COLUMBIA, South Carolina — South Carolina scored 24 unanswered en route to a 24-7 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Gamecocks (4-5, 3-4 SEC) fell in an early, 7-0 hole before rattling off two second-quarter touchdowns and adding a fourth-quarter field goal and fourth-quarter touchdown. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for South Carolina.
The Commodores (2-6, 1-4 SEC), who finished with 189 yards of total offense, travel to No. 6 Florida (7-2, 4-2 SEC) at 11 a.m. next Saturday.
Vanderbilt’s opening drive of the night was aided by three South Carolina penalties – and the Dores took advantage. Riley Neal’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Cam Johnson capped an 11-play drive that covered 77 yards and ate up more than six minutes of clock while giving Vandy a 7-0 lead midway through the opening quarter.
Neal left the game with an injury after that series.
Neal ➡️ Johnson gives Vanderbilt the early lead here in South Carolina pic.twitter.com/Cr933rbN5F
— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) November 3, 2019
The Commodores kept that 7-0 lead into the second quarter thanks, in part, to a forced fumble and recovery by Elijah McCallister with South Carolina threatening at the 9. But the Gamecocks finally dented the scoreboard at the 7:50 mark of the period thanks to Ryan Hilinski’s 20-yard strike to Xavier Legette – that tied the game at 7-7.
South Carolina took its first lead of the game just before halftime thanks a 1-yard run on a toss sweep left to Kevin Harris. The Gamecocks took a 14-7 lead into the break.
Vanderbilt backup quarterback Deuce Wallace was intercepted by R.J. Roderick on Vanderbilt’s final offensive play of the third quarter. That ultimately led to a 22-yard field goal from Parker White making it 17-7 with 12:18 to play.
Hilinski capped his night with a 25-yard TD strike to Bryan Edwards. That score provided the final margin.
