Bowled over: Gamecocks close out 2022 with Gator Bowl loss to Notre Dame

Consider the sandstorm weathered.

As Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans walked into the South Carolina end zone for the go-ahead touchdown in the waning moments of Friday’s Gator Bowl, the white towels that waved with vigor earlier in the afternoon at TIAA Bank Field hung idly. The scattered Notre Dame fans who felt outnumbered five-to-one in the concourses and concessions stands around the stadium were heard, truly, for the first time.

Notre Dame 45, South Carolina 38.

“Today was a bump and a loss that really, really, really hurt,” a dejected Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer said afterward, eyes sullied and worn. “But we got the right people in our program. You can tell that by the hurt that’s in that locker room right now. There’s not many dry eyes in there, to say the least.”

South Carolina (8-5) entertained the overwhelmingly garnet-and-black clad 67,383 fans with a first half filled with enough wild and whimsical plays to fill a backyard football playbook.

Quarterback-turned-receiver Dakereon Joyner threw a pair of passes. Spencer Rattler looked deep on a double-reverse flea flicker. Receiver Xavier Legette even had a chance to toss a completion of his own on a double-pass play.

Punter Kai Kroeger, though, provided the most wonky of the Gamecocks’ early antics when he connected on a beautifully lofted 23-yard touchdown pass to long snapper Hunter Rogers off a fake field goal.

Four plays later, safety DQ Smith — who played high school ball with Rogers at Spring Valley — put the Gamecocks ahead 21-7 when he corralled a deflected Tyler Buchner pass, dashed down the sideline and into the end zone for a pick-six.

“We didn’t end the season how we wanted to,” Smith said. “But throughout the season, we were counted out a lot of times. ... It’s a big stage to be able to compete. We just came up a little shorthanded.”

That South Carolina slugged its way to a two-score, first-half lead only lasted so long. Despite an erratic 9-of-17 passing effort in the first two frames, Buchner scampered his way to rushing scores of 15 and 11 yards — the latter of which pulled the squads even at 24 on the second drive of the second half.

The Fighting Irish and Gamecocks continued trading blows throughout Friday’s third quarter. Rattler delivered the first of the haymakers, stepping into the pocket and leaping as he slung a third-down pass to the back left corner of the end zone. There, Legette dove, arms outstretched and tapping his toe within millimeters of the sideline for a highlight-reel grab.

Buchner responded with a hook of his own, connecting with a streaking Braden Lenzy on a deep crossing route. Running underneath Buchner’s pass, Lenzy outpaced the South Carolina secondary to the pylon to knot the score entering the final 15 minutes of Friday’s prize fight.

Notre Dame tailback Logan Diggs seemed to find the knockout blow, bursting through the South Carolina defensive line for his second score of the evening and silencing the garnet and black partial crowd.

But those frenzied fans who fell to a hush following the Diggs touchdown erupted as Buchner reverted to his wayward first-half ways. Seeking a pair of crossing receivers, Gamecocks cornerback O’Donnell Fortune jumped in front of a Buchner pass and darted 100 yards for the game-tying score.

Finally, though, it was Buchner hitting a wide-open Evans on a third-and-7 for the last score of the night.

“We had a lot of new faces on the field, new coaches calling plays,” Rattler said. “It’s not going to be as pretty as you want it to be. But we did what we could.”

South Carolina was stunned on Friday in a game that ran the gamut of emotions the 2022 season brought. But the victory shouldn’t dampen a campaign filled with top-10 upsets and marked progress, but it hurts nonetheless.

Beamer fought back tears as he chatted with reporters. The faces of players, graduate assistants and full-time staffers meandering their way through the underbelly of the stadium following the loss wore expressions of sorrow.

On a cool night in Jacksonville, a day that started with chants of “Game!” and “Cocks!” in the corridors around TIAA Bank Field, the Fighting Irish clutched the Gator Bowl trophy by night’s end.

First down

The 28 combined points between South Carolina and Notre Dame in Friday’s first quarter set a new Gator Bowl record. The previous record was 24, which occurred twice — Mississippi State vs. Michigan (2011) and Florida State vs. West Virginia (2005).

It was just the second time in two seasons under Beamer that the Gamecocks have scored 21 or more points in the first quarter of a game. The only previous time was in the November upset win of No. 5 Tennessee.

Touchdown

Spencer Rattler finished his first — and possibly only — season at South Carolina with another largely effective night.

Following huge games in wins over Tennessee and Clemson, Rattler connected on 29 of 46 passes for 246 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Gamecocks passing game grew increasingly limited in the second half when tight end Nate Adkins went down with an injury.

Rattler finished his season 264 of 399 for 3,024 yards, 18 touchdowns and 12 picks.

Key Stats

6 — Number of completions for Kai Kroeger in his career

11 — Notre Dame’s rushes of 10 or more yards