What Shane Beamer said after loss versus Tennessee
After South Carolina’s 41-20 loss versus No. 21 Tennessee, head coach Shane Beamer met with the media to discuss the team’s performance.
Here’s everything he had to say.
[Win a custom wooden Gamecock flag]
— Beamer said the atmosphere was awesome. Tennessee made more plays. Lots of missed opportunities on third and fourth down that South Carolina didn’t convert on.
— Referred to how tough some of those possessions were that the Gamecocks couldn’t cash in on were. Field possession was tough as well. Cut it to a two-score game with nine minutes to go but couldn’t keep the Vols in check after that.
— Have to be able to capitalize on opportunities in the SEC and couldn’t do so.
— Knew eventually that teams would start putting more defensive pressure on Xavier Legette. Have to run the ball better, protect up front. Gave up too much pressure and just have to execute better.
— Beamer thought on the sideline South Carolina was short on 3rd and 1. Didn’t ask for a measure because of that. Knew they were going to go for it on the fourth down play but didn’t get it.
— Trusted Rattler in the 3rd and long situation to throw the ball on third down that eventually became a pick six. Tough way to go into the second half.
— Liked doing a fake punt against Tennessee. They liked something they saw last year on film and wanted to exploit it. Did a great job executing. But really unfortunate to not be able to get any points on that drive.
[Get breaking news from GamecockCentral]
— Going to be vital to get everyone back at wide receiver and get better in a hurry. Have to start playing the freshmen more. Have to get better and get healthy quickly. Can’t rely just on Legette.
— Thought they were playing pretty good defense at halftime. Tennessee played really good on offense in the second half. Have to get a lot better. They’re better than a 2-3 team that had a lot of opportunities to make plays but couldn’t get it done. Disappointing.
— Tennessee got some guys open in the flat but South Carolina didn’t do a bad job tackling. Just have to be better moving forward.
— Proud of Tree and Tro’s play on the offensive line. To have two freshmen start on the OL on the road in the SEC is pretty dang cool for them to battle. They have seven OL that are out right now, many of whom have been or could be starters. Need to give Sidney Fugar, who didn’t play, an opportunity.
— Mario Anderson started for a reason. Juju McDowell got in there as well. It will be a lot of by committee but Anderson impressed.
— Jalon Kilgore had a big game. He was out there for a reason. Fantastic young man. They talked about how everything off the field shows on the field. Glad to have him on the team. Continues to get better every week.
— Nick Emmanwori got the wind knocked out of him right at the end of the game. But was okay. OD Fortune got banged up but Beamer says he’ll be okay. TJ Sanders didn’t play at all in the second half with cramping and a shoulder that bothered him. Nick Barrett is banged up a little bit with his foot.
