Shane Beamer on South Carolina red zone struggles in bowl game: 'We didn't finish'

In the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl between South Carolina and Illinois, Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer felt pretty good about where his team sat at halftime.

The game was well under control at the time, and though there had been some iffy red-zone work, there was nothing to suggest panic was in order.

“We came in at halftime, whatever the score was, 7-3, and you look at the stats and we’re in pretty good position,” Beamer said. “Third downs I think we were 7-for-11 on third downs in the first half. We were running the ball. They had had only 20 plays of offense in the first half.”

Eventually, though, when you knock on the door enough times and it doesn’t open, frustration can set in.

“Whole key this game was finishing and we just didn’t finish drives,” Beamer said.

South Carolina finished just 2-of-4 in the red zone, with only one of those conversions a touchdown. It just wasn’t enough to put a real stamp on the game.

And Illinois slowly fought its way back until it scored midway through the fourth quarter on a Josh McCray touchdown run to take a 21-17 lead. South Carolina couldn’t catch back up.

“They hit one play on us on the RPO early in the game but other than that had done a good job defensively,” Beamer said. “Just we weren’t able to finish down there, whatever it be. Offense and special teams, we all had a hand in it.”

So while the stats for the game came out looking fairly even — South Carolina actually had a 390-357 edge in total yardage — the score narrowly favored Illinois.

Instead of a 10-win season, South Carolina ended the year on nine and will instead have to look for momentum boosts in the offseason instead of the gridiron.