South Carolina, down 19-3 in the third quarter, rallied to score 23 unanswered points to win the 2018 edition of the Outback Bowl. The Gamecocks forced five turnovers while chipping away at Michigan’s advantage. Rico Dowdle was the first to reach the end zone with a 17-yard touchdown run. Outback Bowl MVP Jake Bentley would connect with Bryan Edwards for a 21-yard score before throwing a 53-yard strike to Shi Smith. A 22-yard field goal by Parker White capped the 26-19 victory for South Carolina.
11:54 – Michigan held the ball for 11:54 in the first quarter. While South Carolina held the ball for 9:03 in the final quarter.
2 – Both SC and Michigan converted just two third downs. Michigan was 12% on the day while South Carolina was just slightly better at 14%
2 – Both Michigan and South Carolina struggled to produce positive yards on the ground. Michigan averaged 2.2 yards per carry and the Gamecocks averaged 2.3 yards per carry.
58 – South Carolina ran just 58 total plays on offense while Michigan ran 78. See time of possession. With that, the Gamecocks still averaged over 5 yards per offensive play while holding Michigan to 3.6.
Outback Bowl Records Set or Tied
Individual Records:
Most Field Goals made – 4 – by Quinn Nordin, Michigan; Ties record by Travis Fortney, Penn State, 1999.
Team Records:
Most Field Goals Made: 4 – by Michigan, ties record set by Penn State, 1999.
Most Fumble Lost: 3 – by Michigan, 2018
Most Turnovers : 5 – by Michigan ties three other teams
KEY QUOTES
Q. You’re down 19-3. Any special words in the huddle?
JAKE BENTLEY: Not really. The big thing that I’ve learned, I guess, playing as a freshman, I just go back to the Florida game my freshman year. If things aren’t going well, and I was just sitting on the bench just by myself not saying anything. So this year feel like I’ve done a better job, and I think it really showed today of just staying positive, continuing to go down the line along the bench and just stay positive and just keep the guys encouraged. Not one person on our offense got discouraged. Everyone had full confidence that we were going to come back and win. And that’s what it takes when you get down. If you have one guy that doesn’t believe we’re going to win, you’re not going to win. That’s why I go back to it’s really about the whole offense to get this award.
Q. Defense is 90 percent effort; how proud are you of your guys?
WILL MUSCHAMP: Well, we’ve come a long way. We couldn’t stop the run against anybody last year if you watched us, and so it’s good to see that you play blocks up front, you tackle, you leverage the ball, you understand formations. The one run that they had, we had people at the point of attack, and we missed a tackle on 22, (Karan) Higdon, down our sideline. Again, being in the right spots and understanding leverage and formations, we’re getting stronger as a program. We’ve got to continue to do that. That’s going to be a huge part of our off season. You know, hand strength is critical for defensive players to be able to disengage and get off blocks. We’ve come a long way, but we still have miles to travel.
Q. You guys have lost three straight; can you put a finger on if there’s been one thing? What do you think about the reason why overall?
JIM HARBAUGH: Yeah, one thing, it’s being able to just kind of sustain the momentum, keep the momentum, and then get the knockout punch. That would be what my thought would be right now.