Field goals instead of TDs in red-zone hurt Gamecocks

South Carolina took snaps in the red-zone on three separate drives in the second half of a 26-22 loss to Kentucky. Each time the Gamecocks came away with only field goals.

Missed opportunities proved to be the difference in USC’s first home loss to Kentucky since 1999. The Gamecocks got as close as the 11, 8 and 2 on the first three drives of the second half but came away with only nine points.

“We didn’t get enough touchdowns,” South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. “We went down there and kicked a bunch of field goals, just didn’t connect and threw a pick there at the end of the game.”

The interception, thrown by Perry Orth, came with the Gamecocks trailing by four and less than five minutes remaining. Orth, who completed 8-of-10 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter, drove USC to the Kentucky 37 before throwing a pick on first down. USC never got the ball back.

Deebo Samuel was open on the play, but Orth was unable to get enough on the pass while throwing on the run.

“I was rolling out to the left and I think it was Deebo that was down the boundary. I just tried to put some air under it. I was running out full speed and I didn’t get enough on it,” Orth said. “I’m pretty frustrated about that. We were moving the ball the entire second half. If I throw that ball four feet higher like I had planned to it’s probably a different outcome.”

South Carolina outgained the Wildcats 136-22 in the third quarter and 120-70 in the fourth, but the only touchdown came on Orth’s 33-yard strike to tight end Jerell Adams.

“It was very frustrating. We moved the ball so easily to get all the way down there, and then once we got down there we didn’t punch it in,” Orth said. “We’ll have to look at the tape and see where we can learn from our adjustments but it’s very frustrating considering that if we turn one field goal into a touchdown, we win the ballgame.”

Senior running back Brandon Wilds, who lobbied for more carries during the week, had a simple answer for what went wrong in the red-zone.

“I didn’t get the ball,” he said.

Wilds ran 16 times for 106 yards, averaging 6.6 yards per carry, and when asked if he got enough carries replied, “Uh no. Not at all.”

South Carolina star Pharoh Cooper agreed that the Gamecocks probably should have kept the ball on the ground more near the goal line. USC’s offense took 11 snaps in the red zone in the second half, five were runs and six were passes.

“We probably should have ran the ball, now looking back at it,” Cooper said. “We were running the ball pretty decently the whole night.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 12:45 AM with the headline "Field goals instead of TDs in red-zone hurt Gamecocks."