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South Carolina plans to improve, get healthy during bye week

imageby: Jack Veltri10/10/22jacktveltri
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Shane Beamer (Photo by C.J. Driggers)

South Carolina will head into a much-needed bye week after taking down then-No. 13 Kentucky Saturday night.

This week’s schedule will look different for the Gamecocks since there won’t be a game to prepare for. Shane Beamer said the team will practice Monday through Wednesday and won’t meet again until Sunday.

“Fall break is here at Carolina on Thursday and Friday, so our guys don’t have class,” Beamer said. “They’ll have the weekend off, it’ll be a good chance for them to get home and see their families if they want. Coaches will be out recruiting Thursday, Friday, and some of us on Saturday. And then back at it on Sunday, full speed ahead on Texas A&M.”

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Even though the Gamecocks will only practice for three days before splitting up, Beamer said getting better will still be emphasized.

“For as great as (Saturday) night was, we still didn’t play great for a full game in all three phases,” Beamer said. “So much to improve on, which is exciting. So we’ve got to get better as a team.”

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Nevertheless, Beamer realizes that the bye week is also a time to recover. Especially since the team is trying to get fully healthy with half of the season remaining.

“You’ve got to be smart because it’s a long season. This is a physical league that we play in and we’ve got five SEC teams and Clemson left on our schedule,” Beamer said. “So we got to be smart about taking care of them physically as well.”

In some ways, the bye week couldn’t come at a worse time. South Carolina has won three consecutive games for the first time under Beamer and the first time since 2017. But after a hard-fought first half of the year, Beamer said the time off could be good.

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“A lot of times when you come off a win, you want to keep going and you’d rather play the very next week,” Beamer said. “If you come off a loss you want to keep going because you don’t want to sit around for two weeks and have to wait to play again. But certainly, when it’s at this point in the season, you need the break for sure.”

Having an extra week will give South Carolina more time to prepare for its next opponent, Texas A&M. The Aggies have beaten the Gamecocks every year, dating back to their first matchup in 2014.

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Beamer said he doesn’t expect there to be an added advantage since Texas A&M has off as well this weekend.

Coincidentally, South Carolina played the Aggies right before their looming bye week last year and lost 44-13. One difference from last year is the team’s self-belief, especially after winning on the road.

“I certainly feel like we’re farther along than we were,” Beamer said. “I don’t want to say that we weren’t confident last year halfway through, but I do believe there’s a great confidence that this team has right now. We’ve won three straight and we continue to get better and our best football is still out there.”

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