South Carolina players ‘hurt’ after losing late to No. 4 Alabama
South Carolina was back on the practice field Sunday, less than 24 hours after its devastating 29-22 loss to No. 4 Alabama.
The Gamecocks (3-5, 1-5 SEC) led by eight with less than three minutes to play. Students bolted from their seats, scurrying closer to the field to be in prime position for a field storming.
Instead, they watched Alabama score a touchdown and dial up a trick play on its game-tying two-point conversion. They saw Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers fumble on a run up the middle and Alabama respond with a go-ahead touchdown. They watched — again — their football team lose an SEC game.
Even a day later, the loss is still hard for some fans to comprehend. Now think about the South Carolina players who were back at the football facility on Sunday morning.
“When you put a lot into something and you invest into something a lot and you lay it all out there on the field,” USC coach Shane Beamer said on Sunday, “you risk really, really, really hard disappointment. And that’s what they dealt with (Saturday).”
The problem is: South Carolina has no time to sulk. The Gamecocks face off against No. 7 Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC) this coming Saturday in Oxford.
“Not preparing the right way can guarantee you have no chance,” Beamer said. “They hurt coming into the building today. We’re gonna continue to pour into them and continue to coach.”
Beamer vindicates Sellers for fumble
Perhaps it’s ironic that for the second-straight season, it was a fourth-quarter fumble by Sellers that led to a go-ahead score from Alabama.
Yet the two instances couldn’t be more different.
After that Carolina-Alabama game a year ago, Sellers had fumbled more than anyone in America. This year, though, his ball security has been much improved. His fumble on Saturday was just his third all season, and only the second one he’s lost.
And, well, it was hardly his fault.
On the play, Sellers ran up the middle and it seemed like his forward progress was stopped. He even said after that he thought he heard a whistle. As he was falling to the ground — with two Alabama defenders trying to pry the ball out — Sellers took one hand off the pigskin to brace himself, which opened the door for Alabama’s Deontae Lawson to rip the ball out.
Even after watching the play, Beamer doesn’t fault Sellers.
“I thought he did a great job of carrying it with the proper technique and protecting the ball,” Beamer said. “The guy made a good play. We’ve got to sustain that block, but (Lawson) made contact with him and basically just grabbed the ball. ... It wasn’t for a lack of ball security.”
Offensive line was much improved
It seemed so inconceivable that South Carolina could beat Alabama because it seemed impossible that the Gamecocks’ offensive line could hold up against the Tide.
Heck, the only SEC game this season where USC’s O-Line looked decent was against Kentucky (2-5, 0-5 SEC).
But give the group credit for Saturday. Aside from Cason Henry, who’s out for the season with a shoulder injury, the entire offensive line was healthy for the first time this season.
“Certainly,” Beamer said, “us being healthier on the offensive line and being able to prepare the way we need to prepare in practice during the week, it shows up on Saturdays.”
Though the Gamecocks allowed two sacks and six tackles for losses, Sellers’ pocket was as clean as it has been all season. South Carolina was actually able to execute on some deep balls — namely, the 54-yard touchdown to Nyck Harbor — because the blocking held up.
Pro Football Focus gave South Carolina its highest run-blocking grade of the season and its second-highest pass-blocking grade in an SEC game.
“We played really well, really physical on the offensive line,” Beamer said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, in my opinion.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
