Shane Beamer: 'I don't regret the fake punt' against Ole Miss

A pivotal play in Saturday’s Ole Miss vs. South Carolina game came early in the first quarter when the Gamecocks attempted a fake punt. It failed, setting up a Rebels touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.

Shane Beamer told reporters he doesn’t “regret” the play call. However, there was another part of the sequence he’d like to have back.

If he could do it over again, Beamer said he would’ve called a timeout. The goal was to get the snap off quickly, and the Gamecocks did so just a beat too late, leading to the failed attempt. In Beamer’s eyes, a timeout would’ve allowed South Carolina to regroup and just punt the ball away.

“I kicked myself in the butt – I’m gonna say this and people are gonna be like, ‘Oh, my god, Beamer says that he doesn’t regret calling the fake punt.’ I don’t regret calling the fake punt,” Beamer said. “I’m mad at myself for not calling timeout before the snap because the whole key on that play was to sprint up to the line as quick as possible, thinking that their defensive tackles would not be in their stance yet – which they weren’t – and then snap the ball really, really quick. And then, we need to get a yard. If you look at us, we get to the line of scrimmage really quick, defensive tackles are standing up. There’s one actually pointing and not even looking at the ball. And if we just snap it then, it’s successful.

“For whatever reason – and that starts with me – that we didn’t emphasize enough how quick we need to be, that’s my fault, clearly. But when we got to the line and I knew that it was taking way too long, and we’re allowing them to dig their cleats into the ground, call timeout, Shane. That’s the one that I kicked myself in the butt for still. I told the team, it’s like a car wreck in slow motion. I could see it happening, and I didn’t call timeout. … I let it ride, I had faith that we could make it work. But the longer it went, the less likely that was to work.”

During his in-game interview on Saturday, Shane Beamer told ESPN’s Taylor McGregor he put the Gamecocks in a “bad spot” on the play. It was part of a rough day for South Carolina, which went on to lose to Ole Miss 27-3 to drop to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in SEC play.

The Gamecocks have a quick turnaround this week, though. They will head to Alabama for a Saturday afternoon matchup on ABC.