Kyle Kennard, the dominant EDGE rusher hailed as one of college football’s best this season, delivered another standout performance last night, further cementing his place in South Carolina history. With 10.5 sacks on the season, Kennard now ranks second in the school’s single-season sack record books, sitting just 3.5 sacks away from breaking the all-time record held by Gamecock legend and NFL All-Pro Jadeveon Clowney.

In achieving this milestone, Kennard surpassed two other Gamecock greats—Melvin Ingram, another NFL All-Pro, and Andrew Provence, whose legacy looms large in South Carolina football lore. Kennard’s remarkable consistency and relentless energy on the field have made him a nightmare for opposing offenses and a cornerstone of the Gamecocks’ defense.

Clowney’s record, which has stood as the pinnacle of defensive achievement at South Carolina, is now within reach. With two games left to play, Kennard is poised to potentially set a new standard and etch his name as one of the all-time greats in Gamecock history.

Kennard’s dominance this season has validated the preseason hype surrounding him. His ability to disrupt plays, pressure quarterbacks, and anchor the defense has been instrumental to South Carolina’s success. Now, with history on the line, Kennard has the opportunity to crown an already impressive season with an unforgettable achievement.

As the Gamecocks gear up for their final two games, all eyes will be on Kennard as he looks to secure his place atop South Carolina’s record books and solidify his legacy as one of the greatest to ever wear the garnet and black.

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The Missouri Tigers suffered their third loss of the season Saturday at South Carolina, falling 34-30 in a tight game with five lead changes. Missouri scored a go-ahead touchdown with 1:10 remaining but could not seal the deal, allowing a six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive in 47 seconds.

Here’s a full transcript of what head coach Eli Drinkwitz had to say following the loss.

Opening Statement:

“Coach [Shane] Beamer and his football team, they earned it right there on that last drive and hats off to them. Disappointed for our guys that we couldn’t find a way to win. Had opportunities, both in the first half and second half, and just didn’t execute well enough when we needed to in order to win the game.”

“Really proud of them. Proud of both sides of the ball. The fourth-down stops by the defense to get us back in going on a little run right there. Both sides of the ball did what they needed to do. We just came up short. In the second half, defensively, we couldn’t get off the field right there on the last drive, and in the first half, we went 0-for-six, three of those in the red zone. That’s the difference in the game.”

On the mindset of his team during close games:

“I just think there’s a relentlessness that our team plays with and believes in. Just didn’t have enough tonight.”

On the performance of Missouri’s pass rushing unit:

“I thought they did some really good things, but our inability to get him on the ground on that last drive was bad.”

On Brady Cook’s performance:

“Gutty performance, led his team down there, played well. Obviously we missed some third downs, and that’s going to be something that we have to assess. But I thought he did everything he could to give us a chance to win.”

On his message to his team:

“Don’t hang your heads. This is college football on the road versus a ranked team. Gave yourself a chance to win. You didn’t get it done. We got two games left to go finish. So, you can be disappointed, but we can’t be devastated and we won’t hang our heads.”

On the offense’s struggles in the red zone:

“Ultimately, I think that’s the difference in the game. In the first half, we had the fourth-down stop and then had the turnover, and didn’t get any points off the turnover, with the missed field goal, went three-and out right there and the sack. And our inability to convert third downs in the red zone in the first half was why we were behind and ultimately, the difference in the score. IF any of those are touchdowns, it’s different game.”

On the explosive passes let up by the defense:

“They were getting separation in man, and we weren’t able to get to the quarterback. We’re gonna have to reassess what we’re doing there.”

On the confusion with South Carolina’s failed fourth-down conversion in the fourth quarter:

“The explanation that I got was they had a miscommunication on their sideline to give it a first down, and the guy on our sideline knew that it was not the mark needed to be measured, and so it was just a miscommunication, and that’s why they measured it.”

On Luther Burden III’s touchdown:

“We had a different play called. They pressed, quarterback adjusted it with the wide receiver, and he had a great release, great football throw and one handed catch. Dissapointed that we wasted that.”

On Nate Noel and the offensive line’s performance:

“They were able to get Brady comfortable. We end edup giving the two sacks, but it was on the last drive in the last play the first half. So, quarterback had plenty of protection. We were able to keep the defensive ends off balance, and we did what we needed to. We just didn’t execute right there at the end to finish it, we didn’t execute on third downs in the red zone.”

On Brady Cook and Nate Noel returning from injury to play:

“They’re tough guys. Man, this Brotherhood’s not for soft people.”

On the decision to elect to receive the opening kick:

“We wanted to take the ball and go down and score, and we did, but we needed to execute on that third down. We just felt like having an opportunity to try to take control of the atmosphere.”

On the decision to attempt a two-point conversion after scoring their first touchdown:

“Down 15, and so you can either wait late and see how it goes, or you can go for two there and then figure out if it’s a two-possession game, which is what we did. So went for it. ends up allowing us to kick the field goal and then knowing we need a touchdown late. So it’s just a different way to play it. I felt like when we scored, I think there’s maybe five minutes left to go in the third quarter, and they had one possession, we had one possession. So I kind of needed to force the issue on what was going to be the timing of the rest of the game.”

On Brady Cook’s toughness to return from injury:

“I’m proud of him for competing and demonstrating toughness.”

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Thoughts on an 87-71 win against the Gamecocks:

Three games in the books for the Hoosiers. Three double-digit victories recorded.

Yet, it’s clear this team has a lot of room to grow. The consistency from possession to possession isn’t there yet, and the unfamiliarity of all the new faces despite the talent bump shows. The defense turns up in spurts. So does the offense. You waited for Indiana to go up 20-plus in this game and its bench to get playing time to close it out. But the Hoosiers couldn’t throw the knockout blow. The Gamecocks hung around and pulled within single digits at nine with 5:32 to go, their first time that close since the 2:39 mark of the first half.

But Indiana never let them get any closer. As South Carolina fouled — sometimes intentionally, sometimes not — Indiana was masterful at the line to shut the door. The Hoosiers went 14-of-14 on free throws over the final 5:18 of the contest. That included four makes from Oumar Ballo, a career 56.5 percent free-throw shooter entering today’s game. In a foul-heavy contest, Indiana hit 27-of-33 (81.8 percent) from the charity stripe.

Despite 87 points (a scoring output it bested just twice all of last season) and a double-digit victory, Mike Woodson voiced plenty of displeasure after the game.

On his offense: “We scored 87 points and I don’t know how we got there because I just didn’t think we played good offense tonight even though we made shots from the 3-point line.”

Woodson offered this when pressed to go deeper on his assessment: “Just better movement offensively. We did it in spurts and when we did it in spurts it looked pretty good, the ball movement from side to side, getting easy looks. But then we got stagnant. We went up 15 points. From that point on we didn’t play very well from an offensive standpoint.”

On his defense against the drive: “I said this in the locker room after the game. We got to get better at defending off the bounce.”

On his defense against the 3-point shot: “When guys are making 3s you can sit and shake your head. My thing is you’re not close enough if [the opponent is] able to just catch and shoot the basketball. We gotta get better in that area.”

Still, there was plenty to like in this one. Myles Rice played more in control and added a scoring punch. The Washington State transfer made South Carolina pay for its drop coverage against him in high ball-screen action in the first half, as he dropped in jumpers with the Gamecocks’ big sagging. Rice also got hot from deep, hitting 3-of-4 in the first 20 minutes. He had 17 at half and 23 for the game, leading all scorers. His backcourt mate, Kanaan Carlyle, had his best offensive outing as a Hoosier and continues to show doggedness on defense. Carlyle went 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from deep for 12 points.

The Stanford transfer threw down an impressive alley-oop from Rice in transition and had an unconventional 3-pointer from halfcourt that was intended as a lob to Mackenzie Mgbako. Mgbako continues to fill it up (17 points, 5-of-8 from the field, 1-of-2 from 3-point range, 6-of-7 from the line). Ballo pulled down 13 boards, including three on the offensive end to help keep possessions alive. Trey Galloway again provided a spark off the bench (11 points, two assists). The Hoosiers also shot 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from deep and completely neutralized Collin Murray-Boyles (two points, fouled out), who had been on a tear to start the season.

The fact that there’s this much to pick apart in a 16-point victory against a solid high-major opponent ranked No. 60 on KenPom entering the game shows just how high Indiana’s ceiling is this season.

And with the Battle 4 Atlantis on deck, the Hoosiers could get a shot at showing what they can do against even better competition.

Filed to: South Carolina Gamecocks