Gamecocks add to Gators’ frustration
COLUMBIA, S.C. — In a season of one dominant football team and a bunch of disappointments in the SEC East, resilient South Carolina figured out another way to win, overcoming four turnovers to beat Florida 28-20 Saturday and reach heights the program has rarely achieved.
The Gamecocks (7-3, 5-3) can’t win what would have been only been their second SEC East title, but they will finish with only their eighth winning SEC record in 26 seasons in the conference.
Second-year head coach Will Muschamp has his players embracing what he calls a “So what? Now what?” philosophy, and quarterback Jake Bentley personified it by shaking off three interceptions to throw for 249 yards and run for two touchdowns.
“At the end of the day, we won,” the sophomore said. “It’s better to learn from something with a ‘W.’”
The win came against a program in disarray with a fired coach and no victories since September. The Gators (3-6, 3-5) couldn’t take advantage of the help provided by South Carolina’s turnovers and will finish with a losing SEC record for only the third time since 1992. They will miss a bowl game for only the third time in 31 seasons.
A.J. Turner ran 22 times for 136 yards and Mon Denson rushed for the first two touchdowns of his career as South Carolina had its best offensive game of the season with 469 yards. The Gamecocks’ defense also came through, ending Florida’s last chance when defensive back Jamyest Williams picked off a tipped pass near midfield with just more than a minute to go.
Florida has lost five in a row, its longest losing streak since finishing the 2013 season with seven straight losses amid the firing of Muschamp as its head coach.
› LSU 33, Arkansas 10
BATON ROUGE, La. — Derrius Guice rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns, and D.J. Chark had a pair of touchdown catches as the Tigers (7-3, 4-2) earned their second consecutive victory over the Razorbacks (4-6, 1-5), who had won two in a row.
Chark finished the game with 130 yards on four catches. After throwing for only 137 yards in a loss to Alabama last week, LSU quarterback Danny Etling had 217 yards on 11-of-16 passing.
The LSU defense was also impressive, holding Arkansas to 318 yards.
David Williams was the leading rusher for Arkansas with 81 yards on 13 carries. Austin Allen completed 13 of 23 passes for 140 yards.
› Kentucky 44, Vanderbilt 21
NASHVILLE — Benny Snell rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns, and Sihiem King added two rushing scores as Kentucky (7-3, 4-3) improved its bowl stock while prolonging the league frustration for Vanderbilt (4-6, 0-6).
Snell, who entered the game as the SEC’s leading rusher, became the ninth player in school history to reach 2,000 career yards. The 5-foot-11, 223pound sophomore also became the first Wildcat with consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
Kentucky’s Austin MacGinnis kicked three field goals, and the Wildcats rambled for 428 yards of total offense.
Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur threw four interceptions and one touchdown, and he was sacked five times. Ralph Webb rushed for 70 yards and one touchdown for the Commodores.
› Ole Miss 50, Louisiana-LaFayette 22
OXFORD, Miss. — Jordan Ta’amu threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more as the Rebels (5-5) scored on their first five possessions and ran over the Rajin’ Cajuns (4-5).
In his third career start after replacing injured starter Shea Patterson, Ta’amu finished 28-of-36 for 418 yards, opening with nine consecutive completions. He had scoring runs of 1 and 8 yards to help Ole Miss to a 35-7 advantage early in the second quarter.
A.J. Brown had 14 receptions for 185 yards, including touchdown catches of 31 and 27 yards, and the Rebels finished with 641 yards of total offense, including 441 in the first half.
› Texas A&M 55,
New Mexico 14
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Nick Starkel threw for a career-high 416 yards and four touchdowns before sitting down at halftime as the Aggies built a huge lead then cruised to the victory.
Starkel had appeared in each of the past two games but was starting for the first time since Texas A&M’s opener against UCLA, when he broke his left ankle in the third quarter. He threw touchdown passes of 60, 10, 1 and 36 yards before he was replaced by freshman Kellen Mond for the start of the third quarter with the Aggies (6-4) up 48-7.
Damion Ratley had two touchdown receptions, and Christian Kirk had 120 receiving yards and a touchdown and added a 90-yard punt return score to help Texas A&M snap a two-game skid.
Elijah Lilly had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for New Mexico (3-7), which lost its fifth straight.
The Aggies finished with 499 passing yards; New Mexico managed just 24.