Shane Beamer shares response he got on controversial roughing the passer calls vs. Vanderbilt

Shane Beamer was upset with a couple of roughing the pass calls going against South Carolina on Saturday vs. Vanderbilt. Enough to where he spoke to the league office in Birmingham, hearing back before Tuesday’s press conference. Beamer revealed he spoke to John McDaid, the SEC head of officials.

“We got a response from them and then they actually reached out to me,” Beamer said. “They initiated a comment yesterday morning, which I appreciate John McDaid, the head of officials, doing. Don’t know how much I can say about all of them. I think they felt like the two roughing the passers were legitimate calls and warranted. I understand where they’re coming from.

“I think it’s tough to see Bryan (Thomas) in mid-air when he had left his feet by the time the quarterback left his feet. Outside of twisting his body mid-air, I’m not sure what to tell him. His body weight landed on the quarterback and we know that if your body weight lands on him, you’re putting it in the officials’ hands. That’s what that was called. They felt like Dylan (Stewart)‘s was a good call.”

Beamer also wanted to hear about how long it took the replay booth to initiate a look at a targeting call. This came after quarterback LaNorris Sellers was hit and eventually taken out of the game. Sellers never came back, putting his status for Week 4 against Missouri in question.

Turns out, the SEC offices might agree with Beamer on this one. He says it’s been communicated to him that it’s something they would like to improve on.

“We had a good conversation about that,” Beamer said. “I think, operationally, they feel like that’s an area to improve.”

South Carolina finished the night with eight penalties against their name, resulting in 85 yards. Vanderbilt was not too far behind, committing five and losing 55 yards. Even so, one roughing the passer call led to the Commodores getting into the end zone. The other wound up getting washed as Diego Pavia threw an interception three plays later.

League office conversations are never fun mid-season. Beamer got the explanations he was looking for on those specific three moments. Now, attention has turned to South Carolina facing off against Missouri, a critical SEC game for the program. Hopefully, he is not in a similar position during next Tuesday’s press conference, answering questions about missed calls.