Not good enough

The Gamecocks battled toe-to-toe against Tennessee for one half, but faltered in the final 40, dropping a hard-fought 33-13 decision to the Volunteers Saturday in Knoxville.

Tennessee opened the game with an unconverted try in the first ten minutes. Midway through the second half, the Gamecocks answered with a converted try by Charlie Colvin. A few minutes later, Max Hendry converted a penalty kick to give USC a 10-7 lead.

A converted try by the Volunteers on the final play of first half gave Tennessee a 14-10 advantage at the break.

The second half belonged to the Volunteers as their relentless defense and hard-charging offense kept the Gamecocks on their back foot and forced several handling errors deep in USC territory. The Volunteers scored a try in the first 10 ten minutes to go up 21-10.

The Gamecocks managed to thwart several goal line scoring opportunities early in that half but were worn down by playing so much defense as Tennessee found the try zone twice more.

“Congratulations to Coach Scott Tungay and a very talented Volunteer club,” said Coach John Roberts. “Our team fought hard, but the Volunteers forced some poor decisions and handling errors early in the second half that turned the game. And we were never able to reassert ourselves. We’ll review the film, learn from this defeat and get better.”

USC entered the contest without fullback Charlie Dwyer, captain and center Grant Ruhlen, 8-man Gavin Curran and tight head prop Tom Brady.

Ruhlen hopes to return to the starting side for the Oct. 11 contest against Clemson. Dwyer (hamstring) is questionable while Curran (shoulder) and Brady (shoulder) are out indefinitely.

In other games, the USC C-side defeated Tennessee 13-10 and the B-side was outmatched 56-0.