The South Carolina Gamecocks fell to the 16th-ranked LSU Tigers on Saturday by a score of 36-33. Despite building a substantial early lead, Carolina faltered in the second half allowing the Tigers to swoop in and snatch away what would have been another massive upset in the Shane Beamer era.
While there are positives to be found in their performance, the simple fact is that this loss was a gut punch. Entering the season very few would have pegged Carolina to host College Gameday at any point, and fewer still would have thought it would be in week three. This is exactly what happened, however, and for the first half, it actually looked like they were going to pull the upset.
College football can be a cruel mistress though, and the second half was nothing short of an agonizing collapse. Carolina fans are unlikely to take solace in any silver linings, and it’s completely understandable. That being said, it’s important to acknowledge to good and bad in any outcome. So, let’s take a look at the key takeaways from the Gamecocks week three loss.
Penalties Killed the Gamecocks
Several things led to Carolina blowing a 17-point lead, but if you were to point to one, it would definitely be the penalties. The Gamecocks had a whopping 13 penalties on Saturday. Any team that commits that many penalties is putting themselves at a massive disadvantage. When it also results in 14 points taken off the board as well, it ends up costing you games.
That’s exactly what happened for Carolina, as the Gamecocks had two separate pick-sixes called back due to personal foul calls. The second of these was the real killer, as a questionable unnecessary roughness call on Kyle Kennard wiped away a 102-yard touchdown for Nick Emmanwori. The pick occurred as LSU was right on the cusp of taking the lead midway through the fourth. If this play stands, it’s likely Carolina holds on for the win.
Instead, LSU scored on the very next play to take their first lead of the game giving them all of the momentum down the stretch. When asked about the penalty issues, Beamer voiced his disappointment.
“I want to apologize to our fans,” Beamer said. “13 penalties. That is not going to win football games in the SEC with 13 penalties. I don’t know if I have ever seen two defensive touchdowns come back because of penalties. Not just the defensive penalties, I know those are the ones you guys are going to ask me about. Offensively, big plays that came back because of receivers blocking downfield when we shouldn’t be. Linemen downfield, a quarterback scrambles on an RPO. We have to be better there.”
Carolina is exceeding expectations early, but if they can’t limit the mental mistakes it’s going to drastically limit what their ceiling could be.
The Passing Game Has to be Better
Another factor that limited what the Gamecocks were able to do was an utter lack of passing. There were always going to be some growing pains for LaNorris Sellers, but if Carolina wants to avoid more collapses like this then they have to be multifaceted on offense. While Sellers obviously needs to step up here, the burden isn’t his to bear alone.
We’ve touched on the Gamecocks pass protection concerns the previous two weeks, and that continues to be a problem. There have been some improvements week to week, but massive leaps need to be made in order to give Sellers the time he needs in the pocket. Once again we saw an opposing defense in the backfield on what seemed like every passing down.
Lastly, offensive coordinator David Loggins needs to help his young quarterback out by giving him easier reads. It’s clear that once Sellers feels pressure he starts to panic a bit and starts to rely on his athleticism. If Loggins can get Sellers into a rhythm early, we could start to see his confidence grow as a passer.
Gamecocks Run Game Is Legit
If there is one thing the “glass half full” “-minded individuals among us would take away from this loss, it’s that the Gamecock’s run game is the real deal. Coming into the season, it was very evident the ground attack would be the driving force for Carolina, at least early on while Sellers settled in as a passer.
We saw glimpses of this in the first two weeks, but Saturday was the real coming-out party. As a team, the Gamecocks rushed for 243 yards, and all four of their touchdowns. Star running back Raheim Sanders led the way, as he ran for a season-high 143 yards and two touchdowns. Sellers also had a phenomenal game on the ground. The redshirt freshman racked up 88 yards and two touchdowns of his own.
Both players broke off long touchdowns, with Sanders’ 66-yard dash giving Carolina the lead back after LSU had clawed it away the drive prior. Sellers and the Gamecocks offense as a whole still have a way to go when it comes to moving the ball through the air. While they figure that all out though, it helps to know they can run the ball with the best of them.
Final Thoughts
There’s no real way to sugarcoat how bad this loss is. When you have an opportunity to beat a ranked team in the SEC you have to capitalize. Letting the game slip away due in large part to self-inflicted reasons it’s going to hurt for a while. That being said, the fact Carolina stepped up the challenge. Seeing them give LSU all they could handle is a good sign. If they can find a way to take that next step in the passing game and limit the penalties they could cause some noise in the SEC.
Fortunately for Carolina, they have Akron next week, and a bye week after that to work on fixing some of the issues we saw Saturday. After that though the road gets immensely tougher with their next three games coming against Ole Miss, Alabama, and Oklahoma. One week at a time is the motto though, and for now, the next team up is the Akron Zips next Saturday in Columbia.
