No, USC didn’t run out of fireworks in 2022 vs. Tennessee. Here’s what really happened
When South Carolina football scored its ninth touchdown to cap off a 63-38 upset of No. 5 Tennessee at Williams-Brice Stadium in 2022, ESPN’s Chris Fowler made a declaration on national television.
“They have exhausted the fireworks supply,” he said. “Done.”
That Williams-Brice Stadium had run out of fireworks was widely reported on. While it’s true fireworks didn’t go off from the video board after the ninth score, more did erupt after the game. So what really happened?
Russ Ellis, the on-site manager in Columbia for Pyro Shows, the company that handles the fireworks at Williams-Brice Stadium, explained what happened.
“The extra shots were loaded and added to the end-of-the-game celebration,” he told The State. “We didn’t run out. We just missed the TD because of reloading more.”
At the time, Pryo Show’s policy was to bring 10 “touchdown shots” to USC games and pre-load eight of them. After the eighth score, the fireworks team went to reload more. Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler’s 20-yard touchdown to Jalen Brooks happened during that reloading process.
As a safety precaution protecting the workers near the launching point, Ellis and his team chose not to launch the shots and save them for after the game. Since then, Pyro Shows has upped the amount of fireworks it brings to a game.
“We always come with 10 touchdowns that we go in ahead and get loaded,” Ellis said. “We always bring an additional five touchdowns that we have with us if they have an unbelievably high-scoring game.”
Fowler’s claim that Williams-Brice Stadium had “exhausted the fireworks supply” was simply a misunderstanding and a matter of safety — one that would take a record-breaking performance to happen again.
