Shane Beamer on 29-22 Loss to Bama: 'We gotta go Finish'

Following South Carolina’s heartbreaking 29-22 loss to Alabama on Saturday, which saw the Gamecocks give up an eight-point fourth quarter lead, South Carolina’s head coach Shane Beamer shared his thoughts on today’s game in which he mentioned his team’s inability to finish games.

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Beamer began his post-game press conference by praising the Crimson Tide for their resiliency in the fourth quarter. Alabama scored the final 15 points of the game, clinching the victory with a touchdown reception and a rushing touchdown from senior wide receiver Germie Benard. This strong performance allowed the Tide to overcome an eight-point deficit in the final quarter.

South Carolina’s head coach also pointed out his team’s inability to finish this game out, which seemed to come heavily from the Gamecocks’ offense, who had three possessions in the first half that they found themselves inside the Crimson Tide’s 30-yard line, and still had to settle for a field goal with one of those being a miss from 47 yards out.

The Gamecocks had an opportunity to win the game with a field goal after surrendering an eight-point lead in the final two minutes of play. However, a fumble by Lanorris Sellers—forced by Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson and recovered by defensive lineman Tim Keenan with 1:39 left in the game—ultimately set up Alabama for the winning rushing touchdown from Bernard.

“Give Alabama credit to be down on the road going into the fourth quarter by eight points and to do what they did in the fourth quarter, give them credit.” Beamer added, “I just told our team in the locker room, we gotta finish. Got an eight-point lead, at home, the crowd is losing their minds in there, it’s electric, and we gotta go finish, and we didn’t finish, and they did.”

Beamer was asked about his message to his quarterback after a game in which he threw two touchdown passes but also committed two costly turnovers: one was an interception on a screen pass that was returned for an 18-yard touchdown by Crimson Tide defensive back Dashawn Jones in the first quarter, and the other was a fumble with under two minutes remaining, which led to another Alabama touchdown, putting them ahead by seven with just 34 seconds left in the game. Beamer expressed his high regard for Sellers, calling Him one of the "best players in the stadium". He also mentioned that when the game was tied at 22, he advised the Gamecocks’ offensive coordinator and former Alabama head coach, Mike Shula, to let Sellers “go win it.”

“When they [Alabama] broke that run at the end, we let them score so we could get the ball back, and I walked up to him on the sideline and I told him Look, we just let them score, so you get an opportunity to go win this thing.” Beamer said, “When it was 22, all I told Mike [Shula] on the headphones, in my mind, I think we got the best player in the stadium today, so let’s let him go win it, and we just weren’t quite able to go do that.

Beamer was asked what he told players like offensive lineman Tree Babalade and running back Rashul Faison after Babalade got a crucial holding call in the second quarter, which called back a 13-yard rushing touchdown from Sellers, and ultimately forced the Gamecocks to settle for a field goal, and Faison, who tipped up a pass which resulted in a pick-six return from Jones. The head coach stated that he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the holding call on Babalade, saying the Alabama defender might’ve pulled an NBA move and flopped.

“I told Tree [Babalade] that’s a tough call. You guys saw it better than I did. Looked like he was in a pretty good position and looked like one of the greatest NBA players who flops at times in the lane. Maybe he didn’t, but I thought Tree was in a pretty good position, maybe not, but that’s what I told Tree, just being honest with him.” Beamer said, “I told Rahsul [Faison] when it happened, look, seven points isn’t going to win this thing, and we’re going to need you to come back and carry this thing today and help us go win this game.”

When asked about the game plan tonight and what allowed the Gamecocks’ offensive plan to be so effective, with South Carolina’s offense recording 333 yards from scrimmage, with 222 of those coming through the air in which Beamer responded how he talked to Shula and decided to make the gameplan simpler going into this one with the Gamecocks’ head coach stating that he knew they weren’t going to “outscheme Alabama.”

“It’s easy to say simplify, but we were probably less volume in the game plan today just because I told Mike [Shula] and the offensive coaches, we aren’t gonna outscheme Alabama.” Beamer added, “Let’s get whatever we are best freaking stuff is schematically, and let’s get it in the game plan and figure out who our best players are and just feature our best plays and our best players over and over and over again.”

Before concluding his press conference, Beamer emphasized that the offensive line performed well in Saturday's loss, which contributed significantly to the team's success. The Gamecocks allowed only two sacks, which is impressive considering they had been giving up the most sacks in the SEC leading up to this game.

The head coach highlighted that South Carolina's time of possession (TOP) would be a critical factor in today’s game, as he had mentioned earlier in the week. This proved true, with the Gamecocks controlling possession for over 32 minutes compared to Alabama's 27. However, despite having the advantage in TOP, the Gamecocks were unable to secure a victory.

“I thought they were better there was a play right before the half we turned a guy free that was not on the offensive line so don’t write your articles about the offensive line turning a guy free because that wasn’t the offensive ine and that was just one of our guys on the offense not doing their job, so we gotta continue to help our offensive line. There were certainly some plays today they’d like to have back, but I thought they did a pretty good job against a good front four.” Beamer said “One of the ways that you needed to win the game against Alabama was control the clock, i talked about that with you guys earlier this week i mean, their time of possesion going into these last four games was 32 minutes every game, and i mean we controled it for 33, at halftime, we had the ball for 20 minutes compared to their ten but you know we just gotta finish.”

The gamecocks will drop to 3-5 on the season and 1-5 in conference play, as they will hit the road next week to take on No. 8 Ole Miss in Oxford on Saturday, November 1st.

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