South Carolina celebrates early, fumbles, that’s a touchback

Update 6:53 p.m. The Gamecocks ended up saving Staley and their bettors with a 23-14 win in Williams-Bryce Stadium. In an ugly game with three turnovers by both teams, USC hangs on and survives.

We got a DeSean Jackson situation in Columbia, as it’s a touchback instead of a touchdown because of the premature celebration of USCe’s Damani Staley. Big yikes.

Here’s the official entry on the scoring software, if you’re scoring at home.

Powell, Taylor sacked for loss of 11 yards to the USC29 (Foster,Jaylan), fumble by Powell, Taylor recovered by USC Staley, Damani at USC29 Staley, Damani return 0 yards to the fumbled by Staley, Damani at forced by Smith,B.J. recovered by USC Brown, Jahmar at USC38 fumbled by Brown, Jahmar at recovered by TRO Troy at TRO01 return for 1 yard loss to the TRO00, End Of Play. [14:43]

Damani Staley is the son of former NFL running back Duce Staley, and that’s not going to be a fun conversation when everyone gets home.

This has happened before of course, as here’s Kaelin Clay’s same mistake for Utah against Oregon that actually changed the outcome of the game and the Pac-12 title race.

When you’re a rebuilding program like South Carolina, things tend to get weird when you run into a frisky Sun Belt team like Troy. Let’s hope for Shane Beamer’s sanity they don’t have any more lapses in focus like this.

It’s still 20-14 South Carolina in the fourth quarter, and did this game close with the Gamecocks a 6.5-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook? Of course it did.