Oct. 28, 2017
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A review of the box score from Vanderbilt’s 34-27 loss to South Carolina might leave a casual fan scratching his or her head.
Vanderbilt outgained the Gamecocks in total yards (440 to 386) and yards per play (6.1 to 5.8) and finished 8-15 on third down. The Dores committed just a single turnover, but South Carolina scored only three points off that miscue. Quarterback Kyle Shurmur tied a career-high with four touchdown passes to accompany his 333 passing yards.
So what ultimately cost the Commodores this game?
The simple answer: Penalties.
“For us, in the first half, it was just too many penalties,” head coach Derek Mason said.
Indeed, the Dores’ self-inflicted wounds weighed on this team’s moments of momentum, costing key yardage and even key faces along the way. Vanderbilt committed a whopping nine penalties for 90 yards in the first half, adding another penalty for 10 yards in the second half. It also lost two players – linebacker Charles Wright and defensive back Zaire Jones – to ejections following targeting penalties. Those nine penalties were key as the Dores struggled to maintain an early rhythm. They also helped allow South Carolina to build a double-digit lead at the break, 24-13.
“It’s tough when you’re beating yourselves,” linebacker Oren Burks said. “Those penalties really put us back in situations like third-and-long. We’ve just got to fight through that.”
Despite its mistakes, Vanderbilt still found itself in position to win the game in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Kyle Shurmur found C.J. Duncan on a touchdown pass with 4:50 to play that cut South Carolina’s lead to 34-27. The Gamecocks punted on the ensuing possession, offering the Dores one final shot at the end zone.
THE POINT AFTER: Breaking down Vanderbilt’s loss to South Carolina
Vanderbilt crept its way into South Carolina territory before eventually facing a fourth-and-3 at the Gamecocks’ 40-yard line with less than 90 seconds to play. Shurmur tossed a short pass to Caleb Scott in search of moving the sticks, but it fell incomplete. South Carolina took over from there and ran the clock dry.
Mason said this SEC East rivalry once again became a game of inches.
“A hard-fought football game,” Mason said. “Credit to South Carolina, they made a couple more plays than we did. And when I say a couple, I do mean a couple.”
But amid disappointment in Columbia, Mason saw a fight from his team he hopes will define Vanderbilt’s final four games in 2017. A loss is still a loss, he acknowledged – “I’m not going to take a moral victory.” – but the Commodores managed to stand tall in a hostile SEC environment. They refused to let a double-digit deficit spell doom early and, in moments, looked like the team that began the season 3-0.
“It just shows the fight in this group,” Mason said. “This group is a tough group. This team can do exactly what it needs to do down the stretch… It showed me today that this is the football team that I thought it was.”
Now the season remains far from over, and Vanderbilt will have more chances to finish what it started. The Dores welcome Western Kentucky to Nashville next week (11 a.m. CT on ESPNU) before closing the season against SEC foes Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Vanderbilt can still reach its second straight bowl game by winning three of those four games.
The ‘Dores know exactly what kept them from a victory in Columbia. But going forward, they also know the South Carolina game is something they can build on.
“Hopefully, it’s a step forward,” receiver Kalija Lipscomb said. “That’s what we want it to be, and that’s what we’ll make it into.”
Zac Ellis is the Writer and Digital Media Editor for Vanderbilt Athletics.
