Offense brings Gamecocks oh-so-close for second straight game
What makes it so maddening is each of the last two games have been right there for the taking. And while it’s easy to blame the defense for being behind in the fourth, the defense has put South Carolina in position to be ahead after the fourth.
The Gamecocks haven’t done it. Be it a sack or a questionable run up the middle on third-and-short, or a last-minute fumble, they just can’t get that one play at the right time to mean something. USC stayed with Texas A&M and tied Tennessee after a first half of zero production.
But there they were again, down 27-24 in the fourth against the Volunteers, just as they were down a touchdown at Texas A&M. They’d been moving the ball and all they had to do was keep moving it.
First try, Brandon Wilds stopped on a run up the gut on third-and-2. Punt.
Second try, they got a first down, then a gift when Shamier Jeffery was ruled to have his forward progress stopped before he had the ball ripped from his hands. USC drew up a nice play during the review, hit it — and it was wiped because of Mason Zandi’s false start. Perry Orth then threw behind Pharoh Cooper, punt with 3:06 to go and one timeout.
Third time’s the charm. USC moved the ball, Jerell Adams caught it and was going to set up the tying field goal, maybe even the game-winning TD — and fumbled.
Tennessee ball. Game over.
“One of those games where you just look back and you kind of reflect on the first quarter,” USC coach Shawn Elliott said after a loud sigh. “We had some missed opportunities. Offensively, all we had to do was just continue with wise decisions that we didn’t make in the first quarter.”
A stagnant offense came to life in the second half, Tennessee’s pass-rush and defensive front confusing Orth and limiting big gains in the first. Elliott’s plan of opening up the playbook more than he did at A&M and using Lorenzo Nunez disappeared in a haze of Smokey gray atmosphere.
USC had 114 yards at halftime and 271 after it. Nunez wasn’t a factor, but Brandon Wilds was running hard, Orth threw three touchdowns and Jonathan Walton – formerly known as a linebacker – had a score out of a three-back set.
It was almost good enough.
The Gamecocks had to score on as many possessions as possible and didn’t. Orth was again serviceable, but not spectacular, able to make some very strong plays but unable to get it done when the Gamecocks really needed him to.
And all of it would have been forgotten had Adams held onto that ball (maybe). Who knows if the field goal would have been missed or somebody would have dropped an end-zone pass. The fumble added to the pantheon of mind-numbing ways USC can lose a ballgame.
It was another good effort and lousy loss, and USC is now staring at a bleak proposition – win out or stay home for the holidays. It doesn’t help that its next three games are against teams that are a combined 24-3.
But Elliott and his team don’t have much more of a choice other than to try and pull it off. Florida, already crowned SEC East champion and coming off an ugly win Saturday, perhaps will yield some openings on the tape.
“Our football team believed. Our football team is getting better. Our football team is hurting,” Elliott said. “We’re going to get it done. We’re going to get it done.”
This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 10:09 PM with the headline "Offense brings Gamecocks oh-so-close for second straight game."