Clowney disagrees with controversial call
For the third consecutive week, junior wide receiver Damiere Byrd caught a touchdown pass off a deep ball. He was responsible for South Carolina’s first score of the day, a 76-yard reception after beating one-on-one coverage once again.
“[The coaches] said they wanted to take a shot so I was happy when I heard that,” Byrd said. “It was the right defense and right coverage that we wanted, and Connor made a great throw.”
Byrd has caught a pass of at least 45 yards in each of the last three games. The junior started seeing more time when sophomore receiver Shaq Roland was suspended for three games. Even with Roland returning against the Volunteers, Byrd finished the game with four catches for 121 yards and the touchdown.
Byrd said the opportunities have been coming his way and that he is trying to make the most of them. Byrd added that he feels more comfortable with each game and that senior quarterback Connor Shaw has put a lot of trust in him.
Controversial call
After the game, South Carolina players and coaches briefly talked about a questionable call early in the game. On a first down play with just under a minute to go in the first half, Tennessee running back Rajion Neal was tackled immediately after taking a handoff and seemed to lose the ball. The Gamecocks recovered the ball and seemed to have possession in Tennessee territory, but the officials ruled that Neal tried to throw the ball back to quarterback Justin Worley and therefore was an incomplete pass.
“It was hands down a fumble,” said junior defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. “He wasn’t trying to throw. I don’t know what the ref(s) were looking at.”
Clowney added that the officials made calls that affected both teams negatively at different times. He said that he does not lose his composure over a bad call, because sometimes he gets away with things on the defensive side of the ball, like when a referee tells him he is lined up in the neutral zone.
“You don’t ever want to leave it in the ref’s hands anyway,” he said.
Head coach Steve Spurrier said he had never seen a play like that happen on a handoff, but that it may have been the right call. He also said it was unfortunate the Gamecocks seemingly recovered two fumbles, but were not rewarded with the ball either time.
SEC East hopes still alive
Even with the loss, the Gamecocks are still alive for the SEC Eastern Division. A bit of a wild day in college football resulted in No. 22 Florida losing to undefeated No. 14 Missouri and No. 15 Georgia losing to unranked Vanderbilt.
For the Gamecocks to have a chance at an SEC title game berth, they first need to win out in conference play. South Carolina must win an important game at Missouri this weekend to keep the chance alive. If USC hands the Tigers its first SEC loss, the Gamecocks will hope the Tigers fall again at some point at the end of the season. The best chance for that may be in Missouri’s final two games, which are against Ole Miss and Texas A&M. If the Tigers lose at least one of those games, South Carolina may reach the conference championship game based off tiebreakers.
But USC must win out in SEC play for that to even be a possibility.
“We lost; it’s just something we have to bounce back from,” said redshirt freshman linebacker T.J. Holloman. “We’re not really thinking about this loss anymore. It’s in the past. We just have to get ready for Missouri.”