South Carolina’s loss at Tennessee is fresh reminder how far Gamecocks have to go
Shane Beamer could only chuckle.
Asked after Saturday’s game how he’d evaluate the play-calling, the sometimes fiery but generally tempered Beamer wouldn’t bite. He didn’t toss offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield under the bus. He didn’t rant on hundreds of four- and five-star recruits opposite his squad.
Rather, Beamer took a holistic but testy approach to his answer at the tail end of his press conference following Saturday’s 45-20 thumping at Tennessee.
“I mean what do you want me to say — that I think it’s been terrible?” he said. “Are there plays that Marcus would like to have back? Yeah. Every coach and player in that locker room would like to have plays back. Today’s no question. I mean, if we could go back and hindsight being 20/20, there’s a lot of plays we’d like to have back.”
Through six games, South Carolina has been a smorgasbord of peaks and valleys.
USC already gritted out wins over East Carolina and Troy. It played No. 16 Kentucky to the wire in Columbia.
Saturday was no different, as the Gamecocks hung tough while chasing down a 28-0 deficit against the Volunteers’ high-flying offense.
Quarterback Luke Doty continues to look like the long-term answer under center despite a handful of bobbled snaps and an interception on a two-point conversion try that he attempted to toss out of the end zone.
Running back Kevin Harris, who missed the first game of the season — in part recovering from an offseason back procedure — looked closer to the 2020 version of himself that led the Southeastern Conference in rushing. Harris’ numbers Saturday won’t pop — he finished the day with 16 rushes for 61 yards and a pair of scores — but the way he bobbed and bounced off would-be tacklers looked closer to form.
“Last time I got in the end zone was what, last season?” Harris queried. “It’s been six games. It made me feel good.”
South Carolina’s defense, too, found its flow again, allowing just 99 yards in the second half after surrendering more than 300 yards in the opening 30 minutes. White’s unit held Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker to just nine passing yards in the third and fourth quarters combined.
Like they have for weeks, USC went into the locker room, made adjustments and scrapped its way into the game. While the outcome was never really in doubt, the Gamecocks at least made the more than 80,000 orange- and white-clad fans uneasy.
Yet for whatever positives there are to draw from Saturday’s loss, it still doesn’t excuse the fact South Carolina continues to fall flat on its face too often.
Beamer told reporters after the game that he felt like the team was prepared heading to Rocky Top. The pregame preparations were productive. The walk-through was efficient. The mindsets were there. The results, though, amounted to an absolute mess.
The Gamecocks offered little, if any, resistance to Tennessee’s tempo-infused offense in Saturday’s first half. The Volunteers skated around the South Carolina secondary to the tune of 373 yards and 38 points in the opening 30 minutes alone. Four times the Volunteers scored on five plays or less. Twice it took UT only three plays to find the end zone.
Play calling again came under the microscope when the Gamecocks dialed up a trick pass play that included defensive end Jordan Burch trying to float a pass from the 2-yard line over three defenders to tight end Nick Muse in the back left corner of the end zone. That’s not to mention South Carolina averaged 7.1 yards per rush that drive.
Beamer said the play was scripted to some degree. When USC got down around the end zone Saturday, coaches wanted to work down the play sheet to Burch’s pass.
But instead of igniting social media ablaze for its creativity, it resulted in an interception. Five plays later, Tennessee added its third touchdown of the day. Two minutes and 16 seconds after the pick, the Vols strutted into the first quarter break with a 28-0 lead.
“We’ve just got to have better execution at it, got to have a better ball and just got to execute better,” Doty said, echoing sentiments of weeks past.
After a month of action, South Carolina sits where it started — an even .500. There’s been some good. There’s been some bad. Saturday, there was more of the latter.
No one expected the Gamecocks to be world-beaters in 2021. Beamer inherited a program that’s won six games since 2019. USC hasn’t finished better than 4-4 in the SEC since 2018.
This fall was always going to be a work in progress. Saturday’s first half showed how much work remains to be done, whether Beamer will bite on leading questions or not.
How to watch South Carolina vs Vanderbilt
Who: South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt
When: 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 5:58 PM.
