What Shane Beamer said after South Carolina’s win over Kentucky
South Carolina snapped a two-game losing streak and recorded its first SEC win of the year on Saturday.
The Gamecocks beat Kentucky 35-13 to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Here are the highlights of South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer had to say after the win:
What the win means for South Carolina
“The way they responded this week with the negativity out there, and they just went right back to work. There’s perception and there’s reality, and we knew where we were as a team, and we hadn’t come close to playing our best, and that we needed to be better tonight in all three phases.
“... Preparing for this game, we knew the importance of it. I’m not an idiot. We knew this was a pretty important game, and our guys responded the right way. Our guys responded tonight to adversity.”
“... It’s a lot to build on. Got a lot of work to do. And we know the month of October doesn’t get any easier, but we’re 3-2 coming out of September. We certainly hoped and expected to be 5-0, and we’re not.”
After the Kentucky game, “everything’s in front of us, October, November and beyond. And tonight was a really good start, and certainly a game that we, let’s be real, had to have in so many ways.”
The impact of the defense
South Carolina’s defense lit up the field, and the scoreboard, against Kentucky.
“Obviously when you score twice on defense you’re going to be really hard to beat,” Beamer said.
The Gamecocks’ defense forced four turnovers in the game, all of which came in the second quarter. South Carolina’s defense also scored two touchdowns thanks to a 41-yard scoop and score from Jatius Geer and a 45-yard pick six from Gerald Kilgore.
“(Defensive coordinator Clayton White) talked about it to the defense last night, ‘Don’t just win the turnover battle. We want to dominate this thing,’ ” Beamer said. “And there’s an old saying with turnovers: They come in bunches.”
Beamer said he was proud of the way the defense was able to bounce back after letting Kentucky run the ball “right down our throats” on the first drive of the game. The Gamecocks only allowed 36 total yards on defense in the second half.
Improvements in the run game
South Carolina was able to turn things around this weekend after an abysmal performance on the ground against Missouri last week.
“In regards to the running game, we ran for 178,” Beamer said. “That’s a hell of a lot better than minus 12 or whatever we were last week. So that’s a positive.”
The Gamecocks ran the ball 48 times for 178 yards (both season-highs) against Kentucky. LaNorris Sellers led the team with 81 rushing yards on 14 attempts.
“I wouldn’t say that we had more or less quarterback runs in the game plan tonight than we did last week.,” Beamer said. “A lot of those runs that he had were RPOs, where he kept it. It wasn’t necessarily a designed quarterback run. ... He’s certainly a weapon. When your quarterback can run the ball like he can and make up for a lot of mistakes, that’s a huge thing, and we’ve got to continue to lean on that.”
Matthew Fuller finished behind Sellers with 48 yards on 19 carries, most of which came in the fourth quarter. He also scored the first touchdown of his career in the game.
“Matt was a guy that we wanted to get going,” Beamer said. “We did that last week. We had a package for him last week where we had two running backs on the field at the same time, and that was his role. Then tonight, we kind of expanded that role, where he was going to be out there with just him being the only running back. Then in the fourth quarter, we felt like everything was under control and liked the way that Matt came in there and finished the game.”
Oscar Adaway finished with seven attempts and 26 yards. Rahsul Faison finished with eight attempts for 23 yards and two touchdowns.
On Connor Shaw’s appereance
Gamecock great Connor Shaw was the game’s celebrity starter. Shaw, who is arguably the best quarterback in the program’s history, popped out of the Cockaboose on the field to start the crowd’s first Game-Cocks chant.
Shaw’s appearance came as a welcome surprise for all in attendance, including Beamer, after a health scare last week.
“He’s a great friend to me, great friend of this program, and so happy that he’s better,” Beamer said. “It’s a testament to his toughness that a week ago, there was questions on Thursday night about, would he even survive? And then nine days later, he’s out here on the field, leading the Gamecock chant. Come on, man. That gives me chills thinking about.”
Brief injury report
Offensive linemen Cason Henry and Nolan Hay were the only ones listed as out on the final SEC injury report before the start of the game. Beamer said he is “optimistic” they’ll both be back for the LSU game on Oct. 11.
Offensive lineman Markee Anderson was the lone player to exit Saturday’s game with an injury. Beamer said he hurt his knee but he did not have any other details to provide immediately after the game.
Special teams note
While South Carolina was able to get the win, Beamer still saw room for improvement in the special teams.
“I would say the one thing that was disappointing tonight was our special teams,” Beamer said.
The Gamecocks’ opening kickoff from Max Kelley went out of bounds. Kelley was eventually replaced by William Joyce on kickoffs in the game.
“Max is a really good kicker,” Beamer said. “He’s a true freshman. He’s doing a great job. Yes, the first kick went out of bounds. You can’t have it. I mean, that’s a bad place to put your offense in position. ... So put William in there. Just wanted to settle Max down a little bit and let William get in there and kick it. But, total confidence in Max. He’s a great young player and he’ll continue to get better.”
Beamer said he generally felt the Gamecocks “weren’t very clean” on special teams.
“I talked to the team yesterday at our walk through about, ‘Look, I know how much you want this game. Let’s not get out of here and all of a sudden start trying to do too much and lose our minds.’ ... and we did on special teams,” Beamer said.
