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KNOXVILLE -- Lane Kiffin felt the raindrops falling from the sky during pregame warmups Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.

That's when the Tennessee football team's first-year coach knew what was bound to determine whether the Volunteers could knock off 21st-ranked South Carolina.

"The whole game was going to be about the turnovers," Kiffin said.

For once, that was a good thing for UT.

Tennessee forced four turnovers that directly led to 24 of its points in a 31-13 beatdown of the Gamecocks, UT's second lopsided victory against a Southeastern Conference opponent in as many home games.

Three first-half fumble recoveries, two of which came in the first 1 minute, 52 seconds, gave the black jersey-clad Vols all the chances they needed to jump out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.

It was just what Tennessee desperately had been seeking after forcing only two turnovers over its last three games, two of which were losses.

"It's about time we started getting some turnovers," said UT senior linebacker Rico McCoy, who was credited with forcing two of South Carolina's three lost fumbles. "I guess they've been hiding from us, so they all came out at one time."

Tennessee's improving offense made the most of the takeaways, moving a combined 92 yards on just 12 plays to finish off its three first-half scoring drives.

Those early touchdowns, combined with UT's first turnover-free game of the season, were enough to make up for the Vols going scoreless and picking up a total of 95 offensive yards on their other four possessions before halftime.