No. 11 South Carolina falls 31-7 to Vanderbilt for first time since 2008, loses SEC opener

South Carolina kicked off SEC play Saturday night with a 31-7 loss to Vanderbilt. The loss marks South Carolina’s first loss to the Commodores since 2008. It’s the Gamecocks’ first home loss to Vanderbilt since 2007.

South Carolina’s 24-point loss to Vanderbilt is the largest to the Commodores in program history. The previous high was a 17-6 loss in 2007.

Missed tackles, injuries and a second-half collapse while trailing sealed the Gamecocks’ fate in the conference opener.

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Both teams exchanged touchdowns on the game’s opening drives, as Vanderbilt drove down the field in nine plays to kick off Saturday’s festivities. The Gamecocks answered in seven plays, set up by an opening play 33-yard pass from sophomore LaNorris Sellers to Jordan Dingle.

After a quick Vanderbilt three-and-out, the Gamecocks seemed to be heading down the same path as their opening drive, breaking an explosive opening play to Nyck Harbor. However, a Sellers interception just outside the red zone put an end to the Gamecocks’ scoring threat.

Vanderbilt controlled the tempo in its dominant win over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg a week ago, allowing the Hokies only 19 offensive plays in the second half.

The Commodores continued that same dominance against the Gamecocks. Late in the opening half, Vanderbilt broke the tie on a 12-play drive that lasted over five minutes. The Gamecocks lost time of possession in Saturday’s loss, 35:43 to 24:17.

Head coach Shane Beamer said his team needs to tackle better so they can get off the field.

“We’ve got to get our own butts off the field,” Beamer said. “They were five of seven, I think, on third down in the first half … I mean, we got to bet a lot of second and longs in the first half, but then they’re converting third downs. And so we got to get our own butts off the field.”

Defensive back Jalon Kilgore knows that not being able to stop Vanderbilt on third down puts the offense in a bad spot. They need to work on getting off the field.

The first half continued to spiral out of control when the Gamecocks got the football back. Vanderbilt’s Langston Patterson earned a targeting call immediately. The hit on Sellers knocked the quarterback out of the game. Shortly later, a long delay in moving the ball and multiple penalties devolved the Carolina crowd into chaos.

Beamer did not have an update on Sellers’ condition after the game.

“We’ll look at everything as Luke was in there tonight, and we all got to be better,” Beamer said. “We’ll evaluate everything as we go into the Missouri week.”

Momentum was already teetering on the Commodores’ side throughout the second quarter. However, after the exit of Sellers, the Gamecocks lost whatever they had left. With 20 seconds to go in the opening half, Mason Love missed a 53-yard field goal. The Gamecocks started the second half with the ball; however, they went three-and-out.

It was hard seeing his quarterback go down, Kilgore said. He hopes he can get healthy fast.

Beamer said losing your team leader and starting QB is rough; they weren’t good enough without him. However, the offense was doing well before he left.

“But my point being, I was pleased with a lot of the stuff we were doing offensively. I told the team at halftime that we’ve got to go out and continue to play good football because we were doing a lot of really good stuff,” Beamer said. “But I don’t like the way that we started the second half offensively with a three-and-out. You can criticize me for not going for it on fourth down, but I felt like, early in the second half, punt the ball and go play defense.” 

After the South Carolina three-and-out, the Commodores drove down the field in four plays to extend their lead to 14. A Justin Okoronkwo interception didn’t help the Gamecock offense either, who turned the ball over on downs around midfield.

When the dust settled, Vanderbilt secured its second straight game of a shutout second half. The Commodores scored 24 unanswered points after the Gamecocks’ only touchdown drive.

Despite the blowout loss, Beamer wants his team to remain encouraged. The team has to get a lot better. However, the locker room is full of players who care.

“I told the team that we didn’t do enough winning football tonight. I mean, there’s a ton of self-inflicted mistakes; that starts with me,” Beamer said. “Disappointing because we had a great week of practice, and we were certainly ready to play. And it wasn’t good enough.”

South Carolina turns the page to its first road trip of the season as the Gamecocks continue SEC play in Columbia, Missouri. The Gamecocks and Missouri Tigers kick off at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20 on ESPN.

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