Everything Shane Beamer said after South Carolina's loss to Ole Miss

South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media after the team’s 30-14 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening statement

“Obviously, pretty disappointing night. Credit to Ole Miss; they made the plays when they needed to make them. [We] prepared the right way, came in here expecting to win. We got this thing to the fourth quarter, just like we said we needed to do — 20-14 going into the fourth quarter — and we didn’t finish. Got to perform a whole lot better.”

What was the reasoning behind LaNorris Sellers missing open receivers?

“Just football. Plays are there; we got to make them.”

Take us through the three-and-out sequence after Jalon Kilgore‘s interception.

“Pretty disappointing three plays right there. We get the ball; we get a turnover. We’re in two-minute mode and went nowhere. That was a great opportunity right there that we squandered.”

Were there any thoughts of taking a timeout there, especially on the third-and-one play?

“Off the top of my head, I don’t think so. I mean, we needed to work with a little bit more urgency there. There’s no question about it. But I think third down was, ‘It is what it is.’ We certainly needed to be better on first and second down.”

How disappointing were the miscues on special teams?

“I mean, we made some [plays] on special teams, but that’s not been like us. Again, give them credit. They made some plays there, and we’ve been really good at covering kicks. Not really sure what happened on that one that we let that ball get outside. But they made some plays, they got good players, and we’ve been a lot better than that on special teams. Need to be better.”

The ESPN camera showed you pretty animated on the headset early in the first half. What were your frustrations early in the game?

“I had a lot of frustrations. If you can give me a specific moment, I’ll try and tell you. [It was right before the Nyck Harbor touchdown.] I don’t remember. I’ll have to look at it and watch the TV copy and analyze my emotions throughout the first half.”

Why couldn’t you get the run game going against Ole Miss tonight?

“They’re good up front. Those two tackles are a handful. The two guys in the middle… I mean, they’re two of the better defensive tackles in this league. But we needed to run the ball better than what we did. We popped a couple runs in there and had some good things going. We should have been able to run the ball a bit better than what we did tonight.”

Do you have any thoughts or consideration on more changes being made to the staff?

“Yeah, I’ll look at it. I mean, obviously, we got to get a lot fixed — everybody in that locker room right now.”

How are you doing from an injury standpoint after the game?

“I think okay. We had some guys that went out at different times — Vicari [Swain], Josiah [Thompson], Trov [Baugh], [Brandon] Cisse. I think they all were able to return. So, I think we came out of it okay. We’ll have a better idea once we get back to Columbia.”

Player-wise, who’s the loudest voice in the locker room right now?

“There’s a lot of guys in there that hurt. We got a good group of seniors, and [I] certainly hurt for them. Wanted their senior year to be better than what it has been. So, hurt for them. But there’s a lot of voices in there. Certainly need more of them, but there’s a lot of guys in that locker room that hurt right now — and are voicing that.”

What was going on with Dylan [Stewart] entering the game, and how do you think he played?

“I was really proud of Dylan. He had a little upper-body injury that he aggravated yesterday, I guess, and he truly was a game-time decision. Proud of him and the way that he battled it out tonight because he certainly did not feel good. He certainly was not 100%. So, really, really, really proud of Dylan Stewart and him not feeling great tonight but gutting it out and trying to find a way to help us win a football game.”

You said you got a lot of frustrations. Where’s LaNorris Sellers sitting there right now, in terms of your frustration level?

“Yeah, he’s giving us a chance to win. I mean, like always, there’s plays he would like to have back. There’s some sacks, just looking at it on the iPad on the sideline, that we could have probably helped the offensive line out a little bit by stepping up in the pocket at times. But then, there’s times that we’re just getting beat up front, too — when we got two guys on a guy, and we get sacked on whatever it was, third or fourth down in the fourth quarter.

“Like all of us, there’s decisions I’d like to have back. There’s plays he’d like to have back. But LaNorris Sellers gives us a chance to win football games each and every week. And we, as a coaching staff, got to continue to do a good job of helping our players be their very best.”

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Do you see any changes in LaNorris Sellers’ demeanor in-game versus throughout the week?

“No, I don’t. He’s a competitor. He’s frustrated. No one likes where we are right now. But he’s the leader that he needs to be by staying poised.

“He’s a competitor. He hates to lose. It sucks where we are right now record-wise. And he, along with everyone else in that locker room, feels that way.”

Do you have any instant thoughts on the defense, specifically?

“I thought they gave us a chance when it was all said and done — I mean, 20-14 entering the fourth quarter. We got to make plays. Third down, when we play man coverage, sometimes, they’re going to hit some. But we got to make our share of plays.

“And disappointing on a couple. The fourth down that I went for in the first half that we didn’t get, I think, the very next play was either the touchdown run — or it was an explosive run by them right there. When we went for the fourth down that we didn’t get in the fourth quarter, the very next play, we missed a tackle, and it turns into an explosive run.

“Thought they played really, really hard and gave us a chance. But we got to continue to do a great job of making plays when they’re there to be made.”

What were your thoughts on the fourth-down play in the fourth quarter that you referenced?

“Yeah, we didn’t quite execute it the right way.”

On the first drive of the game, when Ole Miss runs the fake punt, were you anticipating that happening so early in the game?

“No. I don’t even know if it was really a fake punt as much as it was they were doing rugby, which had not been a big part of their [play calling]. They broke a tendency on that play, first of all, on where their shield was lined up in regards to whether it was going to be rugby or not.

“No, we weren’t anticipating fake. Looking back at it, I don’t know… I think they faked a field goal in the bowl game last year against Duke. But, outside of that, faking punts really hasn’t been part of their repertoire. Going for it on fourth down has been.

“They broke a tendency on the way they lined up. We had a call that was a return call, where we were double-teaming, I think, three different people on that — the two gunners and one of the guys on the interior. And we were going to be short on the contain, if they did do that.

“We didn’t expect it. They broke a tendency. Credit to them; they made a play. And then, even if we are double-teaming people, we should be able to rally to the ball and get that guy on the ground. Donovan [Murph] was trying to get there from the backside. That was his job; he did his job the right way. And then, we’ve got to be able to rally to it along to help Donovan on that.”

How’s Vicari Swain doing right now in terms of being able to go out there and catch punts?

“Good. Jalon Kilgore is back there because that’s what we do on punt safe. We’ve done that for two years. We have a punt safe team. That’s a group of guys, and Jalon’s been that guy back there and has done that for the last two seasons since Joe [DeCamillis] got here.”

What sort of carrot do you dangle in front of your players? Do you still talk about bowl eligibility being out there, or do you talk about just finishing right?

“We need to find a way to win. There’s a bunch of competitors in that room. I know you [a reporter] wrote yesterday that, ‘Do bowl games matter?’ Eff yeah, bowl games matter. We’re trying to get to a bowl game, and the only way you can do that is finding a way to win a football game.

“We got a lot of work to do. We’re not where we want to be. We got a bye week to continue to try and get better and fix some of these issues and go to College Station. And we’re not thinking about what’s beyond College Station. It’s this week, getting better — and then, figuring out a way to go out there and compete.

“These guys will respond. I don’t have to dangle anything. I don’t have to go in there and give some, you know, Knute Rockne ‘Win one for the Gipper’ speech to try and get these guys motivated to play. Like, they’ll compete; that’s what they do. They compete, and we’ve got to get better.

“We’re sick and tired of this feeling. I told them that before the game — I’m tired of coming into the team meeting on Sunday, talking about how close we are, talking about, ‘We didn’t finish.’ They’re tired of hearing me say it, they’re tired of feeling that way, and we’re going to go right back to work and try and fix the things that we can to get better so we can finish.

“And as competitors, that’s what we’re trying to. We get another opportunity to go compete in two weeks, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

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