Sept. 26, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s pair of second-half interceptions from T.J. Holloman and touchdown passes from Lorenzo Nunez defined a solid third quarter as the Gamecocks powered past UCF 31-14 Saturday afternoon at Williams-Brice Stadium. Trailing 14-8 at halftime, South Carolina played a near flawless third quarter en route to 20 unanswered points while allowing the Knights just 73 yards of offense in the period.

Save an opportunistic second quarter for UCF, South Carolina dominated the game on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. A balanced offensive attack saw the Gamecocks’ 400 total yards come via 216 rushing yards and 184 passing. Defensively, South Carolina held the Knights to just three conversions on 12 third-down opportunities, picked up five tackles for loss and two interceptions.

The Gamecocks controlled the first 19 minutes of the game, using extended drives on offense and limiting UCF to just two first downs during the stretch. In his first career start, Nunez led the Gamecocks on a sustained opening drive, finding Pharoh Cooper on the right sideline on 3rd-and-10 then keeping the drive alive two plays later with a 12-yard rush to get into UCF territory. Nunez delivered a solid throw on the left sideline to Jerell Adams for a 15-yard completion and another first down. The Knights’ defense held up, forcing South Carolina to attempt a 52-yard field goal, which Elliott Fry nailed for a 3-0 lead with 9:47 to play in the first quarter. It was the longest strike of his career.

Freshman defensive end Boosie Whitlow imposed his will on the Knights right out of the gate, getting great pressure on quarterback Bo Schneider on 3rd-and-10 in his first offensive series. After another lengthy South Carolina drive ended in a missed 49-yard field goal attempt, Whitlow again came up big, sacking Schneider for a 10-yard loss to force a three-and-out on the series.

South Carolina’s next drive got off to a good start but UCF stopped the Gamecocks on 3rd-and-2 to force a punt to start the second quarter. Long snapper Drew Williams delivered for the South Carolina special teams, though, downing the punt on the 2-yard line. The Knights handed off to Taj McGowan, looking to create some breathing room, but for the third time, Whitlow found his way into the backfield for a tackle in the end zone and a 5-0 South Carolina lead with 14:42 to play in the half. It was the Gamecocks’ first safety since Sept. 12, 2009, at Georgia.

The defense again forced UCF into a three-and-out, but a muffed catch on the punt gave the Knights the ball on the Gamecocks’ 1-yard line, and Nick Patti punched it in for a touchdown and a 7-5 UCF lead with 11:04 to go in the half.

The touchdown energized the Knights on both sides of the ball, forcing the Gamecocks to punt on the next possession, which resulted in the Knights putting together their first sustained drive of the game. Taking advantage of a penalty on the first play of the series, UCF launched a 93-yard drive capped off by Schneider’s three pass completions, including a 30-yard floater to Tre’Quan Smith in the front corner of the end zone for a 14-5 lead with 5:18 left in the quarter.

On the next possession, Nunez again led the Gamecocks down the field but the Knights once more held them to a field goal after a pair of incomplete passes into the end zone.

Both defenses came out strong early in the second half with the Gamecocks breaking through first. Nunez opened up the first scoring drive of the half with a 23-yard rush to get into UCF territory. A pair of Shon Carson rushes set up a Nunez lateral to Cooper in the flat with the junior looking to pass. With his wide receivers covered, Cooper reversed to the left, picked up a solid block from Nunez and scampered up the sideline for South Carolina’s first touchdown of the game and a 15-14 lead with 7:41 to play in the third quarter.

South Carolina quickly got the ball back on the first of two T.J. Holloman interceptions. Schneider’s pass was tipped by Skai Moore, and Holloman scooped it up just before it hit the ground. Three plays later, Nunez faked a handoff to the left, rolled to the right and found Jacob August over the middle for the first career touchdown pass and catch for both.

Leading 22-14 with 4:39 to play in the third quarter, the Gamecock defense again stepped up with Holloman corralling another interception. Less than 90 seconds later, Nunez connected on his second touchdown pass, delivering to Cooper for a 35-yard strike. The Gamecocks did not get off the extra point attempt but still led 28-14 with under 2:00 to play in the quarter.

The Knights made it into South Carolina territory on their next possession, but the Gamecock defense took over on downs after D.J. Smith wrapped up Cedric Thompson for no gain on a 4th-and-6 play. With 11:30 to play, South Carolina kept the ball on the ground, rushing 12 times to set up a 33-yard field goal from Fry with just 2:53 on the clock.

Nunez closed out his first career start with 123 yards rushing to go with 12-of-22 passing for 184 yards and two touchdowns in the air. He connected with five different receivers, including four times with Cooper, who finished with 69 receiving yards and both rushing and receiving touchdowns.

GAME CHANGER

After South Carolina took a 15-14 lead midway through the third quarter, T.J. Holloman snared the first of two interceptions on back-to-back UCF drives. The junior linebacker picked up the first nearly off his shoestrings after Skai Moore deflected the pass. Both interceptions resulted in Gamecock touchdowns.

KEY STAT

The South Carolina defense held UCF to just three third-down conversions, while the Gamecock offense converted seven of 16 third downs.

NOTABLES

Freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez connected on his first career touchdown pass with a 13-yard strike to redshirt-freshman tied end Jacob August.

Nunez surpassed the 100-yard mark both rushing (123) and passing (184).

Junior linebacker T.J. Holloman snagged two interceptions in the third quarter to give him five for his career. He added six tackles, one for loss, two quarterback hurries and a pass break-up in today’s victory.

Junior kicker Elliott Frye kicked a career-long 52-yard field goal in the first quarter. The distance is tied for the sixth-longest in program history and the longest since Ryan Succop’s 54-yarder against Arkansas (Nov. 8, 2008).

South Carolina put together a balanced offensive attack, logging 216 rushing yards and 184 passing yards.

QUOTING THE HBC

“At the beginning of the week we didn’t realize what a big win this was going to be for us. We thought we were just going to show up and those guys (UCF) were just going to show up, but I knew it was going to be tough. I told those guys that this was going to be a tough game. Their (UCF’s) d-line is one of the best. Finally we started running the ball in the third or fourth quarter. We tried a little bit earlier and it didn’t do any good. Pharoh (Cooper) made on crucial mistake but he got two touchdowns back for us. Lorenzo Nunez, he actually threw the ball a little better than I think everyone thought he would and played very well. Our defense played well and we should play well. Hopefully this will tell our guys that we can play defense. We have good players. TJ Holloman of course got a game ball for his two big picks. The defense held them (UCF) to that one drive and played pretty well. We finally got a little pass rush at the end. Hopefully we can gain some confidence through this second half. We were in trouble at halftime but I basically told our guys whoever plays the best second half is going to win the game and we played the best in the second half.”

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks travel to Columbia, Mo., next week for a noon kickoff against Missouri. The game will air on SEC Network.