Sept. 22, 2012

Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | AP Photo Gallery

GENERAL

• Captains for the Gamecocks against Missouri were junior wide receiver Ace Sanders, senior quarterback Seth Strickland, senior linebacker Damario Jeffery and senior linebacker Shaq Wilson.
• Tonight’s 31-10 victory marked the Gamecocks’ first-ever win against Missouri. The Tigers now hold a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series.
• South Carolina now holds an eight-game winning streak, the second longest in school history.
• The Gamecocks now have a 10-game winning streak against SEC Eastern Division rivals. Their last division loss came at Kentucky in 2010.
• South Carolina now also holds a seven-game home winning streak. The Gamecocks are 23-3 in their last 25 games at Williams-Brice Stadium with the only losses coming to Florida in 2009, Arkansas in 2010 and Auburn in 2011.

OFFENSE

• Sophomore Corey Robinson made his first-career start at left tackle.
• After a two-yard touchdown rush, junior tailback Marcus Lattimore became the all-time leader in career rushing touchdowns with a total of 32. He added to his record with a one-yard touchdown run with ten minutes left in the first half.
• After not completing his first pass attempt of the game, junior quarterback Connor Shaw had 20-consecutive completions, which ties him for second in SEC history in the category.
• Shaw completed 20-of-21 passes in the game for a school-record .952 completion percentage. That mark also ranks him second in SEC history behind Tee Martin’s record of .958 (23-of-24) vs. South Carolina in 1998.

DEFENSE

• Freshman T.J. Gurley made his first-career start for South Carolina at free safety.
• Senior linebacker Quin Smith logged a season-high of ten tackles in today’s game.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Sophomore wide receiver Bruce Ellington’s 50-yard kick-off return in the second quarter marked the first kick-off return this season for South Carolina.
• Senior place kicker Adam Yates’ 38-yard field goal in the fourth quarter was his second of the season.

This afternoon’s contest was Missouri’s first on the road as a member of the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers fell to 0-2 in league play and are 2-2 on the season. Each of those loses are to teams currently ranked inside the Top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Today’s game was the third meeting in series history between Mizzou and South Carolina and Missouri now owns a 2-1 series lead. The previous two games (Mizzou wins) occurred during bowl season, including the 2005 Independence Bowl.

Missouri forced its ninth and 10th fumbles of the season. Sheldon Richardson caused the first turnover, his first forced fumble of 2012. Andrew Wilson forced the second. It was Wilson’s fourth forced fumble of the year and fifth of his career.

Kenronte Walker continues to have a great start to the 2012 season. He recovered his second fumble of the year in the first quarter (Richardson force) to halt a South Carolina drive in the redzone. Last week Walker made a pair of game-saving plays, first breaking up a fourth down pass in the end zone vs. Arizona State and then sealed the game with an interception.

Kip Edwards recovered the second fumble (Wilson forced), his third of the year. Edwards leads the team in that category. Richardson assisted on his second sack of the season. The sack now gives Richardson 3.0 for his career and 1.0 in 2012 (both assisted sacks).

Although South Carolina finished the first quarter on the Tigers’ one yard line the Gamecocks did not score in the opening period keeping Mizzou’s first quarter shutout streak intact. Missouri has yet to allow a first quarter point this year and has outscored its foes 17-0 in the game’s first 15 minutes. In fact Missouri has been great at the start of both halves, not allowing a point on the opening dives of the first and third quarters.

Andrew Baggett connected on his fourth field goal of the season. The redshirt freshman hit a 22-yarder to get the Tigers on the board in the second quarter.

The hidden yardage of the return game hurt the Tigers this afternoon. South Carolina had a 49-yard punt return to set up a score and got a 50 yard kick return near the end of the first half to set up another. Each of South Carolina’s three TD drives started at the 50 or on the Missouri side of the football field.

Kendial Lawrence recorded his fourth rush of 20+ yards this year. The senior raced 28 yards in the second quarter to set up Mizzou’s first points of the game.