South Carolina wins opener vs. Vanderbilt
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It’s the new Holtz, and coming off consecutive 5-7 seasons, he said he needed to change the culture.
The first results were promising.
“We asked our team to buy into a change in culture,” Holtz said. “We asked them to do some things they would consider foreign, and they’ve done that.”
South Carolina (1-0) gained 453 yards of total offense, including 269 yards rushing, and held the ball for nearly 38 minutes to hand the Commodores (0-1) their 14th straight loss to open Southeastern Conference play.
“They pushed us around and ran the football down our throats,” Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said. “They did a good job of setting the tone of the game.”
Quarterback Dondrial Pinkins threw for 168 yards on 11 of 18 attempts and ran for 77 yards on 17 carries as the Gamecocks took a 17-0 lead after the first play of the second quarter and coasted to victory.
“In the offseason, we talked about picking up guys who are down,” Pinkins said. “I came out and showed I can lead.”
Troy Williamson caught five passes for 99 yards, and he said he’s seen an improvement in attitude from everyone on the team.
“The main thing is confidence and changing some of the thoughts that we had,” he said.
Holtz, who took over the play calling duties this year, used five running backs to maintain the Gamecocks time of possession advantage. But Holtz said he made some mistakes too.
“I got confused on a couple of plays,” he said. “We had the wrong personnel in at times, but it was truly a team effort.”
Even after Vanderbilt finally got on the board with 6:44 left in the first half off Kwane Doster’s 4-yard touchdown run to make it 17-6, the Commodores committed two turnovers deep in South Carolina territory.
“The two turnovers in the red zone hurt,” Johnson said. “We are not good enough to turn the ball over.”
The most costly of Vanderbilt’s four mistakes for the game came as running back Norval McKenzie tried to stretch out over the goal line from the 1 in the third quarter.
Gamecocks defensive end Moe Thompson swatted the ball away and recovered the fumble.
Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler threw an interception in the fourth quarter that safety Jamacia Jackson returned it 98 yards for a touchdown, fourth longest in school history.