Shane Beamer weighs in on scuffle to end the first half against Vanderbilt

After South Carolina and Vanderbilt players got into a scrum to end the first half, Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer attempted to get some clarity from officials before heading into the locker room.

After Commodores quarterback AJ Swann was injured on the previous play, a fight broke out between the two teams resulting in offsetting penalties. Beamer at first wasn’t sure whether South Carolina had done anything to deserve a penalty, but after speaking with referees explained what they told him in an interview on the SEC Network broadcast.

“Just trying to figure out what the flag was,” he said. “I didn’t see it all, but it looked like after the play their guy punched one of our guys. They said our guys hit one of their guys late, so offsetting. We’ve got to play with poise. We don’t play football that way. We’re not gonna let it turn into that game. What we’ve got to do is line up and play football between the whistles.”

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We’ve got a scrum on the field between South Carolina DB Cam Smith and Vanderbilt WR Will Sheppard. pic.twitter.com/4A7Mxhjmcq

— Emily Adams (@eaadams6) November 6, 2022

Aside from the way the half ended, Shane Beamer was proud of his team’s performance against Vanderbilt so far. The Gamecocks have already totaled 311 yards, and took 31-14 lead into the locker room thanks to a pair of second-quarter touchdowns.

Perhaps the most important of those two score came with 1:22 remaining, as quarterback Spencer Rattler found Josh Vann for a 19-yard touchdown. Rattler finished the first half 8-of-12 passing for 102 yards and two scores.

But as good as the offense has been, Beamer called for more out of his defense in the second.

“We’ve got a good group,” he said. “We’re giving our guys opportunities to make plays like Spencer on that last touchdown. We’ve gotta get better defensively. They’re getting way too much on first down against our defense. But to score 31 points in the first half, I like where we are right now. This is a team that we’re playing that plays really, really hard and we’ve got to be better in the second half too.”