Shane Beamer reacts: What went wrong in South Carolina loss to Tennessee
Shane Beamer said he was sick because of South Carolina’s 45-20 loss to Tennessee.
He took ownership of the Gamecocks’ cataclysmic start in Knoxville during his postgame press conference Saturday.
“That first quarter went about as bad as it could’ve gone,” Beamer said in his opening statement. “That starts with me.”
The Gamecocks appeared refreshed coming out of the locker room after a brutal first half that included two lost turnovers and speedy Tennessee touchdowns.
“There’s a lot of teams that game would’ve gotten away from in the second half, and we didn’t let that happen,” Beamer said. “That’s not OK. We gotta figure out why it was such a bad first quarter, and we’ve gotta play and coach better.”
South Carolina’s second-half efforts weren’t enough to secure a win in Knoxville, but they were enough to keep the Volunteers more neutralized in the second half and bring what was at its worst a 35-0 thrashing into a 45-20 loss.
“We’ve got to continue to look at it,” Beamer said when asked about the reasons behind USC’s slow start. “Everything was fantastic right up to kickoff. Give Tennessee some credit, too. ... I think the biggest issue today was we obviously weren’t as ready to handle that tempo early in the game as we needed to but I really was proud of the guys and pleased with our preparation during the week.”
USC’s offense struggled to drive downfield consistently in the first quarter, going three-and-out in their first series before allowing the Volunteers to string together a 14-play, 66-yard touchdown drive.
Tennessee went into the second quarter with a 28-0 lead over the Gamecocks, scoring touchdowns on each of its first four drives. By the end of the first half, the Vols had scored on six of their seven possessions. Five were touchdowns.
“Tempo got us early,” Beamer said. “(We) had some guys misaligned on some of the big plays in the first half. Had a couple communication issues on a couple long plays. ... That can’t happen. That goes back on us as coaches.”
The first half couldn’t have been much less kind to Beamer’s Gamecocks. Tennessee made it to the end zone on its first two possessions, but South Carolina found offensive life toward the end of the first quarter and drove the ball to the Vols’ 2-yard line.
That was when what had been an efficient nine-play, 73-yard drive with quality rushes ended in chaos.
Quarterback Luke Doty tossed the ball to defensive lineman Jordan Burch lined up behind him. Burch proceeded to fling a pass, intended for tight end Nick Muse, who was covered by three Tennessee defenders. The ball ended up in the hands of Vols’ defensive back Jaylen McCollough.
“We were running the ball well,” Beamer said about the drive. “Hindsight being 20/20, you just continue to run the ball and hammer it in and make a 14-7 game, I think is what it was, if we had scored the touchdown.”
Beamer said Burch had been running that play well throughout the week and in the Gamecocks’ walk-through before the Tennessee game. Beamer said Burch’s pass may have been underthrown on Saturday. He also complimented McCollough’s play.
A Tennessee touchback turned into a quick five-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. When the Gamecocks got the ball back down 21-0, they fumbled it on the first play from scrimmage. The Volunteers turned that into another touchdown.
The Vols went into halftime with a 38-7 lead, but the second half was a different story for the Gamecocks — especially on defense.
While South Carolina allowed 373 yards in the first half, Tennessee was held to two consecutive three-and-outs to open up the second. The Volunteers earned just 25 yards in the third quarter and a single first down, scoreless in the third quarter. Tennessee’s second-half total yardage fell to 108 yards.
The Gamecocks lessened Tennessee’s lead in the third quarter off a fake punt touchdown pass from punter Kai Kroeger to Payton Mangrum, bringing the game to 38-14. USC continued to bring the score closer early in the fourth quarter off a 15-play drive that shaved over 7 minutes off the clock but missed a 2-point conversion attempt, moving the score to 38-20.
South Carolina let Tennessee find the end zone just once in the contest’s last 30 minutes, but the Volunteers’ dominant first half made that fact obsolete.
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 4:22 PM.
