Gamecocks are good enough to lose

Spurrier bemoans coverage on kickoff, overtime possession

By Mike Griffith

Originally published 12:00 a.m., October 28, 2007
Updated 01:36 a.m., October 28, 2007

A sour Steve Spurrier needed only 2 1/2 minutes to sum up South Carolina's downfall Saturday night.

"OK, it was a good game for television I guess, not a good game for us,'' Spurrier said, moments after Tennessee scored a 27-24 overtime win over the 15th-ranked Gamecocks. "We played just good enough to lose, that's how well we played.''

South Carolina rallied from a 21-0 halftime deficit to go up 24-21 on a Ryan Succop's 49-yard field goal with 1:24 left that all but silenced the crowd of 105,962 at Neyland Stadium.

But then UT's LaMarcus Coker breathed new life into the Vols with a 37-yard kick return to the UT 47.

"We couldn't cover a kickoff very well and pin them back there,'' Spurrier said.

And then the Gamecocks couldn't stop the Vols from driving for the tying score.

It took seven plays, 22 yards and two Tennessee fumbles - and two Tennessee fumble recoveries - before Vols' kicker Daniel Lincoln hit a career-long 48-yard field goal with five seconds left to make it 24-24 and send the game to overtime.

"They tried to fumble it to us a couple of times on their last drive, and we couldn't get either one,'' Spurrier said. "We're not real smart and not real good at times.''

Coker ripped off a 12-yard run on the second play of overtime, leading to a 27-yard Lincoln field goal that put the Vols up 27-24 with South Carolina due to take possession.

Spurrier summed up the Gamecocks' overtime possession succinctly within his 2 1/2-minute postgame press conference.

"We dropped a snap from center, threw a 5-yard minus play, overthrew a guy we had there in the end,'' he said. "Give Tennessee credit for kicking a field goal; that's (overtime) the only time we couldn't make one.

"Hopefully next year we'll be good enough.''

Blake's Take: South Carolina senior quarterback Blake Mitchell finished 31-of-45 passing for 290 yards with a TD and interception after replacing Chris Smelley (3-for-5, one interception) on the Gamecocks' fourth possession.

"It's disappointing,'' Mitchell said. "We were down and fought back and came up a little short.

"We ran the ball pretty well, the offensive line blocked, but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot there in the first half.''

Mitchell's 45 pass attempts were the most since former USC quarterback Bobby Fuller had 46 passes against N.C. State in 1990. With 31 completions, Mitchell became the first Gamecock to complete 30 passes since Dondrial Pinkins hit 30 against the Vols on Oct. 30, 2004.

In God's Hands: Succop confessed that he thought his 49-yard field goal with 1:24 left would be the game winner.

"I did; I thought that was gonna do it,'' Succop said. "Two years ago we played here, and my buddy Josh Brown hit the winner with just a few minutes left and we won that game. It was kinda ironic because I think they were both 49 yarders, and I thought it was gonna be the same, but you got to give a lot of credit to Tennessee, they came out there and got in field-goal range.''

Succop was gracious in defeat.

"The Lord blessed us to make that (first) kick,'' he said. "The second kick, we have to thank God for being in the position I was, and it's unfortunate I didn't make it.

"It just came off my foot a little bit to the right.''

Matching Record: Junior receiver Kenny McKinley caught a school record-tying 14 passes for 151 yards. McKinley extended his string of consecutive games with a reception to 30.

Career-High: Senior tailback Cory Boyd had a career-high 160 yards on 20 carries and posted the fifth 100-yard game of his career.

Last Time: It was South Carolina's first overtime game since the Gamecocks lost to then No. 8 UT on Sept. 27, 2003, when the Vols scored a 23-20 win.