What Shane Beamer said during his Tuesday press conference previewing Oklahoma

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer met with the media on Tuesday to preview his team’s matchup with Oklahoma this weekend. Here’s what he had to say.

— New week for the team. Great challenge to go out to Norman, Oklahoma. What Brett Venables did at Clemson speaks for itself, along with what he’s done at OU now.

— Sees an Oklahoma group that plays very hard on tape. It’s a testament to the way Venables prepares them.

— The USC offense goes fast at times, they huddle at times. Need to be able to keep OU off balance.

— Says Jakai Moore coming back is doubtful for this season.

[Join GamecockCentral for great coverage, great community]

— They’ve had plenty of opportunities in the LSU and Alabama games to win. Plenty of things were disappointing in those games. The main thing is that they led in the fourth quarter in those games. Those are the first two times they’ve lost games going into the fourth quarter with the lead. How do they finish? Play cleaner football. There were so many opportunities to finish in those games.

— They have to continue to be better and grow. Sees a lot of signs of that. They are close. But they know the margin for error is extremely small.

— Would be lying if he said there weren’t emotions of coming back to Oklahoma this weekend. So appreciative of his time they’re working under Lincoln Riley. Made so many friends that he still keeps in touch with. Really good people out there. There will be a lot of memories.

— It’s going to be a battle in Norman. Need to get takeaways in this game against OU. They always emphasize it in practice. You don’t really change what you’re doing but you focus on the details of how to get the ball out and make plays in that way. On Saturday, it’s going to be about straining and finishing plays. OU flies around. So many of their sacks and turnovers have come on unbelievable effort.

— It was great to be around a program with such storied tradition at OU. It was eye-opening. Had a certain level of respect for their tradition. He also got to be around so many legendary coaches, like Bob Stoops and Barry Switzer. Stoops gave him advice about coaching, which really helped him. Same deal with Riley. Being able to see how he did things as a first-time head coach was very beneficial.

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

— Thought LaNorris Sellers had a heck of performance on Saturday. There’s very few quarterbacks that have won on the road at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Sellers was on the verge of being able to add his name to that short list. It says a lot about him. It says a lot about how he’s been coached, how the receivers and tight ends have gotten better around him. He’s still young and hasn’t played a ton of football this season. But he’s getting comfortable and making plays.

— Jackson Arnold has done a lot of great things at OU this year. With new starting quarterback Michael Hawkins, he presents a challenge with his ability to improvise and make plays. This WR group they have is talented. They have great tight ends. They present a lot of problems with personnel and then it’s still OU. They haven’t lacked in recruiting. Yes, they have had injuries but they are talented and well-coached.

— Kyle Kennard has an opportunity to make something happen and change his life. He’s had great commitment to that. Sometimes a fresh start is good for people. Doesn’t necessarily agree but he gets it. The coaching given to Kennard has done nothing but accelerate his development.

— OU is a really cool place with all its traditions. Never once did he feel at Alabama that the team was effected by the crowd noise and environment. Hopes Saturday will be the same thing.

— Had Spencer Rattler’s debut on his office in between meetings on Sunday. Hasn’t talked to Rattler yet since the game. But he did talk with him and his dad leading up to the game. Says Dowell Loggains has talked to him since then. It’ll be fun to see Rattler face the Broncos and Nate Atkins on Thursday. Has to figure out how to get Amazon Prime on his TV.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Texas A&M football game]

— You can learn from every loss and you can learn from every win. There’s a time and place to go scorch earth on people. But this is an older and mature group where he doesn’t have to do that. They aren’t into moral victories. A lot of them realize they can easily be 5-1 right now. There’s great hurt and disappointment about being 3-3. This week, they aren’t listening to the pats on the back. They are going to find a way to win this game.

— You have to stay the course. Constantly competing in practice. They don’t want to lose sight of the kicks Alex Herrera has made this season. He’s made some big kicks this season that nobody talks about. The whole team can be better, Herrera included.

— Would hope the penalties are something that can get cleaned up. A few of them were pre-snap on Saturday against Alabama. Need to get those cleaned up. Can live with some of the penalties, but the pre-snap ones are maddening. You’re not going to win games in the SEC turning the ball over four times. But doesn’t want to overreact. Specifically, the fumbles on the fake handoffs need to get cleaned up in the next three-four days.

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!