GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: NCAAF: SOUTH CAROLINA (5-1) at NORTH CAROLINA (2-4)

NCAAF: SOUTH CAROLINA at NORTH CAROLINA

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (7) 21
NORTH CAROLINA 15 FINAL</div>

 

NCAAF: SOUTH CAROLINA at NORTH CAROLINA

<div class="pre">NCAAF FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
SOUTH CAROLINA (7) 14 7 0 0 21
NORTH CAROLINA 0 3 0 12 15 FINAL

SOUTH CAROLINA-TD, D Lecorn 3 YD PASS FROM C Smelley (R Succop
KICK) 6:49 1st Qtr
SOUTH CAROLINA-TD, K McKinley 30 YD PASS FROM C Smelley (R
Succop KICK) 11:21 1st Qtr
NORTH CAROLINA-FG, C Barth 45 YD 1:30 2nd Qtr
SOUTH CAROLINA-TD, J Cook 12 YD PASS FROM C Smelley (R Succop
KICK) 14:45 2nd Qtr
NORTH CAROLINA-TD, G Little 18 YD PASS FROM T Yates 0:07 4th
Qtr
NORTH CAROLINA-TD, T Yates 3 YD RUN 11:57 4th Qtr


SOUTH CAROLINA NORTH CAROLINA
First downs 15 22
Rushed-yards 32-110 36-113
Passing yards 172 285
Sacked-yards lost 3-23 4-16
Return yards 74 30
Passes 17-26-1 22-43-3
Punts 8-43.4 6-41.8
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-0
Penalties-yards 6-40 8-67
Time of possession 25:56 34:04


Individual Statistics

RUSHING: SOUTH CAROLINA-Cory Boyd 20-95, Mike Davis 5-28, Chris
Smelley 7-MINUS 13. NORTH CAROLINA-Johnny White 6-37, Greg Little
4-29, Anthony Elzy 11-23, Ryan Houston 5-18, Joe Dailey 1-5, T.J.
Yates 9-1.

PASSING: SOUTH CAROLINA-Chris Smelley 17-26-172- 1. NORTH
CAROLINA-T.J. Yates 22-42-285- 2. Joe Dailey 0-1-0- 1.

RECEIVING: SOUTH CAROLINA-Kenny McKinley 5-64, Jared Cook 3-55, Cory
Boyd 2-19, Mike Davis 2-14, Lanard Stafford 1-13, Dion Lecorn 3-9,
Weslye Saunders 1-MINUS 2. NORTH CAROLINA-Hakeem Nicks 8-114, Greg
Little 4-50, Johnny White 1-36, Bobby Rome 2-27, Brooks Foster 4-24,
Brandon Tate 1-18, Kenton Thornton 1-11, Zach Pianalto 1-5.


Att: 61,000</div>

 

NCAAF: SOUTH CAROLINA at NORTH CAROLINA

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NCAAF
SOUTH CAROLINA (7) 21
NORTH CAROLINA 15 FINAL</div>

 

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (Ticker) -- In his third start,freshman quarterback Chris Smelley tossed three first-halftouchdown passes as seventh-ranked South Carolina defeated NorthCarolina, 21-15, on Saturday in the programs' first meeting in16 years.


Smelley completed 17-of-26 passes for 172 yards as the Gamecocks(6-1) matched their best start since 2001 and became bowleligible for the fourth straight season.


Smelley tossed two first-quarter touchdowns to give SouthCarolina a quick 14-0 lead. His three-yard pass to Dion Lecornopened the scoring six minutes into the game, and his 30-yardstrike to Kenny McKinley capped a quick three-play drive fiveminutes later.


After Connor Barth's 45-yard field goal put North Carolina onthe scoreboard 15 seconds into the second quarter, Smelley fireda 12-yard TD pass to Jared Cook with 15 seconds remaining inthe session to give South Carolina a 21-3 lead.


Last week, Smelley completed 17-of-30 passes for 256 yards andtwo touchdowns as the Gamecocks defeated then-No. 8 Kentucky,38-23.


North Carolina (2-5) put a scare into South Carolina in thefourth quarter.


On the first play of the quarter, Greg Little caught a shortpass in the flat, turned back toward the middle of the field andlunged past the goal line for an 18-yard score. Theconversion, however, failed and South Carolina held on to a 21-9lead.


"I see that we are a young team and we just have to close outthe games," Little said. "Once we all pull it together the skyis the limit for us."


On their next possession, the Tar Heels converted a 4th-and-2 attheir own 36 with 11:10 remaining. Quarterback T.J. Yatesfound Hakeem Nicks for 27 yards to extend the drive, but a trickplay went awry and resulted in an interception.


North Carolina forced a turnover and pushed down to SouthCarolina's 10 yard line, but this time couldn't convert onfourth down with six minutes remaining.


Yates scored on a quarterback-keeper from three yards out to cutthe Tar Heels' deficit to 21-15, but his pass on the conversionattempt sailed wide.


"Sometimes things go one way or the other, we just have tominimize the mistakes and turnovers," said Yates, who finished22-of-43 for 285 yards, but threw three interceptions. "We haveto come out and play fast; we sort of played catch-sup afterthey got out to a three-touchdown lead. We just have to comeout strong and minimize all the mistakes."


South Carolina tried to ice the game, but Ryan Succop's 48-yardfield goal attempt hit the upright with 41 seconds remaining.

With no timeouts remaining, the Tar Heels drove to theGamecocks' 32-yard-line, but two attempts at the end zone wereknocked down.


"For this football team I hope they take it as encouragement,"North Carolina coach Butch Davis said. "These kids arefighting. They are giving great effort. I have beenextraordinarily proud of the way they have prepared every singleweek to play well."


South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier improved to 4-0 againstNorth Carolina, with the previous three victories coming whilehe was at Duke from 1987-89.


Spurrier opted to look at the final result, rather than thesecond half where North Carolina rallied to make it interesting.

"Yeah, but we won the game, we won the game," Spurrier said.