RECAP: Tennessee falls to South Carolina, 27-24 in Columbia

Both the Tennessee Volunteers and South Carolina Gamecocks entered Saturday night’s showdown in Columbia needing a win to improve their chances of making a bowl game.

In the end, it was the Gamecocks (4-3, 3-3 SEC) who came out on top-in come-from-behind fashion in a 27-24 win over the Vols (3-5, 1-5 SEC) at Williams-Brice Stadium.

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With the win, South Carolina has now won three-straight over Tennessee, and Will Muschamp is 7-0 all-time against the Vols dating, back to his 4-year stint at Florida.

The Tennessee offense struck early, scoring their first, first quarter touchdown of the season with a 5-yard touchdown toss from Jarrett Guarantano to Eli Wolf to cap off a 6-play, 39-yard drive.

The Vols extended their lead to 14-3 with a Guarantano pass to Jauan Jennings with just over two minutes left in the second quarter, but Jake Bentley answered with a touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel to cut the deficit to 14-9 just before the half.

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Early in the third quarter, a 14-yard touchdown run from Carlin Fils-aime gave Tennessee a 21-9, and it appeared that the Vols offense was clicking on all cylinders for the first time this season in an SEC game.

However, Tennessee could only muster a field goal for the rest of the second half as South Carolina scored a pair of third quarter touchdowns on Rico Dowdle and Ty’Son Williams runs. Bentley was able to punch it on a two-point conversion to tie the game, 24-24.

The difference in the game proved to be 25-yard field goal from Parker White with 5:52 left in the game as the Gamecocks defense sacked Guarantano on a 4th and long with just over a minute on the clock.

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Tennessee posted 351 yards of total offense while South Carolina managed to put up 376 yards.

As far as the quarterbacks were concerned, Guarantano finished the game 27-39 for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Vols as Jake Bentley went 11-16 for 152 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

For Tennessee, bowl eligibility is still a possibility, but the Vols still have contests with Missouri, Kentucky, Charlotte and Vanderbilt on the horizon. South Carolina’s chances of making a third-straight bowl appearance improved drastically with the win, but the Gamecocks still have games at Ole Miss, at Florida, Chattanooga and at Clemson left.