Black Magic | South Carolina Gamecocks | CFB 27

[Caesar]

South Carolina Gamecocks

Game Preview — Week 3

Mississippi State Bulldogs

1-1 (0-0 SEC)

AT

#24South Carolina Gamecocks

2-0 (0-0 SEC)

Saturday, September 19 • 7:30 PM • SEC

Williams-Brice Stadium — Columbia, SC

Tale of the Tape

31.0	PPG	45.5
454.0	Total YPG	548.5
146.0	Rush YPG	161.0
308.0	Pass YPG	387.5
31.0	Opp PAPG	10.0
414.0	Total YAPG	276.5
165.0	Rush YAPG	74.5
249.0	Pass YAPG	202.0
+1	Turnover Margin	+2

Preview

The SEC schedule gets underway for South Carolina and Mississippi State as the Gamecocks continue to get comfortable playing under first year head coach Julian Sneed. Sneed has orchestrated back to back blowout wins over Kent State and Towson with quarterback LaNorris Sellers and receiver Nyck Harbor leading the way.

On the other side of the field, Mississippi State has split their opening games with a 30-24 win over UL-Monroe and a 32-38 loss against Minnesota. They're rank underdogs heading into a stretch of six games against teams currently in the top 25; including this game against South Carolina, Missouri, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas.

For the Gamecocks, they'll need to make sure that they're not overlooking the Bulldogs with their first away game of the season against Alabama next week.

Coaching Staffs

Mississippi State

HC	Jeff Lebby	8-19 (3rd yr)
OC	Ralph Patterson	Veer and Shoot
DC	Bobby Horn	Base 3-4

South Carolina

HC	Julian Sneed	2-0 (1st yr)
OC	Kendal Briles	Air Raid
DC	Clayton White	4-2-5

Players to Watch

Mississippi State

#1

Kamario Taylor

QB

46/73, 616 YDS, 6 TD, 3 INT

#24

Fluff Bothwell

HB

32 car., 153 YDS, 1 TD

#3

Anthony Evans III

WR

15 rec., 238 YDS, 4 TD

#16

Derion Gullette

SAM

17 TAK, 1 TFL, 0.5 SK

South Carolina

#16

LaNorris Sellers

QB

46/66, 729 YDS, 7 TD

#40

Simon McAllister

HB

23 car., 105 YDS

#8

Nyck Harbor

WR

15 rec., 267 YDS, 6 TD

#31

Peyton Williams

FS

20 TAK, 3 TFL

Injury Report

Mississippi State

Canon Boone	C	OUT — Broken Ribs
Jardin Gilbert	SS	OUT — Torn Bicep

South Carolina

[supahotfire]

ok this game gonna tell us a lot

[Captain Canada]

Bulldogs ain't moving me. Harbor gonna do big shit nonetheless. Go get that first conference win, brudda.

[redsox907]

the Cocks about to get Fluff'd?!

I was going to hold off on anymore cock jokes until later, but that one was too good not to post

[Count]

Should be an easy win open SEC play

[YaBoyRobRoy]

Harbor going to have a field day. 15 catches for 6 tds is amazing lol

[Caesar]

ok this game gonna tell us a lot

Bulldogs ain't moving me. Harbor gonna do big shit nonetheless. Go get that first conference win, brudda.

We know Miss St ain't never been known for being good.

the Cocks about to get Fluff'd?!

I was going to hold off on anymore cock jokes until later, but that one was too good not to post

Should be an easy win open SEC play

Hopefully so. We don't want to get caught looking ahead.

Harbor going to have a field day. 15 catches for 6 tds is amazing lol

He's definitely shot out of the gates.

[Caesar]

Mississippi State

1-2 (0-1 SEC)

23

#24South Carolina

3-0 (1-0 SEC)

36

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	F
MSST	7	7	2	7	23
SCAR	3	14	19	0	36

Saturday, Sep 19 • Williams-Brice Stadium

Gamecocks force four turnovers in third quarter to win SEC opener

Williams-Brice Stadium — Columbia, SC

South Carolina notched their third win of the season, edging closer to matching their mark from 2026, thanks to a four-turnover third quarter that saw Mississippi State essentially hand the game to their opponents.

The Gamecocks had clearly watched a lot of film on Mississippi State quarterback KaMario Taylor as their defense employed spies and contains from the first snap from scrimmage for the Bulldogs. Despite this, Taylor was able to run for 61 yards and 2 touchdowns but his effectiveness through the air was significantly impacted as he wasn't able to get out of the pocket and give his teammates time to make something happen.

Nonetheless, it was the visitors who would break the deadlock with a seven-yard scamper from Taylor in the final few minutes of the opening quarter after both teams failed to do anything with their first two drives. South Carolina would quickly move the ball down the field to chip into that lead with Upton Bellenfant's first of five field goal attempts.

The cracks started to show in the second quarter for Mississippi State as they gave the Cocks chance after chance to expand take the lead. They would do so halfway through the period with a Simon McAllister one-yard score.

South Carolina head coach Julian Sneed said his team just needed to get out in front and they knew they would be able to control the game and manage it to victory.

"Sometimes, you know that the other guys are running on a bit of ego and desire to win in the first half. But when you take the lead, that's going to hit that ego and then it all starts to fall apart from there," Sneed said.

Sneed would prove to be clarivoyant as South Carolina took a narrow six-point lead in the third quarter.

Then Taylor would fumble the ball twice and throw two interceptions with one of those turnovers being returned for a touchdown and the other three giving the Gamecocks a short enough field that they were at least going to be threatening to widen the gap.

The hosts would finish that quarter outscoring their opponents 19-2 with Quentin Taylor returning a two-point conversion attempt for two going the other direction.

"This was a good win going into next week," Sneed said. "We have the momentum at our backs and we can go into Tuscaloosa with the expectation that we're going to give them a contest."

South Carolina takes their first away trip of the season next week as they travel to Alabama to face the Crimson Tide.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter
2:55	MSU	KaMario Taylor, 7 yard run	7-0
0:11	SC	Upton Bellenfant, 35 yard field goal	7-3
2nd Quarter
6:50	SC	Simon McAllister, 1 yard run	7-10
1:48	SC	Simon McAllister, 2 yard run	7-17
0:23	MSU	Marquis Johnson, 27 yard pass from KaMario Taylor	14-17
3rd Quarter
8:27	SC	Upton Bellenfant, 20 yard field goal	14-20
8:21	SC	JayR Johnson, returned fumble 10 yards (Mississippi State returns 2-Point conversion attempt)	16-27
6:17	SC	Jaye Bolden, 19 yard pass from LaNorris Sellers	16-33
4:16	SC	Upton Bellenfant, 21 yard field goal	16-36
4th Quarter
4:31	MSU	KaMario Taylor, 5 yard run	23-36

Team Stats

MSST		SCAR
18	First Downs	31
319	Total Yards	467
35 | 144 | 2	Rushes | Rush Yards | TDs	45 | 138 | 2
17 | 25 | 1	Comp | Att | TDs	32 | 42 | 1
175	Pass Yards	329
7/13 (53%)	3rd Down Conversions	6/15 (40%)
0/1 (0%)	4th Down Conversions	1/2 (50%)
2 | 0 | 50%	Red Zone Conversions	3 | 3 | 75%
4	Turnovers	0
0 | 0	Penalties	1 | 5
16:18	Possession	31:42

Passing

Mississippi State

PLAYER	C/A	YDS	TD	INT	RTG
#1KaMario Taylor	14/25	175	1	2	112.0

South Carolina

PLAYER	C/A	YDS	TD	INT	RTG
#16LaNorris Sellers	32/42	329	1	0	149.8

Rushing

Mississippi State

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG
#24Fluff Bothwell	19	60	3.1	0	11
#1KaMario Taylor	13	61	4.6	2	24

South Carolina

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG
#46Simon McAllister	19	63	3.3	2	16
#10Christian Clark	12	48	4.0	0	14

Receiving

Mississippi State

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG
#3Anthony Evans III	4	62	15.5	0	36
#2Marquis Johnson	2	52	26.0	1	27
#7Zion Ragins	3	26	8.6	0	15

South Carolina

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LNG
#3Mazeo Bennett, Jr.	6	77	12.8	0	33
#40Simon McAllister	5	57	11.4	0	15
#1Nitro Tuggle	5	57	11.4	0	23

Defense

Mississippi State

PLAYER	TKL	TFL	SCK	INT	FF
#10Jalen Smith	13	4	0.0	0	0
#2Isaac Smith	12	2	0.0	0	0
#15Marcus Williams	10	1	0.0	0	0

South Carolina

PLAYER	TKL	TFL	SCK	INT	FF
#1Gerald Kilgors	10	0	0.0	0	0
#0Jayr Johnson	9	1	0.0	1	1
#6Dylan Stewart	8	3	0.0	0	0

Player of the Game:

#16 LaNorris Sellers — 32/42, 329 YDS, 1 TD

[MajorSupreme]

Defense had them boys in hell

[redsox907]

definitely a great game from the defense, which you'll need against the top tier