Bentley Rallies South Carolina Past Ole Miss 48-44

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Jake Bentley passed for two touchdowns and scored the game-winning touchdown on a 4-yard run with 5:50 left to lift South Carolina to a 48-44 comeback win over Mississippi on Saturday.

South Carolina (5-3, 4-3) erased a 44-34 deficit in the fourth quarter to win consecutive games for the first time this season. The Gamecocks covered 47 and 73 yards in fourth-quarter scoring drives, capped by a 3-yard run from A.J. Turner and Bentley’s decisive score, respectively.

Bentley finished 22-of-32 passing for 363 yards as the Gamecocks had 510 total yards. The South Carolina defense, after giving up eight scores in 10 possessions, closed with four consecutive scoreless series to preserve the win.

“Jake gave a gutsy performance and was really accurate with the ball,” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. “The resiliency and fight of this football team says a lot about the culture of our program. A lot of guys stepped up to win this game.”

Ole Miss (5-4, 1-4) rallied from an early 17-3 deficit for a 27-27 tie at halftime and moved out to a 44-34 fourth-quarter lead. Jordan Ta’amu was 31-of-46 passing for 379 yards as the Rebels had 616 yards of total offense, including 141 rushing yards on 21 carries from Scottie Phillips.

“We just did not make the plays we needed to make,” Mississippi coach Matt Luke said. “They did and we didn’t, especially in those final series. This is tough because our players left it all on the field.”

The first-half shootout opened on a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown by Deebo Samuel as the Gamecocks raced to an early 14-point lead. By halftime, Parker White had field goals of 20 and 23 yards, Ty’Son Williams scored on a 2-yard run and Bryan Edwards pulled in a 75-yard touchdown pass from Bentley for South Carolina.

Ole Miss countered with a 24-point outburst in the second period, highlighted by touchdown runs of 1 and 9 yards by Phillips. Luke Logan added field goals of 25 and 26 yards, while Ta’amu scored on a 17-yard run.

The Rebels got second-half touchdown runs from Phillips and Isaiah Woullard on 2 and 1 yards, respectively. Josh Vann had a 5-yard scoring pass from Bentley late in the third quarter before South Carolina rallied in the final 12 minutes.

South Carolina’s defense stopped Ole Miss on the Rebels’ last four drives as the Gamecocks came back from a 10-point deficit to win, 48-44. That set up the game-winning score as Jake Bentley ran in from four yards out after a 69-yard rush by Mon Denson.

7.4 — The Gamecocks had 7.4 yards per play and were helped by big plays from Bryan Edwards (75-yard touchdown reception from Jake Bentley) and Mon Denson (69-yard rush to set up the game-winning score). South Carolina had 510 total yards of offense in the win.

South Carolina closes out its SEC slate next Saturday (Nov. 10) when the Gamecocks visit Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., for a matchup with Florida. Kickoff time is TBA.