No. 15 South Carolina beats Mississippi St., 14-12

Struggling against Mississippi State’s defense all afternoon, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier finally found an indefensible play. Sophomore quarterback Connor Shaw lofted a 4-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, who stretched his 6-foot-4 frame over two Mississippi State defenders for the game-winning touchdown. When the three players jumped for the ball, Jeffery was simply the tallest and best athlete, plucking the ball from the sky with 3:50 remaining in the fourth quarter to lead No. 15 South Carolina to a hard-fought 14-12 victory over Mississippi State.

“Somehow or another Connor found Alshon on the jump ball,” Spurrier said. “We had been trying to get the jump ball thrown all day and he finally threw it perfect.”

In his third career start, Shaw struggled for much of the afternoon. He completed 20 of 28 passes for 155 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for 28 yards on 16 carries. South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore came into the game averaging an SEC-best 129.8 rushing yards per game, but managed only 39 yards and a touchdown against the hard-hitting Bulldogs. He left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent leg injury that could make the Gamecocks’ victory a lot less sweet. Spurrier said he was told Lattimore’s injury is a sprained knee, though a full evaluation hadn’t been done.

Mississippi State was driving late in the game, but Tyler Russell’s pass was intercepted by D.J. Swearinger with 1:45 remaining. From that point, the Gamecocks were able to run out the clock, and Shaw ran out the back of the end zone on the final play for a Mississippi State safety.

“We needed to make one more play,” Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said. “When you play top-15 teams you’ve got to make a lot of plays. They made one more play than we did.”