Steve Spurrier promised this week to be more positive about No. 13 South Carolina. It was hard, though, to hide his displeasure about Jadeveon Clowney's absence. Clowney came to the coaches before the game and said that bruised ribs that kept him from practice Thursday were too sore for him to play. So the 6-foot-6, 274-pound All-American watched the Gamecocks' 35-28 win over Kentucky from the sidelines, chatting with teammates as South Carolina lost a large lead for the third straight game. If Clowney "wants to play, we will welcome him to come play for the team if he wants," Spurrier said. But he if doesn't want to play, he doesn't have to play. Simple as that. Connor Shaw threw for a touchdown and rushed for another and Mike Davis had 106 yards rushing as South Carolina (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) held off the Wildcats (1-4, 0-2). Few had questioned Clowney's desire to play since he arrived on campus before the 2011 season. He was the SEC freshman of the year that fall, then had a 13 sacks and a school-record 23 ½ tackles for loss to lead become the league's defensive player of the year. The capper was Clowney's highlight-reel hit in the Outback Bowl and popped the helmet off of Michigan's Vincent Smith. But Clowney has not looked like that player through five games this year with 12 tackles and two sacks. He's dealt with dehydration and a flu bug against North Carolina, another virus against UCF last week and bone spurs in his right foot throughout the fall. Clowney's also watched opponents play away from him and go for large gains as some of South Carolina's new defensive starters couldn't make plays. He may not be able to play next week. I don't know," Spurrier said. But we're not going to worry about it, I can assure you of that. Clowney was considered the top NFL draft prospect for next spring, some analysts said he would've gone No. 1 last April if he were eligible instead of sophomore. It's impossible to know if Clowney's so-so season would have an impact on his status as an elite player. Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said he thought Clowney would play during the team's walk-through earlier Saturday and was surprised when he learned he wouldn't be out there. "He said he was hurting, but I thought he was going to play," Ward said. Love to have JD out there, but we've got to put 11 guys on the field. The 11 out there gave Spurrier, Ward and a sold-out Williams-Brice Stadium several anxious moments as Kentucky rallied from 21-0 down to pull to 27-21 on Jalen Whitlow's 14-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Timmons with 11:50 remaining. But the Gamecocks ran out the clock behind SEC leading rusher Davis and beat Kentucky for the 13th time in the last 14 meetings.