the ones to save the day and keep the “Remember November” mantra alive. The Gamecocks were called out this season, ridiculed for their passing defense, told how they couldn’t stop the run or force a turnover.
And on a night when the USC offense had 30 total yards in the middle quarters, the defense stepped up. They got stops. They forced turnovers. When the offense was pinned deep in South Carolina territory late in the game, unable to get a first down, defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway came up with a fumble recovery.
When South Carolina’s offense needed a lift, the defense responded.
“All we needed was to get one more because the defense was playing lights out,” quarterback Spencer Rattler said. “And I’m happy they’ve got trust in us because we’ve got trust in them.”
Two forced fumbles and an interception later, the same South Carolina team that started 2-6 is now 5-6 after Saturday’s 17-14 win over Kentucky.
“It was ugly, and our guys just kept playing,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “I’m so proud of the defense, for all the crap they’ve taken this season. They played their rear ends off.”
Rattler and Xavier Legette both reached milestones Saturday. The two were responsible for the game-winning touchdown drive that included crucial receptions by Legette under tight man coverage.
Rattler surpassed Connor Shaw for total career passing yards and is now fifth in school history. Legette became the second-highest single-season receiver, behind Alshon Jeffery.
Legette had both South Carolina touchdowns against Kentucky.
“Our two best players on offense made plays,” Beamer said. “What a play by those guys.”
Beamer’s said it all season: South Carolina is beat up. Injuries, aches, it’s all happened. Beamer put third-string quarterback and true freshman LaNorris Sellers in for a handful of running plays to take some pressure off starter Mario Anderson. Legette also took some handoffs, though he had minus-11 yards.
Beamer flipped through his call sheet the entire third quarter, scanning for a play Kentucky hadn’t seen yet. Nothing was working. He sent punter Kai Kroeger on the field eight times.
“We looked at the play sheet wondering what we hadn’t called,” Beamer said, holding up the white paper that gave him so many fits. “We ran this. We ran that. We called this.”
With that three-point lead in hand and under a minute on the clock, the game came down to the USC defense. The same defense that fell apart against Florida in a similar scenario a month ago.
This was a different result.
Hemingway batted the final pass down. Rattler and the offense trotted back on the field. Beamer could throw his play sheet away — he didn’t need it to call the victory formation.
Leading up to Saturday, the unfiltered jabs at the South Carolina defense from the early weeks of the season sat in the back of their minds. The Gamecocks wanted a chance to prove people wrong.
Confidently, Emmanwori said, they are.
“It feels good,” he said. “Coach (Clayton) White has been preaching, ‘It’s just a lot of noise.’ We had a rocky start at the beginning of the season, but we had to cut out that noise and just play ball.”
