COLUMBIA, S.C. — Spencer Rattler had the best day of his unpredictable career, throwing for 438 yards and six touchdowns as South Carolina beat No. 5 Tennessee63-38 on Saturday night, all but eliminating the Volunteers from the playoffs.
Tennessee (9-2, 6-2 Southeastern) might have also lost Heisman Trophy contender Hendon Hooker, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a leg injury, falling and fumbling without being hit.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said he didn’t have an update on Hooker’s status and that the team will evaluate him when it returns to Knoxville.
Even before the injury, the quarterback of the night was Rattler, who went from Heisman hopeful to the bench at Oklahoma in 2021. The junior finally lived up to the potential that fans of South Carolina (7-4, 4-4) hoped for when he arrived.
“That was probably the best I’ve ever felt in a game. I felt unstoppable,” said Rattler, adding he thought it was one of the best wins in college football history.
“This game and the next one could change the narrative of this program forever,” Rattler said.
Rattler came into the night with nine interceptions and eight touchdowns and averaging 198 passing yards per game. There were questions asked about whether the Gamecocks might want to test out the backup.
But the junior was patient in the pocket, dropping passes into the narrowest of windows. He ran when he had to with five carries for 16 yards. And he even caught a pass in the red zone from Dakereon Joyner, who South Carolina typically uses as a running threat under center.
“He was on. You talk about players and being in the zone,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said.
Rattler’s career highs before Saturday were 387 yards against Kansas State for Oklahoma in 2020 and five TDs for the Sooners against Western Carolina in 2021.
The Tennessee defense could do almost nothing to stop the 11th-best offense in the SEC. The Gamecocks gained 606 yards after failing to get over 300 yards in three of their past four games. The 63 points are the most by an unranked team against an AP top-five opponent in the poll era, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“Obviously, extremely disappointed with the performance and the outcome of the football game,” Heupel said. “It’s everybody involved, from myself to our assistant coaches to our players, had an opportunity here and didn’t take advantage of it, didn’t play well. Credit to South Carolina. They did play well. Just disappointing that we didn’t perform better.”
Hooker was 25-of-42 for 247 yards and three TDs before his injury. There was no immediate word on the severity of his hurt leg, but he did not return to the game. Joe Milton III took over at QB for the Vols when Hooker went down, turning the ball over on downs after driving into the red zone, then leading a four-play, 75-yard scoring drive in the final two minutes.
Gurriel was hurt in the sixth inning after he jumped awkwardly out of the way to avoid center fielder Blaze Alexander, who made a diving catch on a line drive by Rowdy Tellez for the third out of the inning.
Alexander was playing his first game in center field as a big leaguer.
Gurriel stayed on the ground for several minutes while medical staff attended to him. The 31-year-old eventually got up and walked to a cart before being driven off the field.
Additional tests confirmed the torn ACL.
Gurriel is batting .248 this season with 19 homers and 80 RBIs.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Ohio State climbed to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, LSU and Miami moved into the top five, and Florida State jumped back into the rankings at the expense of Alabama, which plummeted to its lowest spot in 17 seasons.
The defending national champion Buckeyes received 55 of 66 first-place votes to move up two spots after their win over preseason No. 1Texas. Ohio State is at the top of a regular-season poll for the first time since November 2015.
The Longhorns dropped to No. 7 as the media voters shuffled the rankings following a topsy-turvy Labor Day weekend. It was only the second time — and first since 1972 — that two top-five teams lost in Week 1 and the first time that four top-10 teams lost.
Only three teams in the Top 25 are in the same spot they were in the preseason poll.
Penn State got seven first-place votes and remained No. 2. LSU, which received three first first-place votes, was followed by Georgia and Miami to round out the top five.
The biggest movers in the poll were Florida State and Alabama after the Seminoles’ 31-17 victory in their head-to-head matchup.
The Seminoles, who were 15 spots outside the Top 25 in the preseason, are now No. 14. The Crimson Tide fell all the way from No. 8 to No. 21 — their lowest ranking since Bama was No. 24 in the 2008 preseason poll. That was the second of Nick Saban’s 17 teams in Tuscaloosa.
It’s been quite a turnabout for Florida State. The Seminoles were No. 10 in the 2024 preseason, lost their first two games, finished 2-10 and weren’t ranked again until now.
Utah, at No. 25, joins Florida State as the only newcomers to this week’s poll. The Utes are ranked for the first time since last October, when they were at the front end of a seven-game losing streak.
Utah had received the second-most points, behind BYU, among teams outside the preseason Top 25, but the Utes got more credit for beatingUCLA on the road than the Cougars received for hammering FCS foe Portland State.
Boise State, which had been No. 25, received no votes following its 34-7 loss at South Florida. The Broncos had appeared in 14 straight polls.
Ohio State is the first team to take over the top spot in the first regular-season poll since Alabama in 2012. It was the biggest jump to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll since USC was promoted from No. 3 in 2008.
Texas’ fall was the biggest for a preseason No. 1 since Auburn dropped to No. 8 in the first regular-season poll of 1984.
LSU has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 3 in 2012, and Miami has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 5 in 2004.
South Carolina is in the top 10 in the regular season for the first time since it was No. 8 in December 2013.
No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma: This weekend’s game will be the first meeting since Oklahoma beat the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl to win the 1975 national championship. Wolverines freshman QB Bryce Underwood gets put to the test in his second start.
College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.
While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.
Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).
LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.
“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”
Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.
“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.
“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”
Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.
“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”