Even after losing to Georgia, the nation's top-ranked team, the Tennessee Volunteers were easily one of the top four teams in the country, and it was easy to look past that one loss because the Volunteers had epic battles against both the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Louisiana State Tigers. Sports analysts and fans continued to provide hype for Tennessee’s football team. An abundance of people constantly praised coach Josh Heupel and were continuously talking about the ascension of Heisman candidate Hendon Hooker, who had an amazing stretch of games, completing nearly 70 percent of his passes for a total of 2,888 passing yards along with a 12:1 touchdown to interception ratio with 24 touchdowns and 2 interceptions so far in the season. After the loss to Georgia, many believed that Tennessee still controlled their destiny by getting into the college football playoff. They only needed to do one thing, which was win the rest of their regular season games and the SEC championship. After all, the volunteers' remaining schedule included an unranked South Carolina team and an unranked Vanderbilt team—two teams that no one thought had a realistic chance of beating the Tennessee football team. However, on November 19th, at 7 p.m. eastern, the impossible would become a reality as the volunteers would face a determined South Carolina team.
Tennessee's 2022 Schedule released
Prior to clashing with the highly ranked Tennessee volunteers, the South Carolina Gamecocks had six wins and four losses. There was a noticeable pattern in their schedule, such as the fact that when the Gamecocks played lesser teams, they were dominant, but when faced with adversity from opposing programs that had higher levels of talent, the South Carolina team struggled to produce. Their four losses consisted of losses to Arkansas and Missouri and two blowout losses to the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs. The questions for South Carolina were whether they could improve their record as a football team and whether they had a quarterback who could elevate the play of those around him. The starting quarterback for the Gamecocks was none other than Spencer Rattler, a five-star recruit who transferred from the Oklahoma Sooners and has undeniable arm talent for a quarterback. The only question analysts and fans had for the redshirt junior was whether he could be consistent as a player. During his time at Oklahoma, under the tutelage of offensive mastermind Lincoln Riley, there were times when Rattler's potential jumped across the screen on one's TV as the football world talked about Spencer Rattler having a cannon for an arm. However, being a quarterback is about much more than just arm strength, as people questioned Rattler’s accuracy and decision-making and had even more concerns about his character and leadership. Spencer Rattler and the Sooners struggled In primetime situations, the quarterback was benched in favor of freshman quarterback Caleb Williams, who immediately provided a spark for the Sooners. Rattler eventually decided he needed a fresh start and transferred to the University of South Carolina to play for a familiar face in Coach Shane Beamer.
Throughout most of the 2022 college football season, it appeared that the very same narrative from Oklahoma followed Spencer Rattler to South Carolina, as once again he was inconsistent in the big games. November 19th was expected to be another example in which Spencer Rattler and the rest of the South Carolina Gamecocks were not great as they were geared to face a top team in the nation in Tennessee along with their Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Hendon Hooker and a top wide receiver in Jalin Hyatt. At 7 o'clock, the kickoff began, and the unthinkable began to unravel before the very eyes of fans as the Gamecocks would score 35 points in the first half while the Volunteers scored twenty-four. Tennessee fans across the country were shocked at the way their team played in the first half, but many of them believed that the volunteers would shake the dust off and dominate South Carolina in the second half. Unfortunately for Tennessee fans, their beliefs failed to come to fruition as for the remainder of the game, the Gamecocks would outscore the volunteers in the second half, 28 to 14, and the final score would be 63 to 38 in favor of the Gamecocks, pulling off a major upset against a team that was considered one of the best in the country. Highlights of the game can be found here.
In addition to the South Carolina football team's performance shocking the world, quarterback Spencer Rattler also accomplished the unexpected. For his college career, Rattler easily set a career high by finishing the game by completing thirty of thirty-seven passes for 438 yards and six passing touchdowns. This serves as an example of how narratives in college football can be altered for both a team and specific players. For coaches, players, and fans of college football, there is a great deal of significance because every year, a team overcomes adversity and perseveres despite being written off by others in the sports world. South Carolina is that team this season.
Spencer Rattler during the Gamecocks live press conference after beating Tennessee.
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