In Saturday’s thrilling 27-24 overtime victory at previously unbeaten Missouri, the Gamecocks — known for their overall youth this season — hitched their wagon to the team’s experienced veterans.
While senior quarterback Connor Shaw drew most of the attention for engineering South Carolina’s late-game comeback, the hands that brought down two of Shaw’s touchdown passes belong to junior wideout Bruce Ellington.
“This is the SEC and, you know, we had to win this game,” Ellington said. “We’re just coming together and fighting for each other.”
The multi-sport star hauled in 10 catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns in by far his best game of the season.
While many South Carolina receivers have jumped onto the scene this year, limiting Ellington’s targets, the junior has seen somewhat of a renaissance in the Gamecocks’ three-game road stand. Against Arkansas two weeks ago, he turned in his then-best game of the season with six catches for 96 yards and two scores.
All the yards and receptions take a back seat, however, to Ellington’s second touchdown catch in the win over the Tigers; a fourth-down grab in overtime that kept the Gamecocks alive in the contest.
“[The play] was called for me to get open and Connor made a great throw,” Ellington said. “You’ve just got to run your route to get open, and that’s what I did.”
Elliott Fry
After winning the battle for the starting kicker job before the season, walk-on true freshman Elliott Fry proved that he belonged in the spot Saturday.
After missing from 40 yards out in the first quarter, Fry would get his shot at redemption in overtime with another 40-yard try.
“It was pretty crazy. Everybody’s yelling and screaming and you’ve got the fans, and the crowd and everything going crazy,” Fry said. “But you’ve got to find a way to stay calm and just do what you do.”
The freshman’s third field goal try would sail through the uprights to give the Gamecocks a 27-24 lead that would go on to be the final score.
Fry has made eight of his first 10 field goal attempts to start his college career, none of which have been bigger than the game-winner at Faurot Field Saturday.
“That’s another big thing in kicking, just moving on to the next kick,” Fry said. “You’ve got to have a short memory.”
Defense
The book on South Carolina’s defensive unit would say that the group has a tendency to hold strong in the beginning of games and lose its steam as the clock winds down.
The Gamecocks reversed that perception Saturday, allowing 14 points in the first half before giving up just three points to the Missouri offense in the last two quarters of the game.
“I thought we played well,” defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said, “We gave up some plays we shouldn’t have, but all-in-all I thought we played well.”
After junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney turned in his best performance of the year in last week’s loss at Tennessee, the All-American from last year recorded five total tackles against Missouri Saturday while facing significantly more double teams.
Benefiting from the focus on Clowney was junior defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles, who had a team-leading six total tackles along with two sacks.
“I thought [Quarles] played a really good ball game,” Ward said. “Kelcy has stepped up his game in the last couple [of] weeks, and that’s what we’re going to need.”
Quarles said that Saturday’s effort was a testament to the grittiness of the Gamecock defense, and that he and his unit are not ones to give up when they’re down.
“We some dogs,” Quarles said. “A wounded dog always fights harder when it’s hurt. We knew we had to come out and fight hard, so that’s what we did.”