COSTLY VICTORY FOR USC

Gamecocks top Vandy, lose Newton

Published on 10/23/05

COLUMBIA — Syvelle Newton played his best game of the season Saturday for South Carolina, but unfortunately for the Gamecocks, it will also be his last.

In a bittersweet turn of events, Newton rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown, threw two touchdown passes and had a reception in South Carolina's 35-28 victory over Vanderbilt, but left the game with a torn left Achilles' tendon that will sideline him the rest of the season.

"It hurts our team," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. "We all know that, but there's nothing we can do about it. We love Syvelle. We're going to make sure that he goes to class and passes everything and gets ready for next year. That's four games we'll be without him.

"I've never been a guy to sit around here and cry unless a guy got paralyzed or something. But it's tough. It's tough for Syvelle. He's got some rehab ahead of him."

South Carolina (4-3 overall, 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference) has a winning record for the first time this season and kept its bowl hopes alive with games remaining at Tennessee, at Arkansas, and at home against Florida and Clemson.

The Gamecocks will have to do it without Newton, who was injured on a 10-yard touchdown run with 11:01 to play in the fourth quarter that put South Carolina ahead 28-14.

Newton, who lined up at quarterback, tailback and receiver at different times, left the game with 80 yards rushing on 10 carries, one reception for eight yards and three completions in four attempts for 46 yards and two touchdowns.

"What a performance by Syvelle Newton," Spurrier said.

"That was about as good an individual performance by a football player that I have seen in a long time."

It would be up to his teammates — quarterback Blake Mitchell and wide receiver Sidney Rice in particular — to close out the Commodores (4-4, 2-3) who were not going down without a fight.

Vanderbilt rallied with two touchdowns to tie it, with Jay Cutler completing a 41-yard scoring pass to Earl Bennett a mere 44 seconds after Newton's touchdown.

Tailback Cassen Jackson-Garrison capped an 87-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to tie the game with 3:55 to play.

Then Mitchell, who had been having a subpar night, drove the Gamecocks 77 yards in seven plays, passing 3 yards to Rice for what would prove to be the game-clinching touchdown with 1:41 to play.

"It was a fun win," said Mitchell. "It was exciting. We had to execute at the end when they tied it up and we had to go in and make that last drive. We can build on this. We proved we can win a close ball game."

Rice, a redshirt freshman, finished with eight receptions for a career-high 132 yards and three touchdowns.

Cutler, a fifth-year senior, also had a career day, passing for a personal-best 339 yards.

Vandy freshman receiver Earl Bennett caught 16 passes for 204 yards.

"This team has been in that situation before," Cutler said of the Commodores' rally. "We've come back, especially in the fourth quarter. We've got a lot of guys out there, a lot of seniors who want to win and know how to execute in the fourth quarter. We've done it in prior games, but we just ran out of time there at the end."

The game ended on a fourth-down incompletion with Vandy at the South Carolina 30-yard line.

"The defense worked hard in practice this week," said South Carolina linebacker Lance Laury. "It was very rough. We came through it though. We've got some things to work on, but at least we held on."

Even with all that offense, it was the defenses that set the tone early for both teams. In fact, it was the Commodores' defense that gave them their only points in a first half that ended in a 7-7 tie.

Vandy had South Carolina backed up on its own 4-yard line when Cheron Thompson intercepted a Mitchell pass and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown that tied the game 7-7 with 12:45 to play in the half.

South Carolina's defense came up with a big play of its own when cornerback Fred Bennett slipped through to block a 35-yard field goal with 4:33 to play in the half.

Vandy came up big on defense again later in the half when the Commodores stopped Newton on fourth-and-inches from the Vanderbilt 14-yard line.

"We thought we could make a dang yard," Spurrier said. "Everybody that has played Vanderbilt this year has made fourth-and-one except us, and I don't know why."

Charles Bennett can be reached at cbennett@postandcourier.com.

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