What Shane Beamer said after South Carolina’s loss to Tennessee
A microphone fell off the table during Shane Beamer’s opening statement. His reaction was straightforward.
“That about sums up our night tonight.”
Tennessee defeated South Carolina 41-20 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday night. Here’s what USC head coach Shane Beamer said after the Gamecocks’ loss:
The Gamecocks were 2-for-14 on third-down conversions and 2-of-5 on fourth-down tries. Beamer described nearly every element of the loss as “tough” or “disappointing.”
“We’re gonna look back and see a lot of missed opportunities from our standpoint,” Beamer said. “When you go 2-for-14 on third down and 2-for-5 on fourth-down conversions, you make it hard on yourself.”
Those opportunities that ended with South Carolina empty-handed came down to little details, lack of depth and the inability to get any momentum rolling, Beamer said. It didn’t matter that Kai Kroeger faked a punt on fourth down and connected with Xavier Legette — the Gamecocks couldn’t score the necessary points.
Capitalizing on moments, such as the faked punt, is how USC can win road SEC games, Beamer said. Because it was moments that meant the difference between a second-quarter shutout and a one-score, or even tie game at the half.
“We didn’t play well enough to win the game,” he said. “When you’re on the road in the SEC, you’ve got to capitalize on your opportunities, and we didn’t do a great job of capitalizing on our opportunities tonight.”
Beamer said moving forward, it’s about resting and getting more young guys involved in the game. He won’t know more about wide receiver Juice Wells’ status until next week, along with defensive lineman TJ Sanders, who didn’t play the second half against the Vols. Beamer also mentioned the Gamecocks are down seven offensive linemen five weeks into the season.
With the receiver room, in particular, Beamer said there are young players he wants to get in the game more.
“We’ve got to get better at wide receiver in a hurry,” Beamer said. “That means these young freshmen ... we have to play them.”
The loss leaves South Carolina with a 2-3 overall record (1-2 in SEC), and the Gamecocks have yet to win on the road. It’s a demoralizing record to have going into a bye week, Beamer said, because it’s not where “we want to be.” Even if it’s simply Beamer’s frustrations, South Carolina has yet to have a winning record in a season that’s closing in on the halfway point.
So the search for consistency, both during each game and throughout the season, continues on through the week off.
“We’re better than a 2-3 team,” he said. “We’re a 2-3 team that had a lot of opportunities tonight to make plays and we didn’t get it done.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2023 at 12:17 AM.
