Seventh-ranked Arkansas let No. 9 South Carolina stick around for three quarters, then pulled away in the fourth for a 44-28 home win.
The Razorbacks (8-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) missed two field goals and had two dropped touchdown passes in the first half, then had to avoid a comeback attempt in the second. The Hogs scored two late touchdowns and handed the Gamecocks their 23rd consecutive road loss against a top-10 foe.
“We just needed to score more touchdowns,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. “That could have easily been 60 points on the board. We made some mistakes, but one thing we didn’t do is get down when we made the mistakes. We just kept competing.”
The win, coupled with No. 1 LSU’s 9-6 win at No. 2 Alabama, will give Arkansas a chance to play the Tigers for a three-way tie for first in the SEC West Nov. 25.
“It was fun, it was exciting,” Petrino said. “We talked to our players about, ‘This is why you came here. To play in games like this.’ We were very mature. That’s the kind of games we want to be in. Two top-10 teams. A lot at stake.”
It wasn’t easy, though.
The Razorbacks led 24-14 at halftime, but missed multiple opportunities to build a big lead the first half.
A two-touchdown swing over a three-play stretch gave South Carolina (7-2, 5-2) a 14-10 lead in the second quarter.
Hogs’ running back Ronnie Wingo dropped a wide open, would-be touchdown pass at the Gamecocks’ 25. Two plays later, Wilson tried to avoid a sack, but threw an interception South Carolina defensive end Devin Taylor returned 48 yards for a touchdown.
Wilson rebounded with 68- and 16-yard touchdown passes to senior receiver Jarius Wright, putting Arkansas up 24-14 late in the first half.
The Razorbacks missed another scoring opportunity before halftime, though.
Wilson hit junior receiver Cobi Hamilton alone in the back of the end zone on a third-down play, but Hamilton dropped the ball, forcing the Hogs to settle for a field goal.
Sophomore Zach Hocker’s 29-yarder sailed wide right with four seconds left in the half, though, keeping the Gamecocks within 10 points.
“You worry about that,” Petrino said. “We gave them an opportunity to get some momentum between the drop and the missed field goal … You just have to keep competing.”
The miss was Hocker’s second of the game, following a missed 45-yarder in the first quarter.
“He missed a couple field goals,” Petrino said. “That’s not like Zach. It was good to see him come back in the second half and respond and kick it through the uprights.”
Hocker’s misses coupled with the drops by Wingo and Hamilton, two of the Hogs’ most dependable receivers, allowed the Gamecocks to keep it close.
“That shocks you,” Petrino said. “Those are things both of them don’t ever do. They just so happened to both do it the same game.”
South Carolina cut its deficit to 30-28 on quarterback Connor Shaw’s 1-yard touchdown sneak early in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get closer.
Arkansas’ defense shut down the Gamecocks most of the night.
South Carolina managed just 207 yards and Shaw was knocked out of the game following his fourth-quarter fumble forced by Razorbacks senior defensive end Jake Bequette, a turnover that set up senior running back Broderick Green’s 1-yard score to put the Hogs up 44-28.
“Coach (Bobby) Petrino challenged us as a unit, really kind of called us out this week,” Bequette said. “I feel like we responded well.”
Bequette recorded four tackles and three sacks after entering the game with 14 tackles and just two sacks. The preseason first-team All-SEC selection had struggled to get over a hamstring injury suffered Sept. 10 against New Mexico.
“We got him where he’s healthy,” defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said. “He was relentless all night long.”
Gamecocks freshman running back Brandon Wilds managed just 21 yards on 10 carries one week after running for 137 yards at Tennessee.
“I think he got chipped a little bit as the game went on,” Robinson said. “I felt like we did a good job.”
Offensively, Wilson narrowly missed his fourth 300-yard effort this season, finishing with 299 yards and two touchdowns.
The second-quarter interception was his only miscue against a pass defense that entered the game ranked No. 3 in the nation, allowing just 135.9 yards per game.
“I thought Tyler competed hard and was really into it,” Petrino said. “He had the one play where he just tried to do too much on the interception for the touchdown and he knew it. I wasn’t upset about that. I was upset about a play prior to that when he knew what to do on another play and just didn’t do it.”
Wright finished with four catches for 103 yards and the two touchdowns. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder now has 812 yards and nine touchdowns with four games remaining, well within reach of the school single-season records 1,004 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“I felt we were the faster team on the field,” Petrino said. “I really did the whole game. I didn’t think they could cover our receivers.”