Final
Kentucky rallies past No. 10 South Carolina 31-28
Oct 17, 2010 - 2:45 AM By WILL GRAVES AP Sports WriterLEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Steve Spurrier worried about the hangover against Kentucky. He kept reminding his South Carolina players not to get too high following an upset of defending national champion Alabama last week.
The 10th-ranked Gamecocks seemed as if they'd keep it together before freshman running back Marcus Lattimore went down with an ankle injury.
Then they could only watch as Kentucky's Randall Cobb caught a 24-yard touchdown pass with 1:15 remaining then added the two-point conversion to cap a furious second-half rally and give Wildcats a stunning 31-28 victory, ruining South Carolina's chance to get a leg up in the jumbled SEC East.
"Give Kentucky credit, they kicked our tails," Spurrier said.
Mike Hartline threw for a career-high 349 yards and four touchdowns for the Wildcats (4-3, 1-3 SEC), who had lost 10 straight to the Gamecocks (4-2, 2-2) and never beaten Spurrier in 17 tries.
It appeared Spurrier was ready to make it 18 for 18 when the Gamecocks stuffed Cobb for a 4-yard loss, setting up a 4th-and-7 at the Kentucky 24.
Hartline calmly set his feet and faked a slant to Chris Matthews. The South Carolina defense bit and Cobb found himself wide open at the goal line. He then swept over left tackle for the 2-point conversion to put Kentucky up three.
South Carolina drove to the Kentucky 20 in the final minute but quarterback Stephen Garcia's heave into the end zone was intercepted by Kentucky's Anthony Mosley with 4 seconds remaining. Hartline took a knee to set off a raucous celebration and end two decades of torture at the hands of Spurrier.
"We just can't, as they say, put the nail in the coffin," Spurrier said. "We can't put a team away. We just can't do it. I don't know why. We just can't do it."
Not without Lattimore anyway.
The budding star had 212 yards of total offense and three touchdowns but spent most of the second half on the sideline after rolling his left ankle while getting tackled early in the third quarter.
"I just heard it crack and I thought something really bad had happened, but it's just a sprain," Lattimore said.
It was enough to force him to watch his team implode while he sat on the bench.
Kentucky shut the Gamecocks down over the final 30 minutes, holding them to 103 yards - 49 of which came on the desperate final drive - while slowly chipping away at the lead.
"We challenged our guys at halftime, that we were in a street fight," said Kentucky coach Joker Phillips. "We're in a street fight. I'm in a street fight. I want to see who has my back."
Hartline hit LaRod King for a 5-yard touchdown pass to cap a 95-yard drive and bring Kentucky within 28-17. Then Hartline found Matthews for a 38-yard score to get within 28-23. Matthews finished with 12 receptions for 177 yards and a score.
Given one last chance with 7:31 remaining, Hartline guided Kentucky to the South Carolina 24. Facing fourth down, he pumped the ball once and lofted the ball to a wide open Cobb in the end zone. Cobb bulled over left tackle for the 2-point conversion to put the Wildcats up three.
Garcia, who finished with 382 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, quickly moved the ball to the Kentucky 20 with 11 seconds remaining.
The Gamecocks used a timeout and opted to take a shot at winning in regulation. Garcia threw it up to 6-foot-3 receiver Lamar Scruggs. The ball was tipped and Mosley snagged it out of the air.
"I should have thrown it a little further outside," Garcia said. "I don't know. The guy made a good play."
Hartline took a knee and Kentucky had its first win over a ranked team since beating then-No. 1 LSU in 2007.
"We never lost faith, we never for one second thought we were going to lose that game," Cobb said. "We've had struggles at times but we found a way to win."
The giddy celebration hardly seemed possible after a first half in which the Gamecocks did whatever they wanted behind the precocious Lattimore.
The freshman bounced off Kentucky's would-be tacklers on handoffs or ran past the overmatched defensive ends who had the unfortunate assignment of covering him on pass routes out of the backfield.
Lattimore came into the game with 81 yards receiving all season. He had 133 in the first half, when the Gamecocks victimized Kentucky's overzealous pass rush by sending Lattimore on wheel routes out of the backfield.
Three times Lattimore ran by a Kentucky defender and into the open field, gaining huge chunks of yardage. A 48-yard reception set up his own 10-yard touchdown run, and later added a 47-yard scoring pass in which he sprinted past defensive end Taylor Wyndham then easily sidestepped another Kentucky defender at the 10 before strolling into the end zone.
The score gave the Gamecocks a 28-10 halftime lead, and things could have been worse. South Carolina turned it over three times in the half, and the Wildcats turned two of the miscues into points.
"I thought we'd play better tonight but we didn't," Spurrier said.
Instead it was Kentucky who responded. The Wildcats dropped three straight games after a 3-0 start, including a 37-34 heartbreaker against Auburn last week in which the Tigers kicked the winning field goal on the game's final play.
The loss could have been deflating, yet the Wildcats found a way behind the play of Hartline. The oft-maligned senior has spent three years searching for respect. He may have finally found it on the defining night of his career. Hartline completed 32 of 42 passes and never pressed even after the Wildcats fell behind.
He gripped the ball tightly while being mobbed by fans that stormed the field after Kentucky saved its season.
"I wanted this one so bad," he said. "It was just a big, emotional win for everybody. I wasn't going to give up that ball."
- NCAAF FINAL
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 14 14 0 0 28
KENTUCKY 0 10 7 14 31 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: SOUTH CARO - TD, MARCUS LATTIMORE 30 YD RUN
(SPENCER LANNING KICK), 3:07.
SOUTH CAROLINA 7-0
SOUTH CARO - TD, ALSHON JEFFERY 3 YD PASS FROM
STEPHEN GARCIA (SPENCER
LANNING KICK), 10:20. SOU
Oct 16 9:17 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 31 0:00 LEFT, 4TH QTR
Oct 16 9:17 PM
TD KENTUCKY RANDALL COBB 24 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (RANDALL COBB RUN FOR TWO-POINT CONVERSION)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 31 4th - 1:15Oct 16 9:07 PM
TD KENTUCKY RANDALL COBB 24 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (RANDALL COBB RUN FOR TWO-POINT CONVERSION)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 31 4th - 1:15Oct 16 9:07 PM- NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 31 1:15 LEFT, 4TH QTR
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 31 4th - 1:15Oct 16 9:07 PM - 209
rootsRUWTbot Added 120 roots (Close Finish, Upset)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 31 4th - 1:15Oct 16 9:07 PM - 84
roots
TD KENTUCKY CHRIS MATTHEWS 38 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (TWO-POINT PASS CONVERSION FAILED)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 23 4th - 13:09Oct 16 8:32 PM
TD KENTUCKY CHRIS MATTHEWS 38 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (TWO-POINT PASS CONVERSION FAILED)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 23 4th - 13:09Oct 16 8:32 PM- NCAAF
TD KENTUCKY
CHRIS MATTHEWS 38 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE
(TWO-POINT PASS CONVERSION FAILED)
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 23 13:09 LEFT, 4TH QTR
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 23 4th - 13:09Oct 16 8:32 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 17 0:00 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Oct 16 8:25 PM
TD KENTUCKY LA'ROD KING 5 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (CRAIG MCINTOSH KICK)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 17 3rd - 3:49Oct 16 8:14 PM
TD KENTUCKY LA'ROD KING 5 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (CRAIG MCINTOSH KICK)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 17 3rd - 3:49Oct 16 8:14 PM
TD KENTUCKY LA'ROD KING 5 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (CRAIG MCINTOSH KICK)
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 17 3rd - 3:49Oct 16 8:14 PM- NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 17 3:49 LEFT, 3RD QTR
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 17 3rd - 3:49Oct 16 8:14 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 10 0:00 LEFT, 2ND QTR
Oct 16 7:30 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 28
KENTUCKY 10 2:03 LEFT, 2ND QTR
South Carolina(10) 28, Kentucky 10 2nd - 2:03Oct 16 7:18 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 21
KENTUCKY 10 3:15 LEFT, 2ND QTR
South Carolina(10) 21, Kentucky 10 2nd - 3:15Oct 16 7:12 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 21
KENTUCKY 7 9:55 LEFT, 2ND QTR
South Carolina(10) 21, Kentucky 7 2nd - 9:55Oct 16 6:59 PM
TD KENTUCKY LA'ROD KING 10 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (CRAIG MCINTOSH KICK)
South Carolina(10) 14, Kentucky 7 2nd - 13:10Oct 16 6:48 PM
TD KENTUCKY LA'ROD KING 10 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (CRAIG MCINTOSH KICK)
South Carolina(10) 14, Kentucky 7 2nd - 13:10Oct 16 6:48 PM
TD KENTUCKY LA'ROD KING 10 YD PASS FROM MIKE HARTLINE (CRAIG MCINTOSH KICK)
South Carolina(10) 14, Kentucky 7 2nd - 13:10Oct 16 6:48 PM- NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 14
KENTUCKY 7 13:10 LEFT, 2ND QTR
South Carolina(10) 14, Kentucky 7 2nd - 13:10Oct 16 6:48 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 14
KENTUCKY 0 0:00 LEFT, 1ST QTR
Oct 16 6:39 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 14
KENTUCKY 0 4:40 LEFT, 1ST QTR
South Carolina(10) 14, Kentucky 0 1st - 4:40Oct 16 6:25 PM - NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (10) 7
KENTUCKY 0 11:53 LEFT, 1ST QTR
South Carolina(10) 7, Kentucky 0 1st - 11:53Oct 16 6:08 PM
Related News
- Kentucky RB signee Jason Patterson on his goals with the Wildcats Dec 23
- John Calipari and Wildcats recap Louisville Dec 22
- Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard, and Kentucky set records in beatdown of Cards Dec 21
- Mark Stoops and John Calipari complete latest sweep of Louisville Dec 21
- Vince Marrow calls out Scott Satterfield while praising Jeff Brohm Dec 21
- JJ Weaver returning to Kentucky for final season Dec 21
- Bleav in Kentucky talks UNC win, National Signing Day, Louisville, and more Dec 21
- DeCarlos Nicholson commits to USC Dec 20
- Mark Stoops and Vince Marrow recap Kentucky’s 2024 signing class Dec 20
- Jalen Farmer commits to Kentucky Dec 20
- Cutter Boley officially signs with the Kentucky Dec 20
- Jamon Dumas-Johnson commits to Kentucky Dec 20