Shaw's Five TDs Lead Gamecocks to 34-24 Capital One Bowl Win
ORLANDO,
Fla. - Behind five touchdowns from senior quarterback Connor Shaw, No.
8/8 South Carolina (11-2) claimed a 34-24 victory over No. 19/19
Wisconsin (9-4) in the 2014 Capital One Bowl.
The Capital One
Bowl MVP, Shaw accounted for 369 yards of offense, going 22-for-25 in
the air for 312 yards and 3 touchdowns while also running for 48 yards
on 16 carries and a score. Shaw also caught a TD pass for 9 yards.
Junior wide receiver Bruce Ellington caught six passes for a
career-best 139 yards and two touchdowns and threw for another, while
sophomore Shaq Roland pulled in six passes for 112 yards, both career
bests. The
Gamecocks took the lead late in the third quarter behind the senior
quarterback in his final game. Shaw found Ellington from 22 yards away
to hand South Carolina a 20-17 advantage, but the duo had a much more
pivotal play to keep the drive going. On 4th and 7, Ellington tipped
the Shaw pass to himself before pulling it down and going out of bounds
for a 22-yard gain and conversion. Shaw's arm accounted for all but
three yards of the series, completing six of seven pass attempts on the
drive. Photo By Lisa Shuler South Carolina's defense stepped up to start the fourth
quarter to snuff out a Wisconsin drive. With 1 yard to gain, the
Gamecocks twice stopped Melvin Gordon, who rushed for 143 yards in the
contest, for no gain to turn the ball over on downs. The Gamecocks
proceeded to drive 74 yards in six plays to take a 10-point lead. Shaw
twice found Roland on the drive, the second time a 49-yard catch that
saw Roland's concentration as he brought in the catch with two
defenders around him. It was sophomore tight end Jerell Adams who
scored from 3 yards out for the Gamecocks, pulling down Shaw's third
touchdown pass.
Wisconsin made it a one-score game again when
Kenzel Doe found a seam and dashed 91 yards on the kickoff return,
making it 27-24 in favor of the Gamecocks. It ranks as the first
kickoff return allowed by the Gamecocks since 2011.
On the next
possession, however, Shaw drove South Carolina 88 yards for another
score, wrapping the drive with Shaw's 1-yard sneak. Another big pass
from Shaw to Roland, a 33-yard reception, helped keep the drive alive.
The
Badgers, behind backup quarterback Curt Phillips, tried to answer on
the next drive, but on 4th and 1 in the Gamecocks' territory, the pass
hit Jadeveon Clowney's helmet and sophomore linebacker Kaiwan Lewis
corralled it to end that drive. South Carolina gave the Badgers back
the ball two plays later when Ethan Armstrong recovered the Gamecocks'
fumble.
After the fumble recovery, Wisconsin drove inside the
20, but Gamecock freshman linebacker Skai Moore came up with his second
interception of the day in the end zone to stop the Badger threat.
After the Gamecocks punted the ball back to Wisconsin, the Badgers
drove again deep into South Carolina territory, but Lewis picked up the
fumble on the catch-and-pitch attempt to end the final Wisconsin chance.
South
Carolina took the initial lead after a Wisconsin turnover toward the
end of the first quarter, when Moore picked off the pass from Badger
starting quarterback Joel Stave. On the next play, Shaw hit Ellington
for a 39-yard score. Wisconsin answered when Sam Arneson brought in the
1-yard pass from Stave on the tight end out, leveling the score at 7-7.
The
offensive duo of Shaw and Ellington handed South Carolina the lead
again but in reverse from their normal. To cap the 12-play, 86-yard
drive, South Carolina called up a double-reverse, halfback pass, as
Ellington took the second handoff before firing a strike to Shaw from 9
yards out to hand the Gamecocks a 13-7 lead after the PAT attempt
failed.
Wisconsin claimed the halftime lead when Stave found
Jeff Duckworth for a 3-yard score and its PAT kick went through the
uprights. The Badgers made it a 17-13 lead when Jack Russell hit a
35-yard field goal to end the Badgers' first second-half drive.
Shaw
finished his Gamecock career in fourth on the career passing charts
with 6,074 yards, while he holds the South Carolina record with 27 wins
as a starting quarterback. The 312 passing yards ranks as the most
during a single game in his senior season. Ellington moved into eighth
on the Gamecocks' career receiving TD list past Philip Logan with his
two scores.
LLewis led the Gamecocks with nine tackles, while he
and Moore both were credited with two takeaways. Moore's two
interceptions, the first Gamecock since Chris Culliver in 2008 to snag
two in a game, doubled his total for the year, ending his year with the
team lead. Clowney had five tackles, the most on the year, along with
two pass break-ups, a quarterback hurry and a tackle for loss. He
finishes his South Carolina career with 47 tackles for loss, second in
program history.
Along with Gordon's 143 rushing yards in 25
chances, Wisconsin's James White ran for 107 yards on 12 carries, the
first time South Carolina has allowed two 100-yard rushers in a single
game since the 2010 regular-season game at Auburn.
South
Carolina matched its program record for wins for the third-consecutive
year with the 11-win season. The Gamecocks have won their
third-straight New Year's Day bowl, a streak started in the 2012
Capital One Bowl. The Gamecocks also set a new high mark for total
offensive yards with 5,880 on the season.
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