South Carolina declaws Wildcats 35-13 in dominant defensive win over Kentucky

Third time’s the charm for South Carolina. The Gamecocks returned home on Saturday night to seal their first Southeastern Conference win of 2025 over the Kentucky Wildcats, 35-13.

The victory moved South Carolina back to above .500 to 3-2, 1-2 in SEC play, in yet another win dominated by non-offensive touchdowns for the Gamecocks.

“[I’m] just so, so proud of our team, the way they responded this week with the negativity out there,” head coach Shane Beamer said. ” … Obviously, when you score twice on defense, you’re going to be really hard to beat. And that’s what we did. But our players responded throughout the week, preparing for this game. We knew the importance of it.”

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Brandon Cisse almost started Saturday’s game for the Gamecocks with an electric interception. However, he couldn’t control it to the ground, and the Kentucky drive continued. The Wildcats capitalized on South Carolina’s misfortune shortly after as Seth McGowan ran the ball 20 yards to open the scoring on Saturday night.

“Any time a team comes to our stadium and tries to score on that first drive, it’s like, all right, we’ve got to go and answer,” South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers said. “That’s not just this game, though; that’s pretty much any game you play.” 

When the Gamecocks got the ball themselves, they too had to overcome potential disasters en route to a game-tying touchdown drive capped off by Rahsul Faison.

South Carolina nearly threw an interception of its own after a Sellers pass bounced into the air before Vandrevius Jacobs came down with it. The Gamecocks’ offense also faced third down three times in their opening drive, converting two and once on fourth down.

Rush defense against Kentucky’s McGowan was a struggle early for the Gamecocks. The senior running back rushed for 50 yards on five carries in the first quarter alongside his touchdown.

“He’s a load, and he’s hard to tackle,” Shane Beamer said McGowan.

However, despite struggles in defending the Wildcats’ running backs, South Carolina kept up pressure on true freshman Cutter Boley. That pressure culminated in a strip sack by Dylan Stewart, which turned into a 41-yard scoop-and-score by Jatius Geer.

Not long after Geer’s touchdown, the Gamecock defense continued to capitalize on the freshman’s mistakes. Two plays after giving the Wildcats the ball back, Gerald Kilgore picked off Boley for six.

Eventually, the Wildcats’ next drive completed the hat-trick of turnovers as Kentucky turned it over on downs around midfield.

South Carolina forced four turnovers alongside a turnover on downs in the Wildcats’ final five drives of the half. In total, they allowed 55 yards in the game’s second quarter. The Gamecocks’ turnover bombardment was briefly interluded by Faison’s second touchdown of the night. By the end of the half, the Gamecocks had turned a 10-7 deficit into a 28-7 lead.

“Clayton [White] talked about it to the defense last night. Don’t just win the turnover battle; we want to dominate this thing,” Beamer said. “And there’s an old saying with turnovers: ‘When they come in bunches.”

All around, the Gamecock defense looked much improved coming off back-to-back weeks where tackles were left all over the field.

“That’s who we are,” Beamer said. “We looked like how I want this team to be. We’re a young team that continues to get better.”

Beamer was also glad to see the team have fewer penalties, even if they haven’t arrived at where they want to be yet. South Carolina finished the game with five penalties for 65 yards, with only one false start.

Neither offense produced much in the third. When the quarter ended, the only points came from a Wildcats’ 41-yard field goal in the final minute.

South Carolina’s offensive struggles were something that persisted the entire night. With less than a minute in the third, the Gamecocks had less than 100 passing yards.

However, the Gamecocks flipped that number on its head with a 59-yard connection between Sellers and Jacobs right before the quarter break. Jacobs was the one bright spot all night for the Gamecock passing game, as well as one of two receivers to receive multiple targets.

Jacobs’ emergence as the Gamecocks’ top receiver in 2025 doesn’t shock Beamer.

“We made him a captain tonight because all that kid does is just work,” Beamer said.

Sellers said he’s seen Jacobs’ confidence and comfort grow on the field. With his skill in the open field, he’s someone he checks the ball to.

Sellers himself found his run game again on Saturday night, rushing for a season-high 81 yards. The redshirt sophomore accounted for 70% of the Gamecocks’ total yardage on the night.

A performance like tonight obviously builds confidence for him and the team, Sellers said.

“Then going into a bye week is good, going in with a win,” Sellers said. “We’ve got two weeks to recover, get a lot of guys healthy. We’re going in good spirits.”

Beamer said there weren’t more or less designed runs for Sellers in the playbook despite the increased production. A lot of his runs tonight were on RPOs where he kept it and weren’t necessarily designed QB runs.

“He’s certainly a weapon. When your quarterback can run the ball like he can — and make up for a lot of mistakes, if you will — that’s a huge thing. We’ve got to continue to lean on that.”

Faison’s touchdown ended as South Carolina’s only touchdown of the half. Following the two-minute timeout, backup Luke Doty took the Gamecocks the rest of the way to the victory.

“It’s a lot to build on. Got a lot of work to do,” Beamer said. “We know the month of October doesn’t get any easier … got an off week to get healthy and get better and keep working. But, like the start tonight … Tonight was a really good start and certainly a game where we, let’s be real, had to have in so many ways.”

Following South Carolina’s bye week, the Gamecocks kick off a run of five-straight top 20 opponents. That stretch starts against LSU at Tiger Stadium on Oct. 11 and ends in Kyle Field against Texas A&M on Nov. 15.

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