Bentley, Gamecocks charge from behind
TAMPA, Fla. — Will Muschamp envisions championships in South Carolina’s future. Lots of them. “We don’t have all the trophies and the tradition and history but we have some grit,” the coach said after the Gamecocks rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Michigan 2619 in Monday’s Outback Bowl. “We’ve got some toughness and resolve. You saw us down 19-3 and not a lot of good things happening for us.
“All the arrows are pointing up for us. We’re going to have those trophies.”
Jake Bentley threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns to pace the victory, which gave South Carolina (9-4) at least nine wins in a season for the seventh time.
Bentley shrugged off a slow start to toss scoring passes of 21 yards to Bryan Edwards and 53 yards to Shi Smith — the latter giving his team a 23-19 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The sophomore said once the Gamecocks began to have some success, the offense’s confidence grew.
“It’s just we started to execute well. The excitement, I think, is contagious to the whole team,” said Bentley, who was voted the game’s most valuable player. “You see where we went from there.”
The Wolverines (8-5) finished with their first threegame losing streak under coach Jim Harbaugh. They turned the ball over five times after halftime, including an end-zone interception that denied them an opportunity to regain the lead with just under eight minutes to go.
“We kind of let them hang around and they took advantage of it,” Harbaugh said. “They got better as the game went on. We didn’t get the knockout punch when we needed it.”
Bentley was 19-of-32 passing with one interception.
Rico Dowdle, playing for the first time since breaking his leg against Tennessee on Oct. 14, began South Carolina’s comeback from a 19-3 deficit with a 17-yard TD run.
Brandon Peters had a tough day for Michigan, completing 20 of 44 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions. His second pick, with 1:05 remaining, sealed the Gamecocks’ second Outback Bowl victory over the Wolverines in five years.