Everything Shane Beamer said after South Carolina's loss to LSU

South Carolina head football coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media after the team’s 20-10 loss to LSU on Saturday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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Opening statement

“Proud of our team. They battled their butts off. Sick to my stomach that we didn’t win that football game. We had plenty of opportunities. When you win the turnover battle, which we did; when you, ’til that last sack, were over 200 yards rushing; when you ran the ball; when you win time of possession; you do all that, you should win the game. We had our opportunities. That was the story tonight: just missed opportunities and not finishing drives.”

Every time a penalty would happen, three or four bad plays would follow. Why did the plays after that just not seem to work?

“Don’t know. I’ll have to look at the tape and see.”

What did your team do to force those two well-timed turnovers?

“I wouldn’t say it’s a gift. I’d say we worked the hell out of it. We literally showed our players those plays exactly. Arkansas lost a game to Memphis two weeks ago in a similar scenario. We showed them that one. The other night, the New York Jets, same situation happened against the Miami Dolphins in a Monday Night Football game. Showed them that one. We had… I forget, somebody else that that happened to this last week that we showed them literally yesterday in our team meeting about just punching the ball out. And so, we worked the heck out of that. That’s a drill we do in practice. That’s why I say I’m so proud of our guys because of the way they battled.

“Our mantra on defense is to put the ball down, and they kept going out there and getting stops. Our offense moved the ball and did a lot of really good, but we weren’t able to finish drives.”

What explanation did you get on the fake punt?

“I was told that they were holding it and weren’t ready to snap. But in 26 years of coaching, I’ve never seen… Normally, to me, the center judge stands over the ball, and there was nobody standing over the ball. The referee had his hands out, and then he backed out of there. So, I don’t know how the punter, the personal protector who’s making the call and the snapper are supposed to know, ‘Don’t snap it,’ when the referee is standing behind the punter. Somebody’s got to explain that one to me because I have no idea.”

How did you feel about how LaNorris [Sellers] played tonight?

“I thought he battled his rear end off. We got some injuries. He was under pressure. Got to be better on some of those. And that intentional grounding… I mean, if we’re going to throw it away, we’ve got to get out of the pocket. But he gave us an opportunity to win. He’ll be the first to tell you when he comes in here [that] he missed some throws, and I’m sure he’d like to have some plays back. But kid’s tough as hell and made a lot of plays for us.”

How did you feel about how the offensive line played, considering all that went on injury- and rotation-wise?

“I don’t want to say too much before I look at the tape. We had some nice runs, and I thought we ran the ball better in the second half. But there were a lot of… Look, they’re a good defense. They’re going to make their plays, and they’re going to win some one-on-ones. We won some; we lost some. But overall, I’ll have to look at the tape. We did some good, but, obviously, it wasn’t good enough.”

Do you have any initial updates on [Brandon] Cisse and [Shed] Sarratt?

“Clint [Haggard], our trainer, you know, felt like they were not cleared, but able to come back if they felt well enough to. But they didn’t feel well enough to. Brandon got hit on his knee, and Shed has an ankle [issue]. We didn’t hold them out in the second half. They just didn’t feel well enough to be able to get back out there and play.

“And then, give credit to that freaking tight end. I should have said that, too. I mean, we couldn’t cover 14 [Trey’Dez Green]. That was a concern coming into the game. They’ve used him a lot in the red zone, and we were very aware of him in the red zone. But eight catches tonight, targeted 11 times. He was a weapon for them.”

What did you think of Matt [Fuller]‘s job running the ball? Why did he go so long without touching the ball after the touchdown?

“He needed to be back out there. I told the coaches at halftime, ‘Give the freaking ball to Matt Fuller in the second half, and let’s get him back in the game.’ I can’t remember how many drives we had after that. One was a two-minute drive, where Oscar [Adaway] was in there for a little bit more protection.

“Certainly, we got a good rotation with those three guys. But Matt’s a load, and we got him back rolling in the second half. In the first half, we wanted to get him back in there. But part of that, too, was keeping the rotation, because ‘Sul’ [Rahsul Faison] ran the ball really well tonight — 13 times for 72 yards. And then, Oscar was in there on that drive to just to finish the first half when it was two-minute.”

What would you attribute some of the failures in the passing game to?

“I’d say it’s a little bit of both [protections breaking up and issues down the field]. I think LaNorris will probably tell you he missed guys. Receivers would tell you we knew we were going to get man coverage. I mean, that’s what they play. And that fourth down that we went for, we played to ‘Dre’ [Vandrevius Jacobs] on the sideline. They’re in man-to-man coverage; they brought pressure. It’s man-to-man across the board. Their guy won, and we didn’t.

“So, I think there’s some of that: that we got to win our one-on-ones a little bit better. We got to… LaNorris will tell you he missed some throws. And then, certainly, protection. But there’s no question about it. We’ve got to be able to throw the ball down the field better and take our shots, for sure.

Why did Rodney [Newsom] come out of the game and Boaz [Stanley] take his place?

“It’s part of the rotation. We had a fumble on the first play of the game — which is mind-boggling to me. Everybody heard the cadence but Rodney, apparently. We had planned on coming into the game mixing those guys up and rotating some guys through. I mean, Nick Sharpe got in there, and that was because he was going to anyway; and then, Shed had got hurt. And we had planned on playing Rodney and ‘Bo’ both up front.”

How do you think Sharpe played in his first action?

“Hard to say. Just glancing at some plays on the iPad on the sidelines, I thought he did some good things and seemed to be having some fun out there and playing with some energy — which we need to be able to move people. I’ll watch the tape on my iPad on the plane flying back and have a better answer for you tomorrow night on the teleconference.”

Last year, you had some similar games that you could’ve won, but you just didn’t get over the hump. Is there anything you can take from that, or is it a completely different situation?

“I think you can take [something] from it. Fortunately, we were 3-3 at this time last year, and we were on the road at Alabama and lost a heartbreaker that came down to a two-point conversion in a throw to the end zone at the end of the game. I walked off that field sick to my stomach because we just lost the game and told our players in the locker room that I hurt for them because of how much they put into it. And these guys tonight… I mean, they were so freaking awesome tonight, our players — just the effort they played with. We expected to win this game. We did and had our opportunities, too. So, you draw on last year, that we were 3-3, and we rallied and continued to get better.

“This team… I know it’s not pretty right now, but I feel like we’re getting better in a lot of areas. We were 3-3 and going to Oklahoma — I think, if I remember correctly. Now, we’re 3-3 and got Oklahoma coming to town. So, there’s things you can take from it. But, certainly, we need to be able to, like I told our team in the locker room, quit kicking our own butts before we start kicking other teams’ butts.

“There was too much of that tonight. Just some of the going backwards when we’re in scoring position and have a chance to really take control of the game. That’s the disappointing thing: we had opportunities tonight to really… I don’t want to say, necessarily, take control, but really take momentum and dominate the fourth quarter like we talked about. We didn’t get it done.”

What is your frustration level with pre-snap penalties?

“High. I wish I had a better answer for you, but I don’t know what to tell you. High.

“We coached it; we disciplined it better. We practiced with crowd noise all week; we talked about LSU is going to be making move calls. Everything that we’ve talked about in practice, we emphasize it all week. But clearly, not good enough. So, the frustration level is high.”

What did you think about Dylan Stewart‘s presence tonight?

“Proud of him. He competed, played well against the run, battled and did a good job and gave us an opportunity.”

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