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Aaron Beasley: Vols thought South Carolina was 'just going to lay down'

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•11/23/22•

GrantRamey

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Tennessee’s lost Saturday night’s game at South Carolina before it ever kicked off. Senior linebacker Aaron Beasley said this week that it was all about mindset.

The Vols never properly prepared to face the Gamecocks in a primetime kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.

“We just felt like it was going to be given to us,” Beasley said on Monday. “We felt like we didn’t have to go out there and work for it. We thought (they were) just going to lay down. 

“You know, props to them. They came out, they played a great game. They played physical. They’re a great team and they showed that Saturday.”

Instead of getting away without having to work, Tennessee got worked in the 63-38 loss that changed everything about the 2022 season. 

Spencer Rattler, after entering the game with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions on the season, completed 30 of 37 passes for 437 yards and six touchdowns. The Gamecocks ran for 153 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground.

Beasley finished with five tackles, including three tackles for loss. But the Vols couldn’t get any stops.

Vols ‘didn’t have enough urgency’ at South Carolina

South Carolina scored nine touchdowns on its 10 possessions while rolling up 606 yards of total offense.

“Our biggest thing was execution,” Beasley said. “We didn’t execute the calls we should’ve executed. In my opinion, the urgency, man, for the game. We didn’t have enough urgency. 

“Thought we were going to come in there and things were just going to fall where they were supposed to. It don’t work like that in college ball. I think that was the biggest thing, just execution and urgency.”

Tennessee trailed 35-17 in the second quarter and cut the deficit down to four after finally forcing a punt in the third. South Carolina answered with three straight touchdowns.

Once the Vols found themselves on the ropes, they couldn’t get off.

“I guess we just didn’t realize at the time what was going on,” Beasley said.
“The biggest thing was we weren’t executing the calls we’ve been executing all year. They didn’t do anything spectacular or anything abnormal. We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do at the end of the day.”

Up Next: Tennessee at Vanderbilt, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Tennessee was without senior linebacker Jeremy Banks, who did not travel with the Vols for the game for reasons that have not been specified by head coach Josh Heupel.

Heupel said on Monday that he anticipates Banks to be available this week. 

Tennessee (9-2, 5-2 SEC) will look to bounce back against Vanderbilt (5-6, 2-5) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: SEC Network) at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville.

“JB, he’s a guy with high energy,” Beasley said of Banks. “We’d love to have him out there with us. But at the end of the day, the outside stuff, it’s not supposed to affect us. 

“We’re supposed to go out there and do our job, play the game the way we can play it. Saturday we just didn’t do that.”

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