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South Carolina

The 3-2-1: Three key plays, two game balls, one burning question from South Carolina's win over Kentucky

On3 imageby: Chris Wellbaum11/19/23ChrisWellbaum
South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori speaks at Gamecocks media day
Nick Emmanwori (Photo by Katie Dugan/GamecockCentral)

Three Key Plays
1. Illegal Shift
Kentucky faced a third and five on its first possession and appeared to have a conversion when Devin Leary found Izayah Cummings over the middle for a ten-yard reception. But Kentucky was flagged for an illegal shift, negating the play. Jordan Strachan sacked Leary on the redo, and the Wildcats went three-and-out. South Carolina also forced a three-and-out on the next drive, again aided by a Kentucky penalty, and the Wildcats trailed 10-0 before they picked up a first down.

2. First and goal
Up 7-0 in the first quarter, South Carolina had a first and goal at the two. The Gamecocks tried to get fancy and put freshman QB LaNorris Sellers into the game along with Spencer Rattler. Sellers got the snap and ran a quarterback sweep right. He was stuffed and Djay Braswell was flagged for holding in the process, backing the Gamecocks up to the 12. They ended up settling for a field goal. The Gamecocks may not have scored a touchdown from the two either, but the chances of scoring on three or four tries from the two are a lot better. Having to settle seemed to suck all the life out of the stadium, and the offense became non-existent other than the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.

3. Fumble
After South Carolina took the lead in the fourth quarter the teams traded punts. Kentucky came out of the exchange with first and 10 on the South Carolina 49. On the previous possession, Jalon Kilgore let a pick-six slip through his hands. This time, there were no missed opportunities. On first down, Jordan Strachan got a great jump off the snap, and despite being held, circled around and hit the football as Devin Leary cocked to throw. The ball popped almost straight up, and Tonka Hemingway grabbed it, coming up with the pivotal turnover. It was officially ruled a forced fumble and recovery.

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Two Game Balls
Nick Emmanwori
Emmanwori seemed to be in on every play. He finished with nine tackles, a pass breakup, and an interception. The interception, which came in the end zone, prevented a score at a time when the Gamecocks were struggling badly on both sides of the ball.

Tonka Hemingway
Hemingway didn’t do much for most of the game, but he made two plays that mattered most. He picked off a deflected pass to end Kentucky’s next-to-last drive and then dropped into coverage and batted down a pass to end the Wildcats’ final possession. He also had a quarterback hurry earlier in the game, but those two drive-ending plays kept South Carolina’s hopes for an undefeated  November alive.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Clemson football game]

One Burning Question
Can the Gamecocks complete the November to remember?
It sure didn’t seem likely back in October. Now they are one game away from a four-game winning streak, bowl eligibility, and (most importantly) a second straight win over Clemson. There is a lot to clean up from Saturday: the offense looked miserable on the six possessions in between the second and third scores and the defense got bailed out by some errant throws and turnovers at crucial times. But even with those issues the Gamecocks beat the Wildcats, so why can’t they beat the Tigers?

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