South Carolina's first three drives in the Birmingham Bowl resulted in an interception and two punts, as the Gamecocks ran just 11 plays in the first quarter. From then on, true freshman quarterback Jake Bentley led South Carolina on a surge, throwing for 390 yards and three touchdowns to force overtime and bring his team back from 15 and 18-point deficits.
While South Florida came away with the overtime victory when Bentley was sacked on fourth down to end the game, the Gamecock offense showed tremendous progress in Thursday's contest, albeit against one of the nation's worst defenses.
South Carolina's comeback led to several Birmingham Bowl records for both the team and individual players. The Gamecocks set bowl records in first downs (27), offensive yards (481) and passing yards (390), while the game was the highest-scoring contest in the bowl's 11-year history. Bentley set bowl records in passing yards (390) and completions (32), while Deebo Samuel earned top honors in receptions (14) and receiving yards (190), in addition to scoring two touchdowns.
The offense has been revitalized since Bentley took over during the open week, and the season's 13th game looked to be the culmination of that growth, as the Gamecocks turned in their best output of the season against an FBS opponent.
After the loss, both Samuel and Hayden Hurst pointed out that left tackle Mason Zandi should be the only starter who won't still be with the offense next season. Every yard of offensive production the Gamecocks had in Thursday's contest came from a freshman or sophomore, and Bentley, Rico Dowdle and Bryan Edwards (all true freshmen) had strong performances, though they made mistakes too.
Two months ago, this was the worst scoring offense in the country. While USF doesn't have a particularly strong defense, the Gamecocks torched the Bulls in the final three quarters, scoring 39 points despite losing two fumbles just outside of the end zone in the second half. That's certainly an accomplishment, though center Cory Helms echoes coach Will Muschamp in saying that there's still plenty of work to do.
Regardless, this Gamecock team went from a 2-4 squad with the worst offense in the country to scoring 39 points against a two-loss team in a bowl game in just over two months. Bentley is supposed to be a high school senior, and instead, he jelled with a young South Carolina offense to lead the team to four 30-plus-point performances in his seven starts.
The Gamecocks now have an entire offseason to work with, and the offense proved to be significantly improved in 2016's final seven games. With Bentley and Dowdle in the backfield, four returning starters on the offensive line, and weapons in Samuel, Hurst and Edwards on the outside, South Carolina is in a far better position offensively heading into Muschamp's second season than it was heading into his first.