NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a all-too-familiar story, Vanderbilt was its own worst enemy once again on a Saturday night.
The Commodores lost 38-27 to visiting South Carolina in a game in which they left way too many plays out on the field and once again let opportunity slip through their fingers.
“Disappointed in the game. Disappointed in the result,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said. “We knew that we weren’t going to be able to find the success we wanted turning the ball over. Obviously that became an issue. The game for us comes down to turnovers and tackling.”
South Carolina (6-3, 3-3 SEC) certainly played well enough to win at FirstBank Stadium. The Gamecocks totaled 492 yards of offense, went 3-for-3 in the red zone and played turnover-free ball until the final moments when a lost fumble was inconsequential.
Yet, at times, Vanderbilt beat Vanderbilt on just as many snaps as its visitors did.
There were dropped passes and penalties and missed tackles and blown coverages, turnovers and touchdowns surrendered. Vandy’s defense, which had pitched a second-half shutout and scored a touchdown Oct. 22 at Missouri, only got four stops on 10 South Carolina drives.
Offensively, Vanderbilt did a fine job rushing the ball to the tune of 226 yards on 41 attempts. But two turnovers and a missed field goal and a failed fourth-down conversion led to too large a hole for Lea’s unit.
“There’s a higher performance for this team out there and we got to go and search for it. And we will,” Lea said. “This is a resilient bunch of guys that care about each other. It’s been. Tough stretch here, but we’re going to stay out it and we’ll keep in search of that Vanderbilt football performance for four quarters.”
A wild and wacky first quarter saw South Carolina ahead 17-7 after 15 minutes. The Gamecocks scored on a 29-yard pass from Spencer Rattler and a 68-yard pass from Dakereon Joyner to Antwane Wells.
Those scores were sandwiched around Quincy Skinner’s 66-yard touchdown reception for the Commodores, but Vandy also turned the ball over twice and missed a field goal early.
The action didn’t slow down much to start the second quarter as each team found in the end zone within the first six minutes of the period. Skinner caught his second touchdown reception, this one from eight yards out, and then Christian Beal-Smith scored on a 52-yard run after seemingly being stopped at the line of scrimmage on 3rd-and-1.
Action somewhat settled down from there until the Dores gave South Carolina another lifeline with 3:34 left in the first half. A 4th-and-4 pass from AJ Swann at the South Carolina 28 fell incomplete and the Gamecocks took over possession and ran with momentum.
A nine-play, 72-yard ensuing drive ended with Rattler’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Josh Vann making it 31-14.
The Commodores trailed by that margin as the half ended, a half in which they threw an interception, lost a fumble, missed a field goal and failed on a fourth-down conversion.
“I respected the way we stayed in the fight,” Lea said. “I respected the way we competed. I thought in the first half we showed a lack of discipline after the snap and that’s disappointing because that’s not to our identity. I thought the second half we cleaned that up.”
Vandy tried to snatch momentum back in the third quarter by going on an 11-play, 81-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard Patrick Smith touchdown dive that made it a 31-21 game. But the Dores gave that momentum right back by allowing South Carolina to march 65 yards over 12 plays and to score on a 17-yard pass from Rattler to Wells.
The Gamecocks converted a 3rd-and-14 and a fake field goal on fourth down at the Vandy 29 during the series.
Vanderbilt quarterback Mike Wright threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Ray Davis with a little more than six minutes left in regulation to get the Commodores within 11. And then Vandy got the ball back with 4:30 remaining while still clinging to hope.
A Ben Bresnahan fumble near midfield, however, ended thoughts of a comeback, or of the Commodores napping what is now a five-game losing streak.
“We’re going to keep at it. We’ll find a better performance. It wasn’t tonight. It wasn’t good enough tonight. We’re not that far off,” Lea said. “There’s not a huge talent discrepancy there, but they made more plays than we made and we’re going to have to find ways to be better.”
Vanderbilt now turns its attention to its final road game of the season, a trip to Kentucky (6-3, 3-3 SEC) at 11 a.m. CT Saturday.
- Vanderbilt’s four turnovers Saturday were a season-high.
- Vandy’s 24 first down Saturday were its second-most of the season (Hawai’i, 28).
- The Commodores have outscored opponents 27-7 in the second half of the last two games.
- The touchdown reception for Skinner in the first quarter was the first of his career.
- Davis’ 167 rushing yards were a career-high.
- Vanderbilt linebacker Anfernee Orji had made at least nine tackles in six straight games before recording six Saturday.
- Swann has the fourth-most passing yards (1,195) by a freshman quarterback in Vanderbilt history. Jay Cutler is third with 1,433 in 2002.
- Vanderbilt opponents are now 6-for-18 on fourth down this season.
- The Commodores are now 24-for-27 in the red zone this season.
- Vandy now trails the all-time series against South Carolina 4-28 and has dropped 14 straight in the series.
- Attendance on Saturday was announced as 28,553.
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
