South Carolina rallies in second half to down Michigan

TAMPA, Fla. — Nothing was going right for South Carolina.

And then, suddenly, everything.

South Carolina scored 23 unanswered points in the second half, three touchdowns in a span of eight snaps, and rallied for a 26-19 victory Monday afternoon against Michigan at the Outback Bowl played in Raymond James Stadium.

With six minutes left in the third quarter, Michigan had a 19-3 lead. South Carolina had managed just 89 yards in the first half and was still struggling. The closest the Gamecocks got to the goal line on their first 11 possessions was the 26-yard line when they made a field goal. On the other 10 times with the football, the furthest penetration was five yards across midfield.

“You saw us down, 19-3,” South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp said, “and not a lot of good things were happening to us.”

Gamecocks sophomore quarterback Jake Bentley, who began his high school career at Byrnes, helped rally South Carolina (9-4) to victory by passing for 239 yards and two touchdowns. He was named MVP. Bentley’s second TD pass, a 53-yarder to former Union County standout Shi Smith, gave USC a 23-19 lead in the fourth quarter.

“The big thing is what I’ve learned since playing as a freshman,” Bentley said. “When things weren’t going well, I was just sitting on the bench by myself and not saying anything. This year, I think I have done a better job of just being positive and keeping the guys encouraged.”

But something was missing against Michigan’s stout defense, Bentley said, and it took linebacker Keir Thomas to spark a flame during the third quarter.

“He kind of challenged me,” Bentley said. “He said, ‘I want to see the same confidence that I see in practice.’ I was kind of like, ‘Well, I’m trying.’ But then I thought about it. He was right. From then on, we started clicking.”

Bentley drove the Gamecocks down the field and pitched to Rico Dowdle on an option play for a 17-yard touchdown. USC missed a 2-point conversion but quickly got seven points instead. Michigan fumbled and Javon Kinlaw recovered for South Carolina. Bentley went straight to the end zone, finding Bryan Edwards for a 21-yard touchdown to make it a three-point deficit.

“If we got a turnover, we were going to take a shot,” Bentley said. “Bryan made a great catch, an unbelievable catch. It was a big momentum play for us.”

Michigan (8-5) was beginning to slip. The Wolverines punted the ball right back to the Gamecocks, who then went ahead for the first time. On third-and-17, Bentley connected with heavily covered tight end Hayden Hurst for 21 yards. After crossing midfield, Bentley rolled right and threw deep to the left, dropping a perfect pass into the hands of Smith, who never broke stride.

“They got better as the game went on. No doubt,” Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “They made plays to win the football game. We didn’t get the knockout punch when we needed it. …You have to make plays when you have the other team down and have a chance to grow your lead. You’ve got to take advantage of those things. But we weren’t able to do that. We kind of let them hang around.”

Despite how it looked at halftime, South Carolina players insisted they were not discouraged.

“We were just saying we need to lock it down on defense,” senior linebacker Skai Moore said. “We had to play our game. We can’t allow other stuff to affect us. We have to play great defense no matter what happens. Even if there are a lot of three-and-outs (by the Gamecocks’ offense) and we had to keep going back on the field, we had to keep doing it. That’s our job.”

South Carolina reached nine wins for just the seventh time in school history and has now won five of its past six bowl games, including five years ago against Michigan here in the Outback Bowl. The Gamecocks won 11 games in three straight season (2011-13), but Muschamp in his second year has turned around a program that was 3-9 in 2015.

“Huge win for our football program,” Muschamp said. “We don’t have all the trophies and the tradition and the history, but we have some grit and we have some toughness and some resolve. …All the arrows are pointing up for us. We’re doing the things to have success. We’re going to have those trophies. I’m looking forward to our future.”