Bayou blues: South Carolina can’t solve LSU. Another chance slips away
Shane Beamer speaks often about opportunities. It’s his spin on all the negativity in the world, the pessimism around his football program.
Nothing is bad. It is simply an opportunity.
South Carolina’s five-game, midseason gauntlet against what could be five straight Top-15 teams? “You love that opportunity to go compete,” Beamer said in this week.
The problem is, opportunities are nothing if they aren’t snatched. And in its 20-10 loss Saturday to No. 11 LSU at Tiger Stadium, South Carolina once again let a ripe opportunity wither in its hands.
“Sick to my stomach we didn’t win that football game,” Beamer said.
This was a chance for Beamer’s team to back up everything he’s professed about them. That they are capable of beating these ranked SEC teams. That they can step inside the toughest, most-hostile stadiums in America and walk out winners. That QB LaNorris Sellers can replicate his magic from the 2024 Clemson game, that he can lead a game-winning drive when his team so desperately needs a hero.
South Carolina (3-3, 1-3 SEC) had the opportunities Saturday night. And it fulfilled nothing.
“We need to be able to, like I told our team in the locker room, quick kicking our own butts,” Beamer said. “There was too much of that tonight. That’s the disappointing thing. We had opportunities tonight to take momentum and dominate the fourth quarter, and we didn’t get it done.”
The Gamecocks did a lot of things wrong. In a now season-long trend, the Gamecocks seemingly could not breathe without getting flagged, ultimately collecting 13 penalties that cost them 65 yards. Some were dubious, like the illegal procedure call that negated a fake punt. Others, specifically the nine pre-snap penalties, are unforgivable.
“We coached it. We disciplined it. We practiced with crowd noise all week,” Beamer said. “We emphasized it all week, but clearly not good enough. So the frustration level was high.”
Despite all that, South Carolina had the ball in LSU territory needing a touchdown to tie the game ... twice.
Those are opportunities. Opportunities, by their nature, are points of hope.
The results crushed all that hope swiftly. On one drive, South Carolina punted 37 yards from the end zone. On the next, Sellers tried to force a pass to a well-covered Vandrevius Jacobs on fourth down. Incomplete pass. Turnover on downs.
LSU (5-1, 2-1 SEC) took the ball, burned four minutes of clock, and kicked a field goal to go up two scores. Ball game.
Say goodbye to that opportunity.
South Carolina had similar opportunities against Missouri. That was a game where the Gamecocks were thoroughly outplayed and still had a chance to win the game late.
To USC’s credit, it was never outplayed on Saturday night.
Somehow South Carolina walked into the locker room at halftime down only 10-7 after getting a 72-yard touchdown run from tailback Matthew Fuller. USC was only trailing a field goal after playing one of the ugliest, undisciplined halves of football you’ll see.
The game was close because Tiger Stadium transformed into a house of mirrors, a dystopian deja vu where mistakes just kept getting copied.
South Carolina fumbled on its first play of the game ... then LSU fumbled on the goal line later in the first quarter.
Sellers chucked an interception late in the second quarter .... then LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier hurled a pick two minutes later.
An intentional grounding call pushed South Carolina back to 4th and 30 ... only for LSU’s punt returner to catch the ball and — against all coaching and better judgment — start running backward, nearly avoiding a safety.
For 30 minutes, LSU and South Carolina were two college buddies trying to one-up each other’s stupid decisions. At various points in the night, it felt like neither team would — or should — win the football game.
Eventually, the home team took over, turning an opportunity into a win.
“You draw on last year that we were 3-3 and we rallied and continued to get better,” Beamer said. “I know it’s not pretty right now, but I feel like we’re getting better in a lot of areas.”
South Carolina football schedule: Next game
- Who: USC vs. Oklahoma
- When: 12:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18
- Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
- TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published October 11, 2025 at 11:24 PM.
