Shane Beamer shares next-day assessment of USC’s Week 1 hits and misses in Charlotte
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said his team suffered from a “perfect storm” of adversity in Charlotte on Saturday night against UNC.
He was disappointed with the Gamecocks’ (0-1) showing and highlighted positive and negative takeaways from the 31-17 loss during his Sunday night teleconference. Here are four things Beamer identified as high and low points from USC’s 2023 debut:
Too many missed one-on-one opportunities
Offensive linemen against defensive linemen. Defensive linemen against offensive linemen. Running backs against linebackers.
All these South Carolina position groups got overpowered in Charlotte, Beamer said.
The Gamecocks’ offensive line allowed UNC to harass quarterback Spencer Rattler and hindered the lackluster run game.
Rattler was sacked nine times, with seven of those coming in the second half. That’s almost a third of the total number of sacks the Gamecocks allowed (31) last year. It’s three more in a single game than 2022’s high (six against Arkansas).
The run game never took off. South Carolina’s tailbacks had 22 net yards rushing the whole night. Last year, the Gamecocks averaged 119 yards per game on the ground.
When asked what the plan of action was for fixing the offense’s issues up front, Beamer said it’ll be a combination of better coaching and making personnel changes.
“The disappointing thing was, there were a lot of mental errors,” Beamer said.
“... We certainly have to get better as the year goes. ... Our older guys have to continue to get better, but our younger guys have to continue to get better.”
The offensive line was a group Beamer identified as prime for position battles throughout the preseason. After Saturday, competition remains “all across the board,” Beamer said.
MVPs of all three phases
▪ Offense: QB Spencer Rattler, WRs Xavier Legette and Luke Doty
As Beamer put it, one expects to win a game where their quarterback has a stat line like Rattler did Saturday. He completed 30 of 39 passes for 353 yards.
“Kid played his butt off,” Beamer said.
Xavier Legette had the night of his career. He picked up the mantle from top wide receiver Antwane Wells, who was only targeted once before leaving the game because of a lingering injury. Legette had nine catches for 178 yards, including an explosive 37-yarder on one of the Gamecocks’ touchdown drives.
Quarterback Luke Doty also took some snaps at wide receiver and pleased the coaching staff. He had three catches for 41 yards.
▪ Defense: LBs Stone Blanton, Debo Williams; DBs Jalon Kilgore and O’Donnell Fortune
Stone Blanton and Debo Williams played every snap at linebacker, Beamer said. Williams led the team in tackles with 14, while Blanton recorded 10.
Freshman safety Jalon Kilgore impressed as well. The coaching staff knew it wanted to play Kilgore some Saturday night, but he ended up playing for almost the whole game after Nick Emmanwori came off the field with an injury. Kilgore had 12 tackles, second on the team behind Williams.
“He’s a big-time player, and he showed that (Saturday) night,” Beamer said.
O’Donnell Fortune did well in coverage and with his physicality in the run game, Beamer said.
▪ Special teams: PK Mitch Jeter, Legette, Fortune
Beamer identified Legette and Fortune as standouts on special teams as well, along with placekicker Mitch Jeter.
Jeter recovered his own onside kick to start the second half in an attempt to spark the Gamecocks’ offense.
Red zone blues
UNC scored on all four red zone chances Saturday.
South Carolina made the red zone five times but only scored on three.
In the fourth quarter alone, Beamer remarked, the Gamecocks had three possessions in prime scoring position:
▪ A drive that reached the UNC 5-yard line but ended in a field goal;
▪ A drive that reached the UNC 13 and another that got to the Heels’ 11-yard line — both ended with turnovers on downs.
Those three drives resulted in three points. If South Carolina had managed to make it to the end zone on any of them, the final score (and assessments of the game itself) would’ve looked very different.
Optimism from lessons learned
With all the youth and new faces in Columbia this season, Beamer knew USC would experience “some growing pains.”
But he is optimistic about the future. A total of 19 players recorded their first meaningful snaps as Gamecocks Saturday, Beamer said. That number includes guys like graduate transfer Nick Gargiulo and Sidney Fugar on the offensive line and freshmen like Kilgore.
Beamer believes those players will continue to improve as the year goes on. But he also conceded that this week ahead of the Furman game needs to be “a whole lot better” essentially all around.
This story was originally published September 3, 2023 at 9:57 PM.
