South Carolina falls to Notre Dame in TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
South Carolina couldn’t get it done in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Friday losing to Notre Dame 45-38.
The Gamecocks won the turnover battle, forcing Notre Dame’s Tyler Buchner to throw three interceptions. Despite this, South Carolina couldn’t stop the Fighting Irish’s run game.
Notre Dame ran for 265 rushing yards and average 5.9 yards per carry. In the fourth quarter alone, team averaged 8.8 yards per carry.
South Carolina started hot, scoring 21 points in just about every way possible during the first quarter.
It took just over three minutes for the Gamecock offense to put points on the board after receiving the opening kickoff.
Spencer Rattler led South Carolina on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a Xavier Legette touchdown reception
With both Josh Vann and Jalen Brooks out, Legette stepped up and grabbed a pass, and took it 13 yards to the house.
Clayton White’s defense held Notre Dame to just two yards on its opening drive, but a fumble from Ahmarean Brown gave the Irish the ball in favorable field position.
Tyler Buchner and the Notre Dame offense responded with a 15-yard touchdown rush 10 plays later. The Gamecock defense had several opportunities to stop Buchner on third down, but simply couldn’t.
South Carolina followed it up with a creative end to another 10-play drive. On fourth down, Kai Kroeger dropped back to pass and found All-SEC long snapper Hunter Rogers in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown pass.
DQ Smith completed the scoring trifecta a few plays later when he caught a ball that Boogie Huntley deflected and took it back 47 yards to the end zone for a pick-six. The interception put South Carolina up 21-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter had less firepower than the first, but Notre Dame started to claw its way back into the game.
Both teams swapped field goals to bring the score to 24-10, but a 75-yard touchdown pass from Buchner to Logan Diggs cut South Carolina’s lead to 24-17.
Much like the teams swapped field goals, they then swapped three-and-outs as the first half winded down. Rattler ultimately threw an interception with less than 10 seconds left on the clock before the first half ended.
After South Carolina had an up-tempo offense in the first half, things slowed down a bit in the third quarter.
The Gamecocks forced Notre Dame to go three-and-out on its first drive of the second half, but the Gamecocks turned around and did the same.
Buchner’s second rushing touchdown of the game capped off a five-play drive where the Irish were moving the ball in chunk plays. The 11-yard run also tied the game at 24 points apiece.
Rattler and Legette once against teamed up shortly after to break the tie.
After escaping some pressure, Rattler fired a ball downfield and found Legette who went up and brought the ball down – barely keeping one foot in. Rattler finished the game 29-for-43 through the air for 246 yards and two touchdowns.
The 42-yard touchdown put South Carolina up 31-24. Legette finished with 78 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Shortly after, a pass from Buchner was bobbled by a Notre Dame wide receiver and picked off by Nick Barrett.
Beamer and his offense couldn’t get things rolling though, despite all the momentum being pivoted in the Gamecocks’ direction.
Rattler finished the game going 29-for-46 with 246 yards and two touchdowns and one pick.
South Carolina went three-and-out on the last three drives of the third quarter, totaling negative 14 yards on those drives.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Buchner found Braden Lenzy in the endzone for a 44-yard touchdown to tie the game at 31-31.
Notre Dame shifted that momentum to their defense, and caused South Carolina to go three-and-out in its first drive of the fourth quarter. Buchner captained the offense to a seven play, 73 yard drive that was capped off by a 39 yard touchdown rush by Logan Diggs.
The touchdown gave Notre Dame a 38-31 lead, its first of the game.
Buchner and the Irish offense started driving again, putting together a drive that got the Irish all the way down to the seven yard line.
South Carolina didn’t back down though, Buchner dropped back to pass and O’Donnell Fortune picked him off — taking it 100 yards back for a Gator Bowl record breaking pick six. The interception tied the game at 38-38.
Buchner milked the clock on the following drive, running 12 plays and milking six minutes off the clock. Facing a third and seven, Buchner found Mitchell Evans wide open near the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown pass. The score put the Irish up 45-38.
Buchner had an inconsistent game, but still found away to help the Irish out. He finished with the game 18-for-33 through the air with five total touchdowns.
South Carolina efforts a last second comeback but penalties were the Gamecocks downfall and a comeback couldn’t be completed.
