Sellers still gives South Carolina shot to win in final minutes despite multiple mistakes

Shane Beamer knows as well as anyone what the consequences are for turning the ball over in the SEC. It becomes much harder to win games when it happens, especially in bunches.

In a game that went down to the wire, South Carolina had multiple chances to win against No. 7 Alabama on Saturday. But four turnovers, three of which were lost fumbles, loomed large in a 27-25 loss in Tuscaloosa.

Two of those lost fumbles came from LaNorris Sellers, who ended up fumbling one other time in the game. However, it’s been a persistent issue throughout the season as the redshirt freshman quarterback has coughed up the football nine times through six games with opponents recovering three of them.

“He’ll tell you, he can’t quite hang onto the ball too long,” Beamer said. “I thought there were a couple times today where we maybe held onto the ball a little bit too long.”

Sellers’ first lost fumble, which came in the second quarter, didn’t come back to bite him as his defense picked him up in a big way by forcing a safety on the ensuing possession. He wasn’t as lucky the second time around when he gave the ball back to Alabama early in the fourth quarter, leading to the Crimson Tide scoring a touchdown a few plays later.

[See what other fans are saying on The Insiders Forum!]

Despite the mistakes Sellers made throughout the game, he still managed to make enough plays to keep South Carolina within striking distance. He finished his day 23-of-31 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns with a late interception.

“He’s a warrior. Proud of him. He continues to get better each and every week,” Beamer said. “… I thought he did enough for us to win the football game, and he’ll continue to get better.”

When it looked like South Carolina was out of answers in the final minutes, Sellers played some of his best football. After Alabama scored a touchdown with just under two minutes to play to take an eight-point lead, the Gamecocks had to drive down the field with no timeouts and try to do the improbable.

Sellers and the offense didn’t take long to move into Alabama territory as the clock kept ticking. But then, the worst thing that could’ve happened happened again: he fumbled for a third time. However, he was bailed out by an Alabama face mask to keep the drive alive.

[Join GamecockCentral for great coverage, great community]

And on the next play, Sellers heaved a 31-yard pass to an unlikely hero, his 6-foot-5 receiver Nyck Harbor, for what was initially ruled an incompletion. After a review, though, the call was overturned as Harbor managed to haul in the deep pass and keep his feet in for the touchdown. Just like that, South Carolina was still very much alive.

“We had a couple of routes there and the high one in the corner,” Sellers said. “The touchdown to Nyck was just one-on-one coverage on Nyck Harbor, a big, fast receiver, so why not throw it to him?”

But the hardest part still remained. Even though the Gamecocks scored, they still needed to convert on the ensuing two-point attempt just to tie the game.

As Sellers rolled out to his right, he had a couple of options to throw to in the end zone. The only problem was he had an Alabama defender coming right at him with nothing to stop him.

As the defender put a hand on him, Sellers threw to an open Vandrevius Jacobs near the corner. But the throw was well out of Jacobs’ reach and sailed through the end zone.

“It was a play where we had a decent idea what (Alabama was) going to be in. They’ve had a couple two-point plays this year. They played a couple different coverages in their two point play situations — one’s more of a zone, one’s more of a max blitz cover zero type look,” Beamer said.

“So we had a play that we thought was going to be good on both of them. I haven’t seen the replay of it, but what I was told, we didn’t play with great technique and didn’t block it great, but had a couple guys open and just gave up a little bit of pressure there, unfortunately.”

[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]

Right then and there, that looked like it may have been the end of the line for the Gamecocks. Although, they still had one more pulse left with an onside kick try to come. And as if everything that came before wasn’t crazy enough, they recovered the ball as it squirmed around. Sellers would get one last chance to make up for the failed two-point play.

The odds were very much stacked against South Carolina, though. While the offense was around midfield, it still had a long way to go just to get within field goal range. The mindset for Sellers, just like the previous drive, was simple: just score.

With 13 seconds left to play, Sellers threw a pass to Harbor again, much longer than the touchdown they had connected on before. The ball sailed through the air and traveled a long way, but with two defenders in coverage around Harbor to prevent a big play, Alabama picked him off to seal the deal.

“We ran that first play and it was down to like ten seconds left so we’ve got to take a shot to the end zone,” Sellers said. “We could have probably got an intermediate pass out and spiked the ball or whatever, but in that situation, you want to get to the end zone.”

It was far from an ideal ending for South Carolina. It marks another game where it comes up short in heartbreaking fashion. But as Beamer noted, Sellers still gave the team a chance to win even with the earlier miscues.

“I mean, to come on the road in front of 100,000 and basically execute two two-time minute drives right there at the end of the game. We didn’t finish the last one, I know. But to have the ball moving and operate efficiently, he continues to get better,” Beamer said.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!