South Carolina Falls to Tennessee in Overtime, 45-42

Game #1

Nov. 2, 2014

SCORE BY QUARTERS
Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
Tennessee	7	14	0	21	3	45
South Carolina	7	7	14	14	0	42

VIDEO COVERAGE

Sights & Sounds

Coach Spurrier

Coach Ward	Dylan Thompson

Pharoh Cooper	B. Wilds, S. Golightly

TEAM STAT COMPARISON

1st Downs	35	26
Total Yards	645	625
Passing	301	377
Rushing	344	248
Penalties-Yards	4-31	7-51
3rd Down Conversions	7-16	6-13
4th Down Conversions	2-3	1-2
Turnovers	1	1
Time of Possession	29:47	30:13

PASSING LEADERS
Tennessee	COM	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
Joshua Dobbs	23	40	301	2	1
South Carolina	COM	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
Dylan Thompson	20	32	347	2	1
Pharoh Cooper	1	2	30	1	0

RUSHING LEADERS
Tennessee	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Joshua Dobbs	24	166	6.9	3	36
Jalen Hurd	21	125	6.0	0	16
South Carolina	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Brandon Wilds	8	143	17.9	2	70
Mike Davis	16	69	4.3	0	18

RECEIVING LEADERS
Tennessee	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Jalen Hurd	7	58	8.3	1	21
Pig Howard	5	109	21.8	0	31
South Carolina	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
Pharoh Cooper	11	233	21.2	2	85
Jerell Adams	4	41	10.3	0	16

SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter				UT	SC
	TD	08:34	Pharoh Cooper 11 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	0	7
	TD	02:37	Pig Howard 1 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Aaron Medley (GOOD)	7	7
2nd Quarter				UT	SC
	TD	10:58	Joshua Dobbs 7 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Aaron Medley (GOOD)	14	7
	TD	06:35	Brandon Wilds 30 yd PASS from Pharoh Cooper PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	14	14
	TD	00:07	Joshua Dobbs 36 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Aaron Medley (GOOD)	21	14
3rd Quarter				UT	SC
	TD	09:06	Brandon Wilds 5 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	21	21
	TD	00:09	Pharoh Cooper 12 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	21	28
4th Quarter				UT	SC
	TD	13:22	Pharoh Cooper 85 yd PASS from Dylan Thompson PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	21	35
	TD	06:34	Jalen Hurd 21 yd PASS from Joshua Dobbs PAT KICK by Aaron Medley (GOOD)	28	35
	TD	04:52	Brandon Wilds 70 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Elliott Fry (GOOD)	28	42
	TD	01:50	Joshua Dobbs 3 yd RUSH PAT KICK by Aaron Medley (GOOD)	35	42
	TD	00:11	Jason Croom 9 yd PASS from Joshua Dobbs PAT KICK by Aaron Medley (GOOD)	42	42
Overtime				UT	SC
	FG	15:00	Aaron Medley 32 yd	45	42

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Despite a career night from sophomore wide receiver Pharoh Cooper, South Carolina fell to Tennessee, 45-42, at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night.

On first-and-10 and the Gamecocks on their own 34-yard line, junior tailback Mike Davis flipped the field after catching a short pass in the flat and took it for a 34-yard gain down to the Vols’ 32. After a 15-yard pass to Cooper, the Gamecocks went into the wildcat with Cooper taking the snaps. Facing a third-and-three, Cooper found an open hole on the right side and took the ball 11 yards into the end zone.

On Tennessee’s following drive, the Vols moved the ball down to the Gamecocks’ one-yard line, but Tennessee turned the ball over on downs after Carolina came up with back-to-back stops up the middle. Two plays later though, redshirt senior Dylan Thompson was intercepted by Justin Coleman. The Vols moved the ball 39 yards on six plays before Pig Howard scored on a one-yard rush on third-and-goal to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:37 on the clock in the first quarter.

After forcing the Gamecocks to punt, Tennessee put together an11-play, 80-yard drive to take a 14-7 lead after a seven-yard rush from quarterback Joshua Dobbs, his first of three touchdown runs on the night. On the ensuing drive, Cooper accounted for 67 yards on three of Carolina’s eight plays, with 37 on two receptions and ending the possession with a 30-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to junior Brandon Wilds to even the game at 14-14.

A 37-yard missed field goal by sophomore kicker Elliott Fry, his first missed field goal in his last 12 attempts, gave Tennessee the ball on its own 20-yard line with 1:20 remaining in the first half. Dobbs went 3-of-5 passing on the drive before giving the Vols a 21-14 lead with a 36-yard touchdown run with seven seconds before the end of the half.

On Tennessee’s opening drive of the second half, Austin Medley missed a 43-yard field goal attempt, giving the ball to the Gamecocks. Davis began the drive with an 18-yard run to move the ball out to South Carolina’s 44-yard line. On third-and-10, Thompson found junior tight end Jerell Adams for a 16-yard completion. Three plays later, Cooper laid out for a 26-yard reception from Thompson to move the ball into the red zone. Wilds leveled the game at 21-21 after back-to-back five-yard runs.

After Medley’s second missed field goal of the quarter a 32-yard run from Wilds set up Cooper’s first touchdown reception of the night, a 12-yard strike from Thompson to give the Gamecocks a 28-21 advantage with nine seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Carolina defense forced a Tennessee three-and-out on its next possession. Three plays later, Thompson threw a rope to Cooper over the middle. The receiver took it 85 yards to the end zone, his longest reception of the season, and his second receiving touchdown in less than two minutes to extend the Gamecocks’ lead to 35-21 with 13:22 remaining in the game.

With Tennessee driving on the following possession, senior defensive back Brison Williams shut down the drive by intercepting Dobbs at the Carolina 22-yard line. A three-and-out led to a Gamecock punt, allowing the Vols to start their drive in South Carolina territory. On a fourth-and-six from the 21-yard line, Dobbs connected with Jalen Hurd for a touchdown to bring Tennessee within seven.

Back-to-back negative yardage plays to start the following possession had the Gamecocks looking at a third-and-18. Thompson though found open space on the left side and rushed for 20 yards. On the ensuing play, Wilds broke free down the left sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career to put the Gamecocks back up 14 at 42-28 with just under five minutes remaining. Tennessee responded though with a 10-play, 78-yard drive that Dobbs capped off with a three-yard run, his third rushing touchdown of the night.

The Vols held the Gamecocks to a three-and-out on their next possession and proceeded to put together a nine-play, 85-yard drive as Dobbs found Jason Croom over the middle of the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown to tie the game at 42-42 with 11 seconds remaining that forced the game into overtime.

Tennessee received to start overtime and Medley converted on a 32-yard field goal to put the Vols ahead, 45-42. Tennessee sent heavy pressure on the Gamecocks’ possession, leading to back-to-back sacks and a hurry on Thompson. On fourth-and-25, Fry missed a 58-yard field goal attempt to end the game.

GAME CHANGER Tennessee put together a nine-play, 85-yard drive with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter and scored the game-tying touchdown with 11 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

KEY STAT Wide receiver Pharoh Cooper set a single-game school receiving record with 233 yards. The sophomore accounted for four touchdowns, two receiving, one rushing and one passing, becoming the first Gamecock since Connor Shaw in the 2014 Capital One Bowl to throw, rush and catch a touchdown in a single game.

NOTABLES

The Gamecocks posted 625 yards of total offense, the fourth time in a row the Gamecocks have topped 500 yards in that category, a school record. It’s the third-best total offense output in the Steve Spurrier era, behind the previous mark of 639 set against Coastal Carolina in 2013 and Kentucky in 2011.
Senior quarterback Dylan Thompson threw for 347 yards in a 20-for-32 night. It’s the fifth 300-yard passing game of his career and third of the season. ÃŽ-e now has 2,588 passing yards on the year, moving up to sixth on the single-season list at South Carolina. His two touchdown passes broke a four-way tie for third in a season, putting him two shy of Connor Shaw (24, 2013) in second.
Junior tailback Brandon Wilds ran for 143 yards on eight carries. The 70-yard TD run in the fourth quarter is the longest of his career and matches the Gamecocks’ longest rush of the season.
Sophomore Pharoh Cooper tallied a school-record 233 receiving yards on 11 catches, tops in his career. He ran for 23 yards on three carries while also throwing a touchdown pass of 30 yards, the longest completion of his career.
The 256 all-purpose yards for Cooper is the most for a Gamecock this year, topping Mike Davis’ 191 at Kentucky. Cooper’s previous best was 189 against Vanderbilt.
Cooper ran for a touchdown in the first, threw for a touchdown in the second and caught a TD pass in the third (and fourth), following Connor Shaw’s performance in the 2014 Capital One Bowl against Wisconsin.
The 85-yard TD pass from Thompson to Cooper ranks as the longest play for the Gamecocks this year.