Saturday marked strides in the right direction for South Carolina Football. The Gamecocks struggled in their opener getting a hard fought win 23-19 over Old Dominion, last week. South Carolina followed that with a dominant defensive performance and cruised to a 31-6 win at Lexington.
South Carolina struck 1st, they got on the board with a 24 yard TD pass from LaNorris Sellers to Greenville High product MJ Bennett. The Gamecocks led 7-0 after the 1st quarter. The Gamecocks then got a field goal to go up 10-0 in the 2nd. Kentucky got 2 field goals in the last two minutes of the 1st half and the Gamecocks led 10-6 at the half.
The Gamecock defense would rise to the occasion and shut Kentucky out the rest of the way. South Carolina went up 17-6 in the 3rd quarter on another Sellers TD pass. Raheim Sanders added a TD run in the 3rd to give SC a commanding 24-6 after three quarters.
A "Pick 6" from the South Carolina defense in the 4th made it 31-6, which would be the final score. The Gamecock Defense held Kentucky to 183 total yards and just 44 yards passing.
South Carolina was plus one in the turnover margin on the day. Freshman WR MJ Bennett had 3 catches for 63 yards and a TD. Both Sellers and Bennett are South Carolina natives and those two were paramount to the success of the Gamecock offense on Saturday.
The Gamecocks are 2-0 and are back in action this week. South Carolina hosts #18 LSU Saturday for a noon kickoff at Williams-Brice.