Shane Beamer expresses frustration after rivalry loss vs North Carolina

Shane Beamer wasn’t satisfied with the performance of his South Carolina Gamecocks during their Week 1 rivalry showdown against North Carolina.

Plenty of pomp and circumstance accompanied the game, and ESPN’s College GameDay even held their first show of the season ahead of the matchup, but it was the Tar Heels celebrating at the end of the night. That really stuck in Beamer’s craw, as he elaborated on his frustrations afterwards.

“It’s just frustrating, because we had our chances,” started Beamer. “Defensively, in the first half, we were out there way too many plays. Third down, we couldn’t get ourselves off the field, defensively. So therefore I think they played 40 plays in the first half, and we were out there for 20, because we couldn’t stay on the field. The start of the game was like the perfect storm of everything that couldn’t go wrong, went wrong. We knew we were thin in the secondary. … We’re young and thin at offensive tackle. … We battled back. Gave ourselves chances. But not good enough. … Clock was wrong the whole dang game. We’re trying to kick an onside kick to start the second half and we’ve got to wait on the chain crew because they’re eating a hot dog. That’s the only disappointing thing about tonight.

“I don’t know what things came out to be statistically, but not good enough. Had our chances.”

Alas, it was a split-decision regarding who would win on Saturday, but many believed it should’ve been a closer game than it was between North Carolina and South Carolina. That wasn’t the game we got, and now Beamer and company will have a hill to climb to begin 2023.

There was a ton of promise surrounding Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks entering the season, and some of that hype has washed away. Now it’ll be fascinating to see if he can get it bottled up once again moving forward.

Paul Finebaum: South Carolina laid an egg in Week 1 loss vs. North Carolina

Continuing, Paul Finebaum shared his criticisms of the Gamecocks from their 31-17 loss to UNC during ‘The Matt Barrie Show’ on Sunday. He felt that they put up quite the dud in their opener considering how much hype was around them this offseason based on how they finished last season.

“All offseason long, I’ve been hearing about this momentum from beating Tennessee and beating Clemson. And the Gamecocks just laid an egg,” said Finebaum. “I mean they were manhandled.”

The issues start and end with the poor play from South Carolina’s offensive line. Spencer Rattler was left running for his life or found himself on the ground quite often as the Tar Heels posted nine sacks, which was over half of their overall total in that category from a season ago.

That also may have had an effect on their run game as the Gamecocks finished with -2 rushing yards on 31 attempts.

Now, as the season gets into full swing, Finebaum doesn’t necessarily see things getting much easier for Shane Beamer’s squad. That’s especially so considering where they’ll find themselves in less than two weeks and who they’ll be squaring off with on that Saturday.

“Not to ruin the Bloody Mary morning for Gamecock Nation even more…but, two weeks from yesterday, they go to Athens,” said Finebaum. “Good luck to people trying to build that up, saying, ‘Oh, you know, these two teams, when they meet?’. No, no.”

“South Carolina is going in there and hopes that Kirby Smart is in a good mood and not a bad mood.”