Zips Fall To South Carolina

Saturday, September 21

Columbia, SC

7:30 PM

University of Akron

1-3 , 0-0

South Carolina

3-1 , 1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Akron

South Carolina

September 21 | Football

Box Score Boxscore (PDF)Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, South Carolina - Akron fell 50-7 to South Carolina on the road Saturday night.

Redshirt junior Ben Finley led the offense with 110 passing yards (14-27-1) with a 42-yard touchdown to sophomore Adrian Norton.

Norton led the receiving corps with four catches and 56 yards. Redshirt sophomore Jake Newell added three catches for 24 yards while redshirt sophomore Charles Kellom caught four passes for 16 yards and added 18 yards on the ground. Redshirt junior Jordon Simmons led all Zips rushers with 19 yards in the contest.

Senior Antavious Fish and junior Bryan McCoy led the defense with 16 combined tackles with eight each. Redshirt juniors Justin Anderson and Darrian Lewis combined for 12 tackles with six each. Fish, senior CJ Nunnally IV and senior Bennett Adler all recorded a sack against South Carolina.

Akron's defense recorded a season-high 75 tackles in the loss.

The Gamecocks improved to 3-1 on the season while the Zips dropped to 1-3.

How It Happened

South Carolina opened a 22-0 lead, but Akron got on the scoreboard with 1:53 left in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 22-7 on a 42-yard pass from Finley to Norton. Akron didn't score again in the game and South Carolina tacked on 28 more points to finish off the scoring.

Game Notes.

» Fish and McCoy led the defense with eight tackles each.
» The Zips recorded a season-high 75 tackles at South Carolina.
» The Blue and Gold have recorded 60 or more tackles in three straight games.
» McCoy and redshirt senior Nathan Kapongo combined for 10 tackles in the first half.
» Akron has recorded 70 or more tackles twice this season (75 at South Carolina, 71 at Rutgers)
» Senior Avery Book recorded his longest punt of the season with a 61-yard kick. His previous high was 60 yards at Ohio State.
» Book punted nine times for the Zips with an average of 49.8 yards. He had five punts of 50 or more yards against South Carolina and pinned the Gamecocks in their own 20 three times.
» Norton recorded the longest catch of his career with a 42-yard TD reception in the second half from Finley.
» Finley has thrown at least one touchdown in the past three games.
» Finley has thrown a 40+ yard touchdown in consecutive games.

What's Next?
The Zips begin Mid-American Conference play when they travel to Athens, Ohio., to battle the Ohio Bobcats on Saturday, September 28 for a 3:30 p.m. start.