Shane Beamer identifies what he sees on Georgia film
South Carolina had a rough Week 1 outing that was followed with smoother sailing versus Furman in Week 2, but now they face their strongest opponent of the year in No. 1 ranked Georgia on the road this Saturday.
The Bulldogs have dominated their two non-conference opponents to start off the season, as the Gamecocks will also be the strongest opponent they’ve faced this season. And ahead of their matchup, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer shared what he’s seen from the Bulldogs through film study throughout the week.
“The one last week against Ball State they went right down the field offensively and they’re making plays and maybe got bogged down a couple times. But the thing that stands out to me is the defense is creating turnovers,” Beamer said.
Georgia generated three turnovers last weekend versus the Cardinals, all of which resulted in touchdowns on the following offensive possession, making the cohesive and dominant play of their offense, defense, and special teams one of the most notable elements of their play style.
“Ball State’s moving the ball somewhat decent but then it’s 0-0, they throw a ball down the sideline, guy for Ball State has a chance to make a play, he doesn’t make the catch, the very next play they punt, Georgia runs it back for a touchdown. Seven to nothing. So special teams making an impact. Then the Ball State offense goes back out there and two straight possessions they have turnovers,” Beamer explained. “And just like that you’re down two or three scores.”
“So that’s what stands out to me is you see the weapons and the arsenal of people they have on offense that can make plays. But then the defense and the special teams making just as many impactful plays. So that’s what stands out to me and they’re playing some young guys too and you see those guys continuing to get better and more and more comfortable and confident each week.”
The Bulldogs have been able to show off their depth and dominance early on in the season, as they also have been preparing their new starting quarterback Carson Beck for conference play. Saturday will mark his first start against an SEC opponent, and Beamer previewed his matchup with the Bulldogs’ new signal caller.
“You look back I mean they’re going to do what they do, obviously they have a new coordinator with Coach Bobo but the system has stayed the same. Mike [Bobo] was there last year on the staff so they’re not gonna reinvent everything when they return the bulk of the offense,” Beamer said. “So certainly you study that quarterback and maybe throws that he makes that Stetson [Bennett] didn’t or maybe concepts they’ve run a little bit more of the last two weeks.”
On top of facing the offense of the back-to-back defending national champions, the Gamecocks don’t have the luxury of watching the Bulldogs play formidable competition yet this season, as Beamer also explained the challenges that come with that.
“But it’s a challenge because certainly they’ve had two blowout wins two weeks in a row so they haven’t had to do much offensively from a schematic standpoint. So you know what their base stuff is, you try and prepare for that, you look back at last year, the schemes they ran and the concepts in the run game and pass game and you prepare for those,” Beamer said. “But then you also know that they’ve had a whole offseason too that there’s some things they haven’t shown the first two games that we’ve got to be ready for and adjust to on Saturday also.”
There’s no question that South Carolina will have their hands full this Saturday on both sides of the ball with plenty of impact players to deal with. But any questions about either team will be answered this Saturday, as Georgia and South Carolina square off at 3:30 p.m. ET in a game airing on CBS.