A miss in Missouri: South Carolina can’t secure first SEC win
Most of Saturday night was watching South Carolina and Missouri play, then glancing at the scoreboard in disbelief.
The Gamecocks are still in this game! The Gamecocks are still in this game? How is that possible?
No. 23 Missouri beat South Carolina 29-20 on Saturday at Faurot Field, handing the Gamecocks (2-2, 0-2 SEC) their second-straight SEC loss.
“When you have opportunities to make plays and we don’t get it done,” said Carolina coach Shane Beamer, “it’s going to be hard to win.
The only shock was that the Tigers didn’t win by 50. Witnessing Mizzou tailback Ahmad Hardy breaking what seemed like 450 tackles and watching the Gamecocks’ helpless run game continue to struggle for four quarters provided this subconscious feeling that the Tigers (4-0, 1-0 SEC) were perpetually in control.
The final stats offer the same feeling.
- Total yards: USC 293, Mizz 456
- Rushing yards: USC minus-9, Mizz 285
- Time of possession: USC 24:43, Mizz 35:17
- Sacks allowed/yards: USC 5 for 46, Mizz 1 for 5
When asked how he could explain the fact that his football team finished with negative rushing yards, Beamer let out a long “Ummm.”
He thought about it for two seconds, perhaps thinking through all the times his offensive line got pushed back like sleds, how poor the perimeter blocking was, how gaps never seemed to open, how any sight of a running lane closed in a second, how no tailback had a run over six yards.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll have to the look at the tape.”
Here’s what the tape will show: South Carolina looking dominant. Then incapable. Then spectacular. Then exposed. For at least one night, the Gamecocks were the most-mercurial football team in America.
Quarterback LaNorris Sellers fired a dime down the seam. The Gamecocks had a 1st and goal from the 2. Then came a sack and a holding penalty. It was 2nd and 25.
Not long after, more sacks and penalties put South Carolina in 3rd and 37. A laughable down and distancex. And it didn’t matter. Sellers hit Nyck Harbor in a most-beautiful, high-degree-of-difficulty roll-out to into field goal range and take the lead.
And if you want to talk about volatile, there was no better example than Sellers. In the first half, he threw two of the prettiest touchdown passes he’s thrown in his career. There were these flashes of the guy everyone is pegging as a top quarterback in America.
Counter that with being sacked five times, most of which were his fault. One minute, he’s making the sharpest throws you’ve seen. Then on the next, it’s as if he forgot to throw.
“You’ve got to get rid of the ball, that’s what I told him,” Beamer said of Sellers. “He’s made a ton of plays for us, obviously. But if it’s not there, you’ve got to throw it away.”
Plenty of times against Mizzou, Sellers’ first or second reads would be covered and he had no Plan B. He’d bounce in the backfield, try and retreat and, too often, take drive-killing sacks.
“If I can make a play, try to make a play,” Sellers said. “But when it gets to a point, just throw it away.”
Heading into this week’s game, much of the criticism around South Carolina fell on offensive coordinator Mike Shula. Perhaps some of that was warranted. But Shula wasn’t the reason South Carolina lost on Saturday.
The Gamecocks lost because their offensive line couldn’t get any push in the running game.
Because they remain an undisciplined football team, getting flagged 14 times for 98 yards against the Tigers.
Perhaps surprisingly, South Carolina lost because its defense couldn’t tackle. It would have been better off trying to tackle water than Tigers running backs — namely Hardy and Jamal Roberts — who gashed the Gamecocks for over 200 yards.
And still, the Gamecocks held a slim lead going into the fourth quarter.
“We weren’t able to finish,” Beamer said. “Which is disappointing.”
Saturday’s loss, as erratic as it was, puts the Gamecocks in a near-dire spot. To reach their goal of winning 10 games and becoming a playoff team, they will have to be near-perfect the rest of the way.
And, on Saturday, they were a planet away from perfect.
Next South Carolina game
Who: South Carolina vs. Kentucky
When: 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published September 20, 2025 at 10:33 PM.
