CHARLESTON, S.C. — Charleston Southern never trailed Saturday, upsetting No. 21 South Carolina State 49-39 behind three touchdown passes from Jared Echols and special-teams scores that kept the Buccaneers in control.
Echols opened the scoring with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Mekhi Campfield. Hakeem Watters then returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead before the Bulldogs answered with a short Keely Watson run.
In the second quarter, Dwayne Wright scored from the 1, Quay Kindell returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and Echols hit Campfield again from 13 yards to push the lead to 35-16 by halftime. Charleston Southern improved to 3-3.
Ronnie Robinson threw for 279 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for South Carolina State, which entered the game ranked 21st in the Stats Perform poll and fell to 5-2. Josh Shaw added a pair of short touchdown runs.
Kickoff was moved up six hours to noon Eastern in anticipation of inclement weather tied to the weekend storm system. Echols also found Maxwell Warren for a 15-yard touchdown later in the game.
South Carolina State is off next week before hosting Norfolk State on Oct. 24. Charleston Southern faces Clemson on the road next Saturday.
