No wait needed: Beamer names Zeb Noland starting QB for Gamecocks against Texas A&M
Shane Beamer has largely kept his quarterback cards close to the vest this season. Sunday, though, he announced a change.
Speaking with reporters on his weekly teleconference, Beamer said quarterback Zeb Noland will start in place of Luke Doty on Saturday when South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC) heads to No. 17 Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2) .
Doty sprained the foot that held him out for a month between fall camp and the start of the season in the 21-20 win over Vanderbilt, per Beamer.
“I’d say (Doty is) iffy for this week,” Beamer said.
Noland was added to the roster in August in the wake of Doty’s initial foot injury. After beating out Jason Brown and Colten Gauthier, the former North Dakota State and Iowa State signal-caller started South Carolina’s first two games of the fall.
Noland completed 26 of his 45 pass attempts for 346 yards and five touchdowns in wins over Eastern Illinois and East Carolina.
After starting South Carolina’s loss at then-No. 2 Georgia, Noland was replaced by Doty when his hand was stepped on by a defender early in the contest. He hadn’t seen any further game action until Saturday night.
Noland was thrust into South Carolina’s win over Vanderbilt on the final drive on Saturday, connecting on five of his eight passes. His final throw — a 9-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Legette — capped off another wild chapter in his increasingly fascinating USC career.
“It’s those moments you dream of as a kid,” Noland said postgame. “You always think about it. I’m in my whatever year of playing, and you still dream about those moments. Even at practice every day, you think about making those throws and doing your job, and that’s what it came down to.”
Beamer told reporters on Sunday that Noland received ample reps over the last few weeks while Doty was settled in as the starter. South Carolina’s head coach also noted Noland had gotten some run with the No. 1 offense over that time.
“He’s been getting plenty of reps in practice,” Beamer said. “We work our first and second group on offense and defense equally, so they’ve got plenty of work in practice.”
Before being replaced on Saturday, Doty had been more inefficient than he’d been most of the year. He sailed balls high and wide. The crispness in his throws just wasn’t quite there in the way it has been.
Doty finished the game 17 of 27 for 242 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Both picks came in the fourth quarter, and he was replaced after the second one.
“Luke’s foot was bothering him a little bit late in the game,” Beamer said on Saturday. “He was having some trouble making throws, and he made some great throws as well”
South Carolina heads into this week needing a pair of wins to reach bowl eligibility. That task becomes increasingly difficult with a slate that still includes No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 19 Auburn, Florida and Clemson.
USC’s best bet for a win likely falls in a November road trip to Missouri, which has lost three of its last four games — including a 62-24 thumping at the hands of Tennessee three weeks ago.
If Beamer gets South Carolina to a bowl game, he’d be the third consecutive coach in program history to lead the Gamecocks to the postseason in their first year after Will Muschamp and Steve Spurrier did so in 2016 and 2005, respectively.
The last first-year head coach to miss out on a bowl game in their first year at South Carolina was Lou Holtz in 1999. Before Holtz it was Sparky Woods in 1989.
This story was originally published October 17, 2021 at 7:27 PM.
