South Carolina vs. Missouri, recap and final score: Gamecocks tame Tigers 31-13 behind 21 unanswered points

Despite facing an early 10-0 deficit, South Carolina put together arguably one of their better performances under Will Muschamp the rest of the way as they marched off Faurot Field with a 31-13 victory over the Missouri Tigers. The win puts the Gamecocks at 2-0 overall and 1-0 in SEC play with Kentucky coming up next week at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Despite a twelve-play, five-minute plus opening drive that saw several third down conversions, the Gamecocks couldn’t score as Jake Bentley struggled with accuracy (going too strong on three separate passes) and Alexander Woznick missed a 33-yarder with 9:24 left in the first. Mizzou’s rushing attack during their first drive burned South Carolina for 48 yards before the Tigers had to settle for a 48-yard Tucker McCann field goal to make it a 3-0 contest with 5:33 remaining. It took the first play of Mizzou’s first drive of the 2nd quarter to them to find the end zone - a 61-yard pass to Jason Reese to make it 10-0 just 1:53 into the period.

On the kickoff, though, it was Deebo Samuel.

Next play: interception by Jamyest Williams. Next play after that: jet sweep to #1 for the score.

That seemed to wake the Gamecocks up a little despite being forced to punt on their next drive and giving up more chunks of yard on the ground to the Tigers, but Mizzou’s McCann saw his 25-yard attempt from the left hash get tipped to keep it 14-10 with 1:16 left in the half.

After forcing a Mizzou punt on the opening drive of the second half, the Gamecocks went to work on a brilliant nine-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 40-yard Hayden Hurst TD catch. The drive was aided in part by some strong running by Ty’Son Williams, who accounted for 23 yards on three carries.

Mizzou bounced back to get it to the red zone on a couple of chunk yardage plays by Drew Lock, but had to settle for three points to cut the lead to 21-13 with 6:31 remaining in the 3rd. South Carolina responded with another nice long drive that ended with a 32-yarder by Woznick to jump out to a 24-13 advantage with seconds remaining in the 3rd. A big turning point came on the Gamecocks’ next drive as Charlton’s punt hit off a Mizzou defender near the Tigers’ 44. After a third down conversion and a huge 66-yard Williams run to the 1, a risky play call on 3rd and goal saw Hayden Hurst rumble his way in to make it 31-13 with 10:25 left. A huge Bryson Allen-Williams interception on the ensuing Mizzou drive basically ended matters with 9:34 left. The Tigers appeared to have a 13-yard TD to Johnathan Johnson with 2:46 left, but Johnson was ruled to not have possession as he fell out of bounds to completely end any possibility of a comeback.

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