OXFORD, Miss. – On Saturday evening at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, South Carolina dropped its fourth straight as it fell, 30-14, to No. 7 Ole Miss. With the loss, the Gamecocks fall to 3-6 overall and 1-6 in SEC play.
In the loss to the Rebels, the Gamecocks were outgained, 417-230. The Gamecocks logged 180 passing yards and 50 rushing yards. The Rebels tallied 258 rushing yards and and 159 through the air.
Quarterback LaNorris Sellers finished the game 16-of-30 for 180 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Sellers was sacked six times on Saturday while the Rebels logged eight tackles for loss against the Gamecocks on Saturday night in Oxford.
“Obviously, a pretty disappointing night,” Shane Beamer said postgame. “Credit to Ole Miss. They made plays when they needed to make them. Prepared the right way. Came in here expecting to win. We got this thing to the fourth quarter, just like we said we needed to do. 20-14 going into the fourth quarter, and we didn’t finish. Got to perform a whole lot better.”
In this article, we will take a look at more of what Beamer had to say in his postgame press conference.
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On LaNorris Sellers missing a couple receivers, was it weather or something else happen? Just football?
“Just football. Plays are there. We have to make them.”
On the three and out sequence at the end of the first half
“Pretty disappointing three plays right there. We get the ball. We get a turnover. We are in two-minute mode and went nowhere. That was a great opportunity right there that we squandered.”
On if there were any thoughts of taking a timeout on third and one
“Off the top of my head, I don’t think so. We needed to work with a little bit more urgency there. There’s no question about it. But I think third down, it is what it is. We certainly need to do better on first and second down.”
On the special teams breakdowns, how disappointing those were
“Yeah, disappointing. I mean, we made some on special teams, but that’s not been like us. Again, give them credit. They made some plays there, and we’ve been really good at covering kicks. Not really sure what happened on that one that we let that ball get outside. They made some plays. They have good players. We have been a lot better than that on special teams. Need to be better.”
On why they couldn’t get the run game going against Ole Miss’ defense
“They’re good up front. Those two tackles are a handful. The two guys in the middle, they’re two of the better defensive tackles in this league. But we needed to run the ball better than what we did. We popped a couple runs in there and had some good things going. We should have been able to run the ball a little bit better than what we did tonight.”
Any thoughts or considerations on more changes to the staff with the bye week coming up
“I will look at it. Obviously, we have to get a lot fixed. Everybody in that locker room right now.”
On how they are doing from an injury standpoint
“I think OK. We had some guys that went out at different times. Vicari, Josiah, Tro, Cisse. I think they were all able to return. So, I think we came out of it OK. We will have a better idea once we get back to Columbia.”
On who the loudest voice in the room is right now
“I think there are a lot of guys in there that hurt. We have a good group of seniors. Certainly, hurt for them. Wanted their senior year to be better than what it has been, so hurt for them. There are a lot of voices in there. Certainly, need more of them. But, there are a lot of guys in that locker room that hurt right now and are voicing that.”
On Dylan Stewart
“I was really proud of Dylan. He had a little upper body injury that he aggravated yesterday, I guess. He truly was a game time decision and proud of him and the way that he battled it out tonight because he certainly did not feel good. He certainly was not 100 percent. So really, really proud of Dylan Stewart. Him not feeling great tonight but gutting it out and trying to find a way to help us win football game.”
On having a lot of frustrations, where’s LaNorris in there right now
“Yeah, he’s given us a chance to win. Like always, there’s plays he would like to have back. There’s some sacks, just looking at it on the iPad on the sideline that we could have probably helped the offensive line out a little bit by stepping up in the pocket at times. Then, there’s times that we are just getting beat up front, too. When we have two guys on the guy and we get sacked on a, whatever it was, third or fourth down there in the fourth quarter. Like all of us, there are decisions that I would like to have back. There are plays that he would like to have back. All of us. LaNorris Sellers gives us a chance to win football games each and every week and we as a coaching staff got to continue to do a good job of helping our players be their very best.”
Do you see any changes in his demeanor in game
“No, I don’t. He’s a competitor. He’s frustrated. No one likes where we are right now, but he’s the leader that he needs to be by staying poised and he’s a competitor. He hates to lose. It sucks where we are right now record wise and he, along with everyone else in that locker room, feels that way.”
On the defensive performance
“Thought they gave us a chance when it was all said and done. I mean, 20-14 entering the fourth quarter. We got to make plays. Third down, when we play man coverage, sometimes they are going to hit some. But we have to make our share of plays. Disappointing on a couple. The fourth down that I went for in the first half that we didn’t get, I think the very next play was either the touchdown run or it was an explosive run by them. Right there when we went for the fourth down that we didn’t get in the fourth quarter, the very next play, we miss a tackle and it turns into an explosive run. Thought they played really, really hard and gave us a chance. We have to continue to do a great job of making plays when they are there to be made.”
On the first quarter fourth down play
“Yeah, we didn’t quite execute it the right way.”
On the fake punt by Ole Miss
“No, I don’t even know if it was really a fake punt as much as it was, they were doing rugby which had not been a big part of, they broke a tendency on that play, first of all, on where their shield was lined up, in regards to whether it was going to be rugby or not. No, we weren’t anticipating fake. They faked a field goal in the bowl game last year against Duke. Outside of that, faking punts hadn’t really been a part of their repertoire. Going for it on fourth down has been. They broke a tendency on the way they lined up. We had a call that was a return call where we were double teaming three different people on that, the two gunners. One of the guys on the interior. We were going to be short on the contain if they did do that. We didn’t expect it. They broke a tendency. Credit to them. They made a play. Even if we are double teaming people, we should be able to rally to the ball and get that guy on the ground. Donovan was trying to get there from the backside, that was his job. He did his job the right way. Then, we have to be able to rally to it to help Donovan on that.”
On how Vicari Swain is doing in terms of being able to catch punts
“Good. Jalon Kilgore is back there because that is what we do on punt safe. We have done that for two years. We have a punt safe team that is a group of guys and Jalon has bene that guy and done that for last two seasons since Joe got here.”
On what he talks about to his team with finishing the season
“We need to find a way to win. There is a bunch competitors in that room. I know you wrote yesterday that do bowl games matter? F yeah bowl games matter. We are trying to get to a bowl game. The only way you can do that is to be able to win a football game. We have a lot of work to do. We are not where we want to be. We have a bye week to continue to try and get better and fix some of these issues and go to College Station. We are not thinking about what is beyond College Station. It is this week getting better. These guys will respond. I don’t have to dangle anything. … They will compete. That is what they do. We have to get better. We are sick and tired of this feeling. I am tired of coming into the team meeting on Sunday talking about how close we are, talking about we didn’t finish. They are tired of hearing me say it. They are tired of feeling that way. We are going to go right back to work and try and fix the things that we can to get better so we can finish. As competitors, that is what we are trying to do. We get another opportunity to go compete in two weeks and that is what we are going to do.”
Shane Beamer press conference