Bryan Harsin responds to Shane Beamer's second-half strategy

Bryan Harsin was a bit taken back to hear what South Carolina coach Shane Beamer claimed following a 21-17 victory against the Tigers. The Gamecocks head man said his team mounted a 14-point comeback on Harsin and Auburn using the same two plays in the second half.

Upon hearing this, a shocked Tigers coached tried to make sense of it in his postgame press conference.

“He said they were running the same two plays?” Harsin asked. “They ran inside zone hard. I know that was one of the two plays. They were able to get some yards on it but I thought we slowed it down. …I don’t know what two plays, but they were running inside and getting some yards on it. Then —I don’t know if this is considered the second play — but they were trying to run zone and then just bouncing outside because our guys were doing a good job containing them on a couple of runs.”

Everything seemed to being going Auburn’s way early, as the Tigers raced out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. But South Carolina would tie it before the break. Beamer’s second-half strategy proved too much as South Carolina outscored them 21-3 from the second quarter on.

The Gamecocks didn’t earn Saturday’s win without controversy, however. With just 2:11 remaining in the game, South Carolina’s Kai Kroeger punted a 36-yard kick in the direction of Auburn’s Jaylin Simpson. Originally, officials ruled the ball came close to the cornerback’s thigh, but it did not hit him. After reviewing the play, they overturned the call, effectively ending the game.

South Carolina got the ball back, ran out the clock, and notched their third conference win of the season.

“We got ’em in a position where we used our timeouts and they threw it and had an incomplete pass,” Harsin said. “It would have actually saved us quite a bit of time. It gave us a much better situation than if they hadn’t thrown it. We had a chance to get the ball back on a return. That’s when the ball hit one of our players supposedly and we didn’t get it back.”

The loss marked the third straight for the Tigers, who dropped to 6-5 in Harsin’s inaugural season. South Carolina improved to 6-5 under Beamer, who is also in his first season as head coach.

The Gamecocks have now won four consecutive home games, with their lone loss at William-Brice Stadium coming to Kentucky. That game is now a distant memory as they are set to play in their first bowl game since 2018.

All in all, both Bryan Harsin and Shane Beamer have made good first impressions on their respective fan base. Both coaches will close out the season this upcoming weekend before turning around to focus on their bowl games.