Oct. 26, 2014

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| South Carolina Post-Game Notes

SCORE BY QUARTERS
Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
South Carolina	7	14	14	0	35
Auburn	7	14	14	7	42

VIDEO COVERAGE
Coach Spurrier
Coach Ward
Dylan Thompson	Mike Davis
Pharoh Cooper	Skai Moore

TEAM STAT COMPARISON
1st Downs	30	25
Total Yards	535	551
Passing	416	156
Rushing	119	395
Penalties-Yards	4-20	4-53
3rd Down Conversions	6-14	6-8
4th Down Conversions	5-6	0-0
Turnovers	3	1
Time of Possession	33:31	26:29

PASSING LEADERS
South Carolina	COM	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
Dylan Thompson	29	50	402	5	3
Pharoh Cooper	1	2	14	0	0
Auburn	COM	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
Nick Marshall	12	14	139	1	0
Jonathan Wallace	1	1	17	0	0

RUSHING LEADERS
South Carolina	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Mike Davis	21	88	4.2	0	28
Brandon Wilds	7	26	3.7	0	13
Auburn	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Cameron Artis-Payne	25	167	6.7	1	30
Ricardo Louis	3	102	34.0	1	75

RECEIVING LEADERS
South Carolina	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Pharoh Cooper	7	127	18.1	2	51
Mike Davis	6	85	14.2	1	27
Auburn	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Quan Bray	4	29	7.3	0	20
D’haquille Williams	3	34	11.3	0	14

SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter				SC	AU
	TD	12:34	Shaq Roland 32 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	7	0
	TD	01:33	Brandon Fulse 3 yd PASS from Nick Marshall PAT KICK by Daniel Carlson (GOOD)	7	7
2nd Quarter				SC	AU
	TD	12:14	Pharoh Cooper 16 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	14	7
	TD	08:19	Cameron Artis-Payne 2 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Daniel Carlson (GOOD)	14	14
	TD	05:05	Mike Davis 27 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	21	14
	TD	02:35	Nick Marshall 37 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Daniel Carlson (GOOD)	21	21
3rd Quarter				SC	AU
	TD	09:30	Cameron Artis-Payne 2 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Daniel Carlson (GOOD)	21	28
	TD	07:40	Pharoh Cooper 51 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	28	28
	TD	07:29	Ricardo Louis 75 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Daniel Carlson (GOOD)	28	35
	TD	02:20	Nick Jones 10 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	35	35
4th Quarter				SC	AU
	TD	11:22	Nick Marshall 9 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Daniel Carlson (GOOD)	35	42

AUBURN, Ala. – South Carolina went into Jordan-Hare Stadium and pushed No. 5 Auburn to the brink in a shootout, but ultimately came up short, falling 42-35, as redshirt senior quarterback Dylan Thompson tied a school record with five touchdown passes and threw for 402 yards.

The Gamecocks got off to a quick start after electing to receive to start the game. On their second play, junior tailback Mike Davis busted a 24-yard run to get the ball out to midfield. Three plays later, facing a third-and-nine, Thompson hit sophomore wide receiver Pharoh Cooper for a 12-yard gain. After a one-yard run from Davis, Thompson hooked up with junior wideout Shaq Roland for a 32-yard touchdown along the right pylon.

South Carolina was able to force a punt from Auburn, and subsequently marched right down the field again with 32 yards on two receptions from Cooper and a 28-yard run from Davis. Facing a second-and-11 at the Tigers’ 12-yard line, Thompson was intercepted by Tiger Cassanova McKinzy. Aubrun took advantage of the Gamecock turnover and put together an 11-play, 92-yard drive that Brandon Fulse capped off with a three-yard touchdown reception to equalize the game late in the first quarter.

The Gamecocks answered back with a 10-play drive that ended with Thompson connecting with a Cooper for the third time on the possession, this time for a 16-yard touchdown. After an illegal block on the return, Auburn opened its drive inside its own 10-yard line for the second-straight possession, but the Tigers were able to move the ball 93 yards on 10 plays, eight via its ground game, including a two-yard touchdown run from Cameron Artis-Payne.

With the game level at 14-14 midway through the second quarter, South Carolina was forced to punt, but after a 28-yard return by Auburn’s Quan Bray, the Tiger had the ball knocked loose and redshirt safety Chris Moody jumped on the ball for the Gamecocks. Facing a third-and-10, a facemask penalty on Auburn kept the Gamecocks’ drive alive. On the ensuing drive, Davis scored on a 27-yard reception. The Tigers though responded two-and-half minutes later as quarterback Nick Marshall found a seam and ran for a 37-yard touchdown to tie the game at 21-21 just minutes before the end of the second quarter.

Coming out of the half, Auburn grinded out a 13-play drive with 11 plays coming on the ground. Marshall’s four-yard run gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 28-21. The back-and-forth affair continued as Carolina, on a second-and-four from midfield, saw Thompson connect with Cooper across the middle and the receiver was able to outrun the Auburn secondary for a 51-yard touchdown.

Just 11 seconds later though, Auburn’s Ricardo Louis gave the Tigers the lead back with a 75-yard touchdown run. Trailing midway through the third, and unable to stop the Tigers’ offense, the Gamecocks went for it on a fourth-and-six from their own 45-yard line. Thompson found Cooper for a nine-yard gain to extend the drive. Davis followed that up with a 23-yard run, and three plays later Thompson found redshirt senior wide receiver Nick Jones for a 10-yard score to level the game at 35-35 with 2:20 left in the third quarter.

The Gamecocks continued to gamble as they attempted an onside kick on the ensuing play, which sophomore linebacker Skai Moore recovered to give the offense a chance to regain the lead. Carolina moved the ball down into the red zone, but Thompson was intercepted for the second time on the night.

As they did in the first half, the Tigers capitalized on the turnover. After moving the ball 71 yards on five plays, Marshall ran for a nine-yard touchdown, his third rushing score on the night, to take a 42-35 lead with 11:22 remaining in the fourth quarter. Carolina was able to get back into the red zone on the ensuing possession, having extended the drive twice on fourth down, but Thompson was unable to connect with Roland on a fourth-and-14 from Auburn’s 19-yard line.

The Gamecock defense was able to stop the Auburn offense on the ensuing possession to give its offense a chance with 1:08 left in the game. Thompson and the offense was able to convert on two third downs on the drive, but Auburn’s Jonathan Jones came up with his second interception of the night on a 41-yard pass attempt as time expired.

GAME CHANGER

With the game tied at 35-35, and facing a third-and-eight from the Auburn 18-yard line, Jonathan Jones intercepted Dylan Thompson. The Tigers capitalized on the turnover with a six-play, 80-yard drive to score the eventual game-winning touchdown.

KEY STAT Redshirt senior quarterback Dylan Thompson threw for the fifth-most passing yards in a single game in school history with 402 yards, and tied the school record for passing touchdowns in a game with five.

NOTABLES

• South Carolina finished with 535 total yards of offense. It is the first time since the 1995 season that the Gamecocks have put together three consecutive games of 500 or more total yards of offense.
• Senior quarterback Dylan Thompson went 29-for-51 for 402 passing yards and five touchdowns. It is the fifth highest total of passing yards by a Gamecock quarterback in a single game in school history and the most since Steve Taneyhill threw for a record 473 on Oct. 14, 1995 vs. Mississippi State. Thompson’s five passing touchdowns tied a school record for a single game as well. It is the sixth time in school history a Gamecock has thrown for five touchdowns and the first time since Syvelle Newton vs. Florida Atlantic, Sept. 23, 2006.
• Thompson now has 20 passing touchdowns for the season and is tied with Todd Ellis (1986), Steve Taneyhill (1994) and Stephen Garcia (2010) for third most in a single season in school history. He is four shy of Connor Shaw (24 in 2013) for second in a single season and nine shy of the school record 29 set by Steve Taneyhill in 1995.
• Senior offensive guard A.J. Cann made his 46th career start moving him into sole possession of third all-time in school history. He is one shy of Cliff Matthews (2007-10) for second all-time in school history.
• Sophomore wide receiver Pharoh Cooper caught seven passes for 127 yards including two touchdowns. The 127 receiving yards marked a career-high, it was also the first time in his career he has caught two touchdowns in a game. Cooper leads the Gamecocks with six TD receptions on the year.
• Junior tailback Mike Davis carried 21 times for 88 rushing yards and now has 2,208 career rushing yards. He is 23 yards shy of Mike Davis (2005-08), no relation, for 13th all-time in rushing yards in school history at 2,231.
• Brandon Wilds became the 42nd player in school history to rush for 1,000 or more career yards.
• Sophomore placekicker Elliott Fry tied the school record for consecutive made PAT with 82 set by Scott Hagler from ’84-86.

UP NEXT South Carolina returns home to Williams-Brice Stadium on Nov. 1 to host Tennessee. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m., ET, and will broadcast on the SEC Network.

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