First quarter recap:
South Carolina won the tossed and elected to defer to the second half, giving freshman Drew Lock the ball first. Here’s the rundown of his first series:
1st and 10—Lock’s pass to Nate Brown on a screen went for a loss of two.
2nd and 12—Lock’s pass to tight end Clayton Echard went for six on a quick out. Echard is starting in place of injured Sean Culkin.
3rd and 6—Lock’s screen pass to Russell Hansbrough went for a loss of four.
Lock’s first series: 3-for-3 0 yards.
The defense shut down Lorenzo Nunez on USC’s first drive as they lost 17 yards, including a third down sack by Walter Brady that resulted in a 14 yard loss. USC’s punt was short giving the Tigers the ball at midfield.
Mizzou mixed strong running from Hansbrough and nice passing from Lock to complete an 11 play, 51 yard drive, capped by an eight yard pass from Lock to Brown. Lock had to drop the ball over a linebacker and hit Brown who was cutting across the middle of the field and hit his wide receiver on a nice lead.
Mizzou’s defense came up big again with Marcell Frazier registering the team’s second sack of the day on Nunez. A block in the back on the punt return, pushed the Tigers back to their ten.
Lock was sacked at the one…a generous spot, because Lock actually tried to throw from the endzone and could have been called for intentional grounding which would have led to two points for USC.
Instead on third and 19, J’Mon Moore picked up eight yards to get the ball back to the nine for Corey Fatony to punt into a strong breeze. USC took over at the Tigers 49.
On first down, Nunez took a shot downfield and connected with their big play guy Pharoh Cooper for 31 yards to the Tiger 18.
Brady came up with his second sack of the quarter and third down holding the Gamecocks to a 33 yard field.
End of the quarter:
Mizzou–7
Carolina–3
