Shane Beamer Dishes On Self-Inflicted Errors In Loss To Georgia
Sometimes, the losses that hurt the worst are the ones where you feel like, in some aspects, you let the game get away from you. That's the feeling that Shane Beamer is carrying as the Gamecocks depart Athens with a 24-14 loss in a game where they were almost in full control at one point. South Carolina lost control and subsequently all of the momentum in the second half, and especially on defense, it felt the Gamecocks just weren't making enough plays when given an opportunity, which Beamer mentioned in his opening statement in his postgame presser.
"Give credit to Georgia, but we have four keys to this game, and one of them was 'make them earn it,' and we didn't do a good enough job of making them earn it, and [I've] got a list of self-inflicted things that [we committed] in the second half."
One sequence that stuck out to many in the second half was a kickoff return early in the third quarter. It was a short kick that was fielded by Xavier Legette right in the middle of the field, but Georgia's Mekhi Mews blew past the Gamecock blockers and tackled Legette just shy of the 20-yard line. That mistake was compounded by a holding penalty, which forced Carolina to start the drive at their own seven-yard line, which, after Georgia's touchdown on their previous offensive drive, swung a ton of momentum in the Bulldogs' direction.
"To have a penalty there, crowd's already into it, then you get backed up down by the student section. Wasn't ideal," Beamer lamented.
In terms of injuries, players like Markee Anderson, Jatius Geer, Ahmarean Brown, Tyreek Johnson, and a couple of others are expected to return next week, per Beamer. Juice Wells, however, left the game after the first offensive possession, having seemingly aggravated whatever injury he's been dealing with for the past month and a half or so. When asked about his status, Beamer conveyed that the team is in wait-and-see mode.
"We're gonna let him see a specialist on Tuesday this week and should have a better idea then. I don't think what it is is necessarily season-ending; we feel like it's something that he'll be able to play with, and we'll know a lot more here on Tuesday."
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