Shane Beamer details some of South Carolina's bye week self-scout
Without a game to prepare for, South Carolina got to take a bit of a deep breath and really delve into an important aspect of game planning.
The Gamecocks were able to do a deep dive into self-scouting, giving the coaching staff a chance to really sit back and evaluate the good and the bad through the first six games of the season.
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While Shane Beamer didn’t divulge much about what South Carolina learned–keeping most of it in-house–he did share a few things.
“We’re running the ball better the last three weeks. We need to continue to run the ball well. We’re turning the ball over too many times and need to stop turning the ball over. We‘re doing a good job of creating turnovers and getting some interceptions in the last few games,” Beamer said. “We need to keep that going. We’re playing well in some units on special teams and need to get others going. There are a million things we could talk about.”
After a rough start to the year on the ground, South Carolina’s stitched together its three best rushing games of the season.
Taking out sack yardage, the Gamecocks are averaging 6.1 yards per carry over this three-game win streak. South Carolina most recently rushed 40 times for 190 yards (sack adjusted) in a win over Kentucky, an average of 4.8 yards per carry.
Defensively, the Gamecocks have done well getting the ball off opponents, forcing multiple takeaways in each of their last three games. South Carolina had one in its first three games combined.
Despite a total of eight forced turnovers the last three weeks, the Gamecocks offensively have struggled to protect the ball. They’ve turned it over six times during this win streak, including twice against Kentucky.
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Those things will all need to continue getting better as the back half of the season progresses.
Self-scout is also a chance for teams to potentially tweak things schematically or personnel-wise. It gives coaches a chance to see which personnel groupings are most productive. They also get to see any potential tendencies that need breaking.
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“It’s beneficial to see what we’re doing well and not doing well. Then see what we’re doing well with certain personnel and not as well with other personnel,” Beamer said. “Then what do teams have on us? Tendencies we have that we need to break, whether it be offense, defense or on special teams.”
South Carolina self-scouts after each game, but the open date gave the staff even more time to do it without the looming game on a given Saturday.
And it’s beneficial too to have it come at the exact midpoint of the regular season.
“The bye week is always when you want to do that,” Beamer said. “We do that every week but you’re really able to dive into that the off week, especially when the off week comes at the halfway point of the regular season.”
South Carolina hosts Texas A&M Saturday, a team also coming off a bye week. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
