Kamario Taylor completed 18 of 26 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns as Mississippi State shook off a 16-point deficit and opened Southeastern Conference play with a 41-34 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday night in Columbia, S.C.
The Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) defeated the Gamecocks (2-1, 0-1) for only the second time in their last 10 meetings.
Trailing 16-0 with 8:56 left in the opening half and 23-14 at intermission, Mississippi State refused to fold. The Bulldogs reeled off the first 27 points of the second half and took their first lead when Taylor rolled to his right and hit Anthony Evans III on a 5-yard touchdown pass at the 6:11 mark of the third quarter. Evans ran over a defender to get into the end zone and the Bulldogs never looked back.
Mississippi State racked up 393 yards. Fluff Bothwell rushed for 115 yards and Evans III had six catches for 55 yards.
South Carolina finished with 431 yards. LaNorris Sellers was 25 of 40 for 282 yards and two touchdowns, but was picked off twice as the Gamecocks’ bid for their first 3-0 start since 2012 came up short.
Taylor opened the second half by throwing a 23-yard scoring strike to wide-open Marquis Johnson to cut the Gamecocks’ lead to 23-21 with 10:13 left.
Evans’ touchdown catch gave Mississippi State a 28-23 lead, then Kyle Ferrie’s 36-yard field goal with 4:42 left made it 31-23.
The Bulldogs stretched their advantage to 38-23 on the first snap of the fourth quarter with a trick play. Slot receiver Gracen Harris took a pitch from Taylor, rolled right with everyone else flowing left and hit tight end Sam West with a 7-yard touchdown pass.
Lightning delayed the game’s start by 90 minutes. Once the action got rolling, South Carolina struck first on a 13-play drive that ate up almost eight minutes and ended with Malik Orsan’s 30-yard field goal. Sellers scored a touchdown on the previous play, but it was wiped out by a holding penalty.
Less than three minutes later, Sellers threw his first touchdown pass as he hit Maurice Brown III on a 4-yard toss that made the score 10-0 with 4:27 left in the first quarter.
The drive was set up when Taylor had his first pass of the game picked off by Peyton Williams, who dove and caught the ball after it went off the hands of Evans near the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line.
Orsan’s second field goal, a 34-yarder, put the Gamecocks up 13-0 at the end of the first. His 51-yard kick with 9:01 left made it 16-0.
The Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard when Taylor connected with Sanfrisco Magee on a 30-yard scoring strike with 8:11 to play to cut the deficit to 16-7.
Taylor then threw a 43-yard touchdown toss to Zion Ragins, which pulled the Bulldogs within 16-14 with 5:14 to go.
South Carolina answered as Matt Fuller broke tackles on a 7-yard scoring run with 1:50 remaining and the Gamecocks took a 23-14 lead into halftime.
Amaree Williams tallied 10 solo tackles to help the Bulldogs hold the Gamecocks to one touchdown in the second half. Fuller’s 25-yard touchdown catch with 3:40 left ended Mississippi State’s 27-point run. Justin Okoronkwo made 14 tackles for South Carolina.
