5 things we learned from South Carolina football’s 34-30 win over Missouri
South Carolina, somewhat improbably, won on Saturday night. The Gamecocks came out with a 34-30 victory over Missouri after blowing a 15-point lead and after twice giving up go-ahead touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
It beat Mizzou for the first time under coach Shane Beamer after quarterback LaNorris Sellers led the offense on a 66-yard touchdown drive with 62 seconds left. The Gamecocks have won four in a row, are now 7-3 overall and finished 5-3 in SEC play.
Here are five things we learned:
1. A rewind of that last drive
My first taste of live South Carolina football was last October. It felt like that attraction at the fair where some guy runs around and tries to not get hit by a paintball or tomato or whatever.
That’s what my first USC game felt like. You couldn’t help but keep watching as you told yourself to look away.
That day, South Carolina squandered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to Florida and the Gators scored with less than a minute remaining to win the game.
On Saturday, that’s what was running through my head when the South Carolina offense ran on the field against Missouri with 62 seconds left, down three points. It felt like another Gamecocks disappointment. Another lead vanquished. Another night of what-ifs.
Thank goodness Rocket Sanders wasn’t here last year and didn’t have those thoughts floating around.
“Take advantage of the moment,” the Gamecocks running back told his team.
Darn right they did. Sellers led his team on a six-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a shovel pass that Sanders took 15 yards through multiple defenders for the score.
A few things about the drive:
▪ Saturday proves, once again, timeouts are important. Beamer had all three of his timeouts ready for that final drive. His team did not have to press. Sellers did not have to avoid the middle of the field. They had the freedom to call run plays. That was huge.
▪ Anyone else forget about Dalevon Campbell? The Nevada transfer hadn’t caught a pass in a month and it seemed like the coaches didn’t have the trust to put him on the field. So, of course, it was Campbell with the 39-yard catch to put the Gamecocks in field-goal range.
▪ Apparently, Sellers said, South Carolina had run that shovel pass play earlier in the game and Missouri “overplayed it.” I don’t remember when that was, but props for the players to understand what call was going to work in that situation and to offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains for calling it.
2. The LaNorris Show is unbelievable
It may take some time, perhaps after the summer and some of the big names across this conference head to the NFL, but Sellers might soon be talked about as one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC.
The redshirt freshman has led South Carolina to three-straight wins over AP Top 25 teams for the first time in program history. Which is remarkable if you think about your feelings on Sellers a month ago. He looked inexperienced, unsure when to run and was fumbling more than any player in the country.
And now? He’s perhaps one of the most-electrifying quarterbacks in the SEC. He still occasionally fumbles (as he did last week) or sail a pass for a pick (as he did against Missouri) but the mistakes are fewer and farther between.
He has been much sharper throwing the deep ball. He’s been much better running the option offense. He looks more sure of himself running the ball, no more getting caught in no man’s land between, “Crap, should I take off, or keep my eyes downfield?”
And, most of all, he has found some superpower than even Stan Lee couldn’t dream up: getting out of sacks. There is not really a comparison for what Sellers has done the past three games, only being sacked once. There are quarterbacks who can evade sacks, who can run and wiggle out of pressure. That is not what Sellers is doing.
Sellers is being wrapped up, spun around, actually thrown to the ground yet not getting tackled. He looks like one of those boxing punching bags that’s weighted at the bottom, so that when you kick it, it just flings back up.
How Sellers didn’t hit the turf on the third down during the team’s first fourth-quarter scoring drive is mind-boggling. Sellers somehow avoided a sack then ran left and fired a dime on the run to Brady Hunt — on third-and-10! Of course, to Sellers, it is not a big deal.
“Once he grabbed me, he didn’t have enough leverage,” Sellers said, “so I just got out of it.”
I don’t think when Superman picks up a bus it’s because of “leverage.” Perhaps it’s because there’s something special going on.
3. We got the Nyck Harbor breakout game
For 654 days, South Carolina fans have been imagining a night like Saturday. Picturing a day when Harbor — the five-star prospect who signed with the Gamecocks in February 2023 — looked like a No. 1 receiver.
Against Missouri, it happened.
No longer did the football performance of the 6-foot-5, 235-pound sophomore need to be prefaced with the fact that he runs a 10.1-second 100-meter dash or that he qualified for the U.S. Olympic Track Trials.
He was just Nyck Harbor, South Carolina’s wide receiver.
Finally.
Harbor caught two passes for a career-high 69 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown pass on the Gamecocks’ first drive of the game.
On another play, Missouri didn’t press him at the line. Harbor had space to accelerate and he cut toward the sideline before sprinting upfield. He got a step on his receiver and hauled in a beautiful pass from Sellers for a 43-yard gain. The Gamecocks scored a play later.
“Any ball in air is my ball,” Harbor said. “My ball and nobody else’s ball.”
Harbor still isn’t fully developed as a wide receiver, still needs reps and practice and consistency to truly become a No. 1 threat. But, before Saturday, he had only shown glimpses of potential. After Saturday, perhaps the word “potential” should be replaced with “talent.”
4. Why so many fourth-down tries?
You could make the argument that the only reason Missouri had a chance to come back Saturday was because of Beamer’s decision making.
The Gamecocks head coach decided to go for it on fourth down five times. South Carolina converted just twice.
Most of the decisions made sense. Then came the last fourth-down try late in the third quarter.
South Carolina faced fourth-and-1 from its own 37-yard line. It still had a two-score lead on Missouri. Punting the ball away would put the Gamecocks defense in a great spot to hold the lead.
Instead, Sellers couldn’t push his way to the first down. Another turnover on downs. Missouri kicked a field goal soon after.
This is what Beamer said postgame about his thought process: “For me, it was what I wanted to do.”
“If it had been fourth-and-1, I probably would have punted it,” Beamer added. “But it was like a foot. I thought with a 240-pound quarterback, we could run the quarterback sneak and get that much. I was wrong.”
5. Start the playoff rooting
During the SEC Network broadcast, a graphic flashed up that South Carolina would have a 22% chance of making the College Football Playoff if it wins out.
A first thought: How did they come to that number?
It felt high. Think about it: Only four or five SEC teams are going to make the 12-team field, and South Carolina right now is No. 7 in the SEC and done with conference play.
If Texas A&M loses to Texas (Nov. 30) and Ole Miss loses to Florida (Nov. 23) and Tennessee loses to Vanderbilt (Nov. 30) and some wonky stuff happens elsewhere — then perhaps South Carolina would have a shot.
In all likelihood, South Carolina will not make the playoff. But it could beat Clemson, win 10 games and go down as one of the best teams in school history.
Should that be enough? Probably.
But where’s the fun in that? Why not enjoy all the crazy predictions and possibilities of South Carolina crashing the dance.
If you’re watching Georgia vs. UMass because a UMass upset would really help USC’s postseason chances, more power to you. I know I’d be doing the same thing.
This story was originally published November 17, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
