When the chips were down, the superstars stepped up.

After blowing a 21-6 lead against Missouri with a nightmare second half, South Carolina football found one late answer to re-take the lead, and do so with its two best players.

With the ball at the Missouri 15-yard-line in the final seconds, an agonized Williams-Brice Stadium crowd watched LaNorris Sellers complete a shovel pass to Rocket Sanders, and the star running back did the rest with a bobbing and weaving run over the goal line.

It was the fourth — and final — lead change of a frenetic last five minutes and change, the last note of an instant classic at Williams-Brice Stadium as No. 21 South Carolina beat No. 23 Missouri 34-30, snapping its five-game losing streak against the Tigers in the most dramatic way possible.

Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) had taken the lead thanks to its own superstars just moments earlier when Brady Cook connected with Luther Burden III on a fourth-and-5 touchdown pass from 37 yards out, driving a dagger into the hearts of South Carolina (7-3, 5-3 SEC) fans after the home team blew a 21-6 halftime lead.

But Sellers and the offense answered with a masterful drive, doing exactly what it could not in close losses earlier in the season: answer the bell and follow it with a stop. Sellers hit Jared Brown and Daleveon Campbell for key passes to set it up, before hitting Rocket on the shovel pass heard ‘round Columbia.

South Carolina’s defense found one final stop in the closing seconds when Jalon Kilgore intercepted an errant Cook pass over the middle, and the Gamecocks prevailed with the win of their season, and one of the best wins of the Shane Beamer era. The win also clinched Beamer’s first SEC-winning season at South Carolina and the program’s first since 2017.

Missouri erased the initial 15-point deficit mostly thanks to running back Nate Noel, who became the first player to rush for over 100 yards against the Gamecocks this season and had the mark before the end of the third quarter. The South Carolina spiral started when a 3rd quarter fourth-and-4 attempt fell incomplete, and the Tigers ripped off a drive the other way to find their first touchdown of the night.

There were warning shots earlier — Missouri had two 10-play, 57-yard drives that ended in field goals plus another long drive which ended in a missed field goal.

But as the South Carolina offense fizzled in the second half following a hot three-touchdown first half, Missouri’s ground-and-pound scheme started to take a toll on the Gamecock defense. Creases opened up, Noel found them, and hands on hips were apparent all over the defensive line.

When quarterback Brady Cook connected with Marquis Johnson for a gain of 49 yards over the top, it set up Noel for a one-yard touchdown run which with the ensuing extra point, gave Missouri the lead.

That was the first of the four fourth-quarter lead changes, and the second came after Sellers connected with fellow freshman Michael Smith on a five-yard pass. It was the second time you could reasonably think someone just picked up the game-winning score, and there were still over five minutes left.

Then came the Cook and Burden show, which looked like enough to get Missouri out of jail after its poor first half.

But not against Sellers and Sanders, though.

No Missouri misery this time.

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The Mayor’s Cup is on the line as South Carolina welcomes another top 25 team in Missouri to Williams-Brice Stadium.

ESPN’s College Gameday is in Athens, Ga for the Georgia-Tennessee matchup. During their picks segment they made sure to focus on a key SEC rivalry.

Missouri has a 9-5 series lead in the Mayor’s Cup, winning five consecutive games. The Gamecocks will look to end that trend riding high after wins over Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. The Gameday hosts gave their thoughts on who wins this key battle.

ESPN College Gameday Picks:
Desmond Howard: South Carolina Gamecocks
Nick Saban: South Carolina Gamecocks
Cody Rhodes: South Carolina Gamecocks
Pat McAfee: South Carolina Gamecocks
Lee Corso: South Carolina Gamecocks
Kirk Herbstriet: South Carolina Gamecocks

Kickoff is set for 4:15 between the Gamecocks and Tigers. Follow us here for live coverage of the game.

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No. 7 Virginia Tech defeated No. 8 Missouri wrestling 23-10 in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Tigers went into the dual with ten ranked wrestlers by InterMat and eight starters in the top 24 rankings by FloWrestling.

The critical matches were expected to be at the lightweight weight classes on Friday night. Last season, Kade Moore pinned Sam Latona (VT), which led to the momentum in Missouri’s win that year 22-17 in the Hearnes Center. However, Latona has bumped up to the 149-pound weight class this season and wrestled No. 12 Josh Edmond on Friday night.

Despite the assumption that the lightweights would push Missouri through the night, the heavyweights put Missouri back on the board after quick match drops by the lightweights to keep Missouri in possible contention for the dual win.

No. 14 Cam Steed came out energetic for Missouri after intermission with a three-point takedown over Mac Church (VT). Steed continued to hold onto the offensive position over Church to hold onto his lead heading into the second period. Steed held onto the defensive position over Church despite the two wrestlers receiving stalemate warnings. Steed secured another three-point takedown with 2 seconds left in the third period and defeated Church 8-1 by decision.

In an anticipated top 10 match, No. 1 Keegan O’Toole faced No. 4  Lenny Wolak (VT) to continue his move through the 174-pound bracket for O’Toole’s first time at the weight class for the Tigers.

O’Toole got a shot early to keep the match moving as he attacked Wolak’s legs. The two wrestlers tweaked their knees and hips at one point but kept going and maintained aggression against each other. O’Toole attempted to get multiple falls but was unable to finish through and only received takedowns. At the last second, O’Toole got a point to secure the major decision for Missouri 13-5.

No. 12 Colton Hawks seamlessly moved from defense to offense early over No. 5 TJ Stewart Jr. Hawks secured a three-point takedown early in the first period, followed by an almost near fall that was declined after a challenge by Missouri head coach Brian Smith.

Hawks stayed on top throughout the rest of the second period to win 4-1 and got a three-point attack early in the third period as Stewart Jr. attempted to spin out of Hawks’ grip. Hawks won the match 8-2.

In a valiant effort at the end of his match against No. 13 Andy Smith (VT), freshman Aeoden Sinclair secured two takedowns and almost a third as he dropped the match 9-12 to avoid a major decision win for Smith. Smith was able to hold onto that lead over Sinclair with escape points. Sinclair is the one to watch for Missouri at 197 pounds as No. 4 Rocky Elam continues his break from dual meets.

In the final dual match, No. 20 Seth Nitzel wrestled No. 15 Jimmy Mullen from Virginia Tech. Mullen quickly attacked Nitzel’s legs, securing a three-point takedown early in the bout. Although Nitzel managed to earn a point for riding time, it wasn’t sufficient to claim victory, and he ultimately lost the match with a score of 2-4.

At 125 pounds, Missouri was missing Noah Surtin again, and Gage Walker stepped on the mat for the Tigers against No. 13 Eddie Ventresca (VT). Walker started the match with a solid start to get the early three-point takedown. However, Walker’s continuous fight to hold the lead was lost to Ventreca’s riding time point to defeat Walker by a decision 6-5.

No. 10 Connor McGonagle (VT) bests No. 29 Kade Moore 3-0 to extend Virginia Tech’s lead 6-0 heading into the 141-pound match. Following Moore, Edmond dropped his match against No. 18 Sam Latona (VT), 4-2. Edmond made a late attempt to get the takedown and win the match but could not finish through in time.

No. 24 Logan Gioffre hit the mat to wrestle No. 1 Caleb Henson (VT), the defending NCAA Champion at 149 pounds. After the first period, the two were scoreless, but in the second period, Gioffre began to struggle to get on top in the offensive stance, leading Henson to a four-point near fall. Henson won the match by a major decision, 9-0.

Missouri continued to struggle to get on the board as No. 32 James Conway fell to No. 25 Rafael Hipolito Jr. (VT) 11-3, a major decision. Conway tried to fight back in the match, but Hipolito Jr. was able to hold off Conway’s advances.

The Tigers will travel to No. 16 Illinois on Thursday, November 21, at 7 p.m. C.T., at Huff Hall in Champaign, Illinois.