South Carolina Gamecocks head football coach Steve Spurrier announced shortly before kickoff that Dylan Thompson would start at quarterback in place of the injured Connor Shaw. Thompson responded, leading the Gamecocks to a 48-10 victory over the East Carolina Pirates in Columbia on Saturday, before a crowd of 77,006.
Thompson completed 21 of 37 passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. South Carolina's Heisman Trophy candidate Marcus Lattimore had only 40 rushing yards on 13 attempts with one touchdown.
The Gamecocks forced five turnovers, four of them on interceptions. Lattimore opened the scoring with a six yard touchdown run. South Carolina scored the first 35 points of the game to improve their record to 2-0. East Carolina falls to 1-1.
Hemingway High product Jabril Solomon caught three passes for 39 yards for East Carolina. Another WPDE All-Zoner, Marlboro County high grad Lee Pegues, made three tackles for the Pirates.
Rory Anderson was the Gamecocks top receiver with four catches for 90 yards and two scores. Ex-Darlington High star Victor Hampton made three tackles for South Carolina.
The Gamecocks will host Alabama-Birmingham next Saturday, September 15 at Williams-Brice Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
