On Sunday, seven former South Carolina football stars faced off in one NFL contest between the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys. For Carolina, defensive back Jaycee Horn, EDGE players Jadeveon Clowney and DJ Wonnum, and wide receiver Xavier Legette represented the Gamecocks. For Dallas, it was running back Rico Dowdle, wide receiver Jalen Brooks, and defensive back Israel Mukuamu.

The game wasn’t particularly close (the Cowboys won 30-14), but the former Gamecocks stood out all day.

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For the winning Cowboys, Dowdle continued his strong play. For the third straight game, he ran for 100 yards and set a new career-high yardage total. This time, he went off for 149 yards on 25 carries. No other player in the game had more than 32 rushing yards.

Jalen Brooks had just one catch on the day, but it was a big one. For the first time in his NFL career, Brooks found the end zone. In the 3rd quarter, quarterback Cooper Rush found the former USC pass-catcher in the back of the end zone for a diving catch.

On the other side of the ball, Mukuamu had a pair of tackles. However, he also picked off a Bryce Young pass just in front of the end zone. The turnover came in the 4th quarter and sealed the victory for his Cowboys.

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In defeat, Horn was good for the Panthers. He was an obvious focus for the Cowboys’ offense as they intentionally motioned away from him and threw to the opposite side of the field a lot. Because of that, he didn’t have a huge statistical output in the box score. Even so, for the game, he knocked away one pass and picked up a sack in the 1st quarter.

Clowney and Wonnum showed some flashes for the Carolina defense. The two veteran defensive ends combined for six tackles and knocked down three passes. Clowney also made the hustle play of the game by chasing down Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb on a big gain.

1st round pick Xavier Legette is playing injured (wrist) and was limited to just two touches for nine total yards.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Joyce Edwards scored 15 points while Ashlyn Watkins had 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as No. 3 South Carolina opened a big lead early and cruised to its 63rd straight win at home with a 78-62 victory over South Florida on Sunday.

The Gamecocks (10-1) started with an 18-4 burst as Bree Hall and Te-Hina Paopao made two 3s apiece and the Bulls (5-6) could not dig themselves out of the hole.

Edwards, a 6-foot-3 freshman, had her career high to lead the team, which finished with five players in double figures.

Sammie Puisis had 19 points with four 3-pointers to lead South Florida, an American Athletic Conference team whose losses have all come against power conference opponents. L’or Mputu finished with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Bulls were down 43-31 at the half, but South Carolina stretched things out with a 23-12 start to the third quarter to take control.

Takeaways

South Florida: The Bulls, who lost a second-round NCAA game to South Carolina here in 2023, withstood the early surge and held their own much of the game as they beat the Gamecocks on the offensive glass, 15-12, through three quarters.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks did more than enough to cruise to their latest victory. But spotty defense and work on the boards could cost them when Southeastern Conference play starts in a couple of weeks.

Key moment

It came early with Hall and Paopao each making two 3-pointers as South Carolina started with an 18-4 burst.

Key stat

South Carolina lost on the offensive glass with USF outboarding them 17-12.

Up next

South Florida returns home to face Northwestern State on Tuesday night.

South Carolina plays Charleston Southern at home at noon Thursday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — John Spratt, a former longtime Democratic congressman from South Carolina who successfully pushed for a balanced budget deal in the 1990s but was unseated decades later when his district turned Republican, has died. He was 82.

Spratt died Saturday night at home, surrounded by family, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, his daughter, Catherine Spratt, said in a post on Facebook.

Tributes quickly poured in for Spratt, who represented South Carolina’s 5th District for nearly 30 years.

Former President Bill Clinton hailed Spratt as a “skilled and deeply principled lawmaker” who was willing to work with anyone to pass legislation to make a difference in people’s lives.

In a condolence letter to the family, according to Spratt’s daughter, President Joe Biden wrote that, “Guided by his wit, wisdom, decency and grace, John deeply understood the promise of America, and he fought tirelessly to bring people together to help us live up to that promise.”

Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, in a post on X, called Spratt a man of “unmatched intellect, integrity, and kindness,” and said he would order flags across the state to be lowered to half-staff on the day of Spratt’s funeral.

Christale Spain, chair of South Carolina’s Democratic Party, said in a news release that Spratt “earned respect on both sides of the aisle, and he will be remembered for his courageous work to enhance and improve healthcare, support for our military, and his strengthening of rural communities leaves a lasting impact that will be felt for generations.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, a South Carolina native, said he “often teased that Mr. Spratt had probably forgotten more about the federal budget than the majority of Members had ever known,” calling him “brilliant, kind, and beloved by many.”

First elected to Congress in 1982, Spratt rose through the ranks to become chairman of the House Budget Committee and the second-highest-ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.

One of his proudest accomplishments, his daughter said, was his role in passing the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997.

“I’ll always be grateful for the chance to work with him, especially on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 which he co-authored and helped produce record surpluses,” Clinton said. “John was a true public servant and a really good man.”

As much of the South tilted toward the GOP, Spratt hung on to his congressional seat, fending off challengers as Republicans redrew congressional maps in their favor.

Spratt’s district had been in Democratic hands for more than 100 years until Republican Mick Mulvaney defeated Spratt in a 2010 race for the seat. Mulvaney held it for three terms before going on to serve President Donald Trump’s first administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and for more than a year, as acting White House chief of staff.

South Carolina now has six Republicans and one Democrat — Rep. Jim Clyburn, who recently won his 17th term representing the state’s 6th District — in its U.S. House delegation. Only one other district, the 1st, was briefly won by a Democrat before reverting to Republican hands.

“Serving in Congress with John Spratt was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” Clyburn wrote in a post on X, calling his former colleague “a friend and confidant, a colleague and counselor, and a mentor and partner,” as well as “an inconspicuous genius and the most ordinary, extraordinary person I have ever known.”

Spratt graduated from Davidson College, where he was student body president. Winning a Marshall Scholarship to Oxford, he studied economics, and earned a law degree from Yale. Spratt was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal after serving as a captain in the Army from 1969 to 1971, coming home to South Carolina that year to practice law with his father.

Eleven years later, he was elected to his first U.S. House term.

Survivors include his wife, Jane Stacy Spratt — to whom he was married for 56 years — three daughters, and several grandchildren.

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Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky. AP reporter Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, also contributed to this report.