FAYETTEVILLE — Darren McFadden’s record-breaking 80-yard touchdown run, which all but finished off South Carolina’s hopes, was only the apex in a Gamecocks meltdown against the Arkansas running game Saturday night.

The Gamecocks’ susceptible run defense, ranked 74 th in the nation entering Saturday’s game, hadn’t been ravaged this badly. It had given up an average of only 17. 6 points a game.

Arkansas rushed for 541 yards in Saturday’s 48-36 victory over South Carolina.

South Carolina, now mired in a three-game losing streak after a 6-1 start, was yielding © yards a game, 10 th in the SEC. But this was unexpected for a team that limited high-powered offenses from Georgia and Kentucky to a combined 35 points.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We haven’t been very good against the run, but at times we have been,” Coach Steve Spurrier said. “They were way too good for us.”

Defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix spoke quietly after his defense was run over by McFadden’s school- and SECrecord 323 yards and Felix Jones ’ 163 yards. Jones had touchdown runs of 72 and 40 yards before McFadden’s 80-yard sprint after the Gamecocks had pulled within 42-36 with 8 minutes remaining.

Gamecocks defenders hardly ever came close to making the stops on Arkansas’ 1-2 punch.

“Basically, they just whooped us and did whatever they wanted to running the football,” Nix said. “I guess for them [McFadden and Jones ] were fresh. But the bottom line, only one guy can carry the ball at a time.

“ They’ve got good players, and we didn’t match the challenge. I felt like I was doing a crappy job in not helping our guys be prepared to play.”

And with the shoddy run defense, the 6-3 Gamecocks’ season has spiraled from a possible SEC championship and Bowl Championship Series bid to needing to beat Florida and / or Clemson in the final two games to play in a decent bowl.

“Florida’s a good team. It’ll be a struggle next week, too,” Spurrier said. “Clemson’s a good team, and it will be a struggle there. Hopefully we can stop the run a little bit better.

“ Usually the team that runs for the most yards should be able to win the game. That’s what happened.”

Gamecocks quarterback Blake Mitchell, whose 364 yards through the air were wasted, was asked whether he would have thought 36 points would have been enough to win before the game.

“You always hope so, but things don’t always turn out that way,” he said. “You just needed to score some more.”

Especially if you can’t tackle McFadden and Jones.