Shane Beamer looking for improvement as South Carolina begins SEC play

South Carolina won its home opener 38-10 against South Carolina State in a game that saw sloppy play from the Gamecock offense.

“We weren’t very efficient. We know we need to be better. There’s a lot to clean up,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “… We know we need to be a lot better. We can’t rely on our defense and special teams to score three touchdowns a game like they did tonight.”

Through South Carolina’s first two games, the Gamecock special teams and defensive units have matched the offense in touchdown production. During Saturday’s game, South Carolina’s offense only scored 17 of the Gamecocks’ 38 points.

“[It was] just not very good,” Beamer said of the offense early. “[We] didn’t run the ball very efficiently, didn’t throw the ball very efficiently. All 11 [players] out there need to be better, myself included.”

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Getting better offensively starts with the quarterback. LaNorris Sellers knows he needs to be better going forward.

“I think that’s really just it,” Sellers said. “We need to be better offensively.”

The team also had to overcome a 2.5-hour weather delay before the game. Saturday’s game, originally scheduled for 7 p.m., kicked off at 9:21 p.m. due to inclement weather.

South Carolina had to deal with that same scenario during its final preseason scrimmage, which Beamer said led to the team’s best practice.

The offense was clicking better when the group exited fall camp, Sellers said.

“I’m not sure if it’s the competition or just the different looks from seeing our defense to different looks from other teams. We’ve just got to communicate better and execute better,” Sellers said.

Part of South Carolina’s offensive struggles early started due to poor field position. In their first three drives, the Gamecocks started inside their own ten-yard line. South Carolina went three-and-out in all three of those drives, totaling -2 yards across all three.

“There’s no excuse — we’ve got to be better when we’re backed up,” Beamer said. “But field position was a struggle early on.”

Being backed up offensively can be frustrating; however, they still need to execute, Sellers said.

“It’s super frustrating, but like I said, we’ve got to go out there (and) we’ve got to execute,” Sellers said. “Kudos to our defense for getting the stop. It’s just football. Sometimes you’ve got to go 95 yards, sometimes it’s going to be five yards, but you’ve got to execute.”

However, at the end of the day, South Carolina won its first two games heading into conference play. The team needs to be better, but that starts with getting back to work on Sunday.

“But we won the game. We’re 2-0. We get right back to work tomorrow,” Beamer said.

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