Shane Beamer, Dowell Loggains explain their thought process on fourth down play calling

South Carolina had its chance to get back in it. Down by two scores to Missouri, it was inside the five-yard line and needed to score.

The offense went with three pass plays, all of which were short of the end zone. Head coach Shane Beamer was left with a tough choice. Should he make a gutsy call and go for it, or take the field goal and let his defense work?

“In my mind, it was like we’ve had three plays to get this thing in. We’ve had three pretty good play calls. And we didn’t execute them properly,” Beamer said.

Beamer opted to kick the field goal. Ultimately, It wouldn’t make a difference in the final score, but it was a move the fan base didn’t like.

“To me, that was one where I felt like we had three pretty good calls on first down, second down, third down that we didn’t do a great job of executing mentally,” he said. “Not that I don’t have confidence in our guys on fourth down to get it done but also let’s get points and keep it a two-score game.”

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Nearly two years prior, Beamer was in a similar spot. South Carolina trailed against Kentucky most of the game but had a shot to get back in it. But instead of settling for field goals when his offense stalled out, he went for it.

The Gamecocks went for two crucial fourth downs in crunch time and didn’t convert either time. They’d end up losing by six that night.

“It’s easy for everybody to say, ‘Well dang, if he had kicked those two field goals we would have gone to overtime,'” Beamer said. “That was a situation where I just felt like, in the game at the time, we had an opportunity to get it. So it goes back to how you’re playing. It goes back to the play calls that I know we’re going to call on fourth down.”

So far this year, South Carolina hasn’t completely shied away from taking a chance on fourth down. In fact, it’s went 5-for-14 in those spots.

But making these hard decisions is far from easy. It’s almost a double-edged sword in a way. And it takes more than just Beamer. While it’s his call at the end of the day, he’ll go to Dowell Loggains and the other coaches for their opinion.

“There’s been times when he’s asked like, ‘Hey, what do you guys think right now? Do you love this call right here?’ And most the time on foruth and six, you really like it. You feel good about it and it starts to get into longer yardage situations, and you’re not handling their games and the pass rush up front as much. I think that also gets thrown into it as well,” Loggains said.

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Loggains agreed with Beamer in that these choices come down to a feeling. But at the same time, it all depends on the situation, how the offense is moving the ball and where they’re at on the field.

“Coach is extremely aggressive but it’s also like hey, we didn’t play very well on third down…In the situations we have, it’s like, well we made a play on third down and make it a fourth and manageable,” Loggains said.

“It was the first series where we get down there and we’re on the 20-yard line. It’s like third and fix or third and six, and if we pass it, (Nyck) Harbor’s actually going to catch the end cut for a first down. But we don’t pass and we take a sack and all of a sudden it’s fourth and 14. Once you get past that fourth and six marker, you’re better off taking the points in that situation.”

In college and the pros, there are coaches that rely on analytics to make the call. Beamer isn’t that way.

“They’re going to go by the book, and if the book says if you hit the 30-yard line and it’s fourth and five or less, go for it. I don’t,” Beamer said. “We rely on analytics to a certain degree but not as far as making every decision in the game. I don’t do that. It’s more of a feel and each situation is different.”

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