South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt Final Score: ‘Cocks Make It Out Of Nashville

It’s the kind of thing that’s been happening to Vandy for decades now. James Franklin can change the program’s mindset and aura, but it seems so far at least he’s got nothing on random breaks like this one.

Via @cjzero, Matthews still almost found a way to bring it in:

In a back-and-forth game, the tides turned once again after Shaw’s return to the field, though. After a couple of stunted possessions, Shaw led the Gamecocks on a nine-play, 65-yard drive in the fourth quarter that allowed South Carolina to take the four-point lead that would eventually become the margin of victory.

Vanderbilt managed to beat the spread despite the defeat, as South Carolina was either a 6.5- or 7-point favorite for this week. With the victory, the No. 9 Gamecocks improve to 1-0 on the season before they take on East Carolina next week. Vanderbilt is scheduled to play Northwestern in its next game.

Via @bubbaprog:

Check the national college football scoreboard right here, and look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Through three quarters, South Carolina is on pace to pass for 40 yards in an entire game. The Steve Spurrier we grew up on regularly administered multiple 40-yard passes per game. Yet here we are, watching injured quarterback Connor Shaw run tentative options stuff and checkdowns to Marcus Lattimore.

Lattimore doesn’t quite seem 100 percent either -- there’s got to be some explanation for the SEC’s most renowned running back having only 14 carries so far, right?

Shaw was only 3-of-6 passing for 23 yards, but worked effectively on keepers and the speed option (59 yards rushing on nine carries). Rodgers is 8-of-13 for 164 yards, one TD and one INT at the half.