Nunez, Cooper lead South Carolina to 31-14 victory

There will always be passes that quarterbacks want to have back. With South Carolina still trailing and searching for a spark halfway through the third period, Cooper turned a busted play into a 29-yard touchdown run to give the Gamecocks the lead.

Head coach Steve Spurrier announced that Nunez would get the start against UCF on Tuesday. Then as now, injury remains a primary reason why – Phil Petty going out five games with a bum knee in 1999, Connor Mitch out at least a month with a separated throwing shoulder this year. South Carolina continues to struggle at closing out drives with touchdowns instead of field goals. If he wins the ballgame Saturday, maybe he’ll mimic signing his name on the midfield logo. “I just had to high point the ball and come down with it to make up for the mistakes I did earlier in the first half”. The overall outing was solid, albeit against a defense far less daunting than when the Gamecocks return to SEC play. “Coach Ward and Coach Adams are always fussing about do the right steps”.

“We caused some of our own self-inflicted wounds”. A short time later, Cooper muffed a punt at the one-yard line and senior T.J. Mutcherson recovered for the Knights.

The freshman quarterback floated home near the home sideline, but the Golden Knights defender wasn’t able to hold on to it. H went 12-for-22 for 184 yards and a pair of scores to emphatically lay claim to the starting QB job. Of those yards, 111 came through the air. “In the first half, I was a little shaky”. The real difference was field position in the second half because of turnovers.

The momentum would stay with the Gamecocks after Schneider was intercepted on the next series.

After Cooper’s scoring run made it 15-14, Nunez hit tight end Jacob August with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Nunez connected with Cooper on a 35-yard TD later in the period. He also rushed 18 times for 123 yards. “Idon’t know that we’re a one-quarterback team completely but if (Nunez) playsvery well and takes care of the ball, we could be”. I wasn’t thinking on that play, and that’s something I can’t do. “He’s a gamer. I think we learned that”. The Gamecocks got a safety on the next play. With UCF up by 2, the Knights marched 93 yards down the field on their next possession for another touchdown.

While the changes may help, another thing that may aid the Gamecocks today will be the absence of UCF running back William Stanback.

“I was trying to pancake him”, he said. “He’s a pretty good player”. “We thought he was going to throw it to Pharoh and he saw that nobody was covering August”.