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BOX SCORE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- South Carolina hasn't been winning long
enough to take any game for granted.
Andrew Pinnock ran for two touchdowns and Derek Watson added
another as the Gamecocks (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) beat Vanderbilt 30-14 on Saturday
after losing to the Commodores the past two seasons.
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| Derek Watson rushed for 128 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown for South Carolina. |
"This is a big win on the road for us," quarterback Phil Petty
said. "It's not easy to play here at Vanderbilt, and we're very
happy to get the win."
Coach Lou Holtz put it even more plainly.
"This game scared me before the game and throughout the game.
It's a road SEC game," Holtz said.
He needn't have worried so much.
Pinnock ran for career-high 135 yards on 24 carries, and Watson
had 19 carries for 128 yards despite playing with flu-like symptoms
as South Carolina rolled up 490 yards offense in controlling the
clock for more than 37 minutes. It was the first time South
Carolina has had two running backs top 100 yards in the same game
since 1996 with Duce Staley and Troy Hambrick.
"It feels great," Pinnock said. "It's the way it's supposed
to be. We have two different running styles. It should be
expected."
The victory gives South Carolina its best start since going 9-0
in 1984. It also ensures South Carolina (7-1, 5-1 Southeastern
Conference) its best finish in the conference since joining in
1992, and the team that couldn't win a game in 1999 now holds a
half-game lead over No. 8 Florida in the SEC Eastern Division.
South Carolina had a chance for a letdown. The Gamecocks were
playing their third road game in four weeks against the SEC's
perennial cellar dweller, which had beaten the Gamecocks the past
two years. They avenged those losses by sealing the 18th losing
season for Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-5), a loser of eight straight SEC
games dating to last season.
The Gamecocks broke open a 10-7 game just before halftime with a
fake field goal Holtz said they had never even practiced before.
Vanderbilt declined a holding penalty on third-and-10 that would
have backed the Gamecocks up, and holder Kevin Sides, who started
at quarterback once last season, tossed a 10-yard pass to Rod
Trafford for first-and-goal at the Vandy 5. Pinnock scored on the
next play on a 5-yard run for a 17-7 lead.
Coach Woody Widenhofer thought his Commodores were much more
prepared than they ended up.
"I'd like to apologize. Sometimes it looked like we weren't
being coached. This is one of the most disappointing losses for me
as a coach," said Widenhofer, who now is 3-26 in SEC games.
Watson padded the lead on the opening possession of the third
quarter when he broke loose for a 34-yard TD up the right sideline.
Vanderbilt had its chances to keep hopes of its own winning
season alive. The Commodores managed 362 yards offense against a
defense that was the nation's ninth-stingiest, and they scored only
the second passing TD against that unit this season when Greg
Zolman hit Dan Stricker with a 35-yard TD pass for a 7-0 lead on
the opening drive.
Ray Perkins' 9-yard TD run pulled them to 24-14 in the third
quarter, and that was the score when Jimmy Williams intercepted
Phil Petty's pass at 11:27 of the fourth quarter. The Commodores
stopped themselves with all three of their turnovers in the final
10 minutes.
"The defense gave us a chance at the end of the game with a
pick," Zolman said. "We just didn't come through for them. It's a
team thing. We have to play almost perfectly to beat some of these
SEC teams."
South Carolina finished the scoring on a fake punt, with Rashad
Faison running 30 yards with 2:41 remaining.
Pinnock scored both of his touchdowns in the first half. His
8-yarder capped South Carolina's opening drive. The Gamecocks went
ahead 10-7 on Daniel Weaver's 22-yard field goal that capped their
longest drive this season after they went 19 yards and ate up 8:33
of the clock in the second quarter.
