Alshon Jeffery made a hail mary catch at the end of the first half in the Gamecocks Capital One Bowl victory.
The 9th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the 20th ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers 30-13, before a crowd of 61,351 at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium on Monday afternoon.
Connor Shaw accounted for three South Carolina touchdowns. He passed for two and ran for another. The Gamecocks reached the 11 win mark in a single season for the first time in school history and ended a string of three consecutive bowl losses.
Kenny Miles iced the game on a touchdown run late in the fourth quarter for South Carolina. The Gamecocks finished the season with a record of 11-2.
Shaw completed 11 of 17 passes for 230 yards and two TD passes. One of them, a hail mary throw to end the first half, was caught by Alshon Jeffery for a 51 yard touchdown. That play set the tone with South Carolina taking a 16-13 lead. The Gamecocks scored three unanswered touchdowns and the defense shut the Cornhuskers down the rest of the way.
Jeffery was named Capital One Bowl MVP after catching four passes for 148 yards and one score. But he was ejected from the game after getting into a scuffle with Nebraska's Alfonzo Dennard in the third quarter.
Kenny Miles led USC with 67 rushing yards. Miles scored twice in the final quarter. His first score came on a 9-yard TD pass from Shaw. With 3:05 left in the game, Miles ran for a 3-yard TD.
The Gamecocks won the turnover battle 2-0. The South Carolina defense registered six sacks and did not allow a point after the first quarter. Darlington High product Victor Hampton made two tackles.
The Gamecocks win guarantees that they will finish among the top ten in the nation when the final polls come out. Before the Capital One Bowl, the Gamecocks were ranked 9th in the country.
