What went wrong for South Carolina in final minutes of loss to Alabama?
Ten minutes were left on the clock in South Carolina’s matchup with No. 4 Alabama. It appeared Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks were in a perfect upset position.
The crowd in Williams-Brice Stadium erupted after South Carolina took a 22-14 lead over the No. 4 team in the country on a 10-yard touchdown rush from LaNorris Sellers.
Students crept down toward the field soon after. The only thing holding them back from an impending field storm was the time left on the clock and a line of hedges in the end zone.
Alabama responded by marching 79 yards down the field on 14 plays, chewing up 7:38 off the clock in the process. The Crimson Tide capped it off with a four-yard touchdown pass from Ty Simpson to Germie Bernard. A successful two-point conversion, and the game was tied 22-22 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
“They just outplayed us in the fourth quarter,” South Carolina safety DQ Smith said. “We made some mental mistakes, and they made us pay for those mistakes.”
The upset suddenly seemed in limbo.
“You’ve got an eight-point lead at home, and you got a team on the ropes, you’ve got to put them away,” Shane Beamer said. “And we didn’t. We had an eight-point lead, and we allowed them to go whatever it was, 80 yards down the field.”
South Carolina got the ball back with 2:16 left on the clock and all three of its timeouts. The upset was still in play ... until three plays later.
On second-and-9, USC QB LaNorris Sellers had the football stripped away. The ball ended up in the hands of Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III.
The ball came loose as he was heading to the ground.
“We had a QB draw in, we ran to the middle, and I had two hands on it because I knew they were trying to strip it,” Sellers said. “So I had two hands on it. Now I’m thinking the ref is going to blow the whistle. Then as soon as I started to fall down, when I was going to catch myself, that’s when I took my other hand off. And I guess that’s when they got under it.
The fumble, Sellers’ second turnover of an otherwise excellent performance, gave Alabama the ball on the USC 38-yard line with 1:39 left on the clock.
Four plays and South Carolina’s final two timeouts later, the Crimson Tide was faced with third-and-10 from the USC 25-yard line with 42 seconds left on the clock. Alabama timeout Kalen DeBoer opted to use a timeout of his own.
With the Gamecocks out of timeouts, Beamer and his coaching staff directed the defense to let Alabama score if the Crimson Tide was about to get a first down. That guidance came during Alabama’s timeout.
“I wanted them to kick, that’s why I used my timeouts,” Beamer said. “I wanted them to kick a 40-something-yard field goal. But we said if they get the first down, we need to let them score, because otherwise they’re just going to run the clock down and basically kick an extra point to win the game.”
On the next play, Bernard scampered for a first down and Smith, as directed, backed off a potential tackle. That allowed Bernard to get into the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown that gave Alabama a 29-22 lead with 34 seconds left in the game.
The strategy isn’t unique to South Carolina. In fact, it’s one often used in football. Generally speaking, you let the other team score a touchdown intentionally to keep more time on the clock with the hope your offense can march down the field and tie the game up again.
The alternative? Losing on a game-winning field goal as the clock expires.
“When they broke the run at the end, we let them score so we could get the ball back, I went up to [LaNorris Sellers] on the sideline,” Beamer recalled. “I told him, ‘Look, we just let them score so you get an opportunity to go win this thing.’
“And that’s not what happened.”
The Gamecocks started their final drive at their own 9-yard line with zero remaining timeouts and just 29 seconds on the clock. Sellers connected with Brady Hunt for a seven-yard pass, but the tight end couldn’t get out of bounds. Sellers hurried to the line and spiked the ball, stopping the clock to bring up third down.
Sellers was sacked on the next play, draining the clock of the little time that was left and ending the upset bid by South Carolina (3-5, 1-5 SEC).
“When it was 22 all I told Mike [Shula] on the headphones, in my mind we’ve got the best player in the stadium today and let’s let him go win it,” Beamer said. “And we just weren’t quite able to do that.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM.
