South Carolina gets one more dress rehearsal before SEC play begins, and Shane Beamer is treating it like a chance to sharpen every loose edge.
The Gamecocks host Towson on Saturday night in Columbia, S.C., with Mississippi State waiting to open Southeastern Conference play on Sept. 19. South Carolina already opened the season with a 57-0 rout of Kent State, but Beamer said there is still plenty to clean up before the schedule stiffens.
"There's a lot for us to dial in and hone in on this week to try to be a better football team," he said. "What an opportunity to, again, perform in front of our fans."
Even in a dominant win, Beamer pointed to one specific area that didn’t meet the standard: stopping the run. Kent State broke through with a pair of long quarterback runs, which kept South Carolina from fully checking that box.
The offense, though, had no such trouble finding rhythm. Third-year starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers threw three touchdown passes, and the Gamecocks converted 7 of 8 third downs.
Towson arrives at 0-2 after a 42-15 loss at Navy last week in Annapolis, Md., and the Tigers are set for their first out-of-state game of the season. Beamer said South Carolina expects a different look than the one Navy presented.
"Navy is a tough matchup for a lot of teams the way they run the ball," Beamer said. "(The Tigers) present a lot of issues. They're going to throw the ball down the field."
He also expects Towson to pressure aggressively on passing downs.
"They're going to bring five or more people on third down," Beamer said.
Towson’s defense has already gotten a boost from freshman linebacker Seth Chestnut, who earned Coastal Athletic Association Rookie of the Week honors after the Tigers’ opener. In that 21-18 loss to Maine, Chestnut led the team with seven tackles.
For Towson coach Pete Shinnick, Saturday brings a setting his team has been waiting for.
"This is a whole unique experience -- SEC, at night, under the lights," Shinnick said. "We've known that this game was on our schedule for a long time. We want our guys to enjoy the experience but get better in the process."
South Carolina plans to lean on depth to handle the night, with Beamer saying the Gamecocks will need to rotate players and keep them fresh.
"We have some depth, and we've got to be able to play them and keep them fresh," Beamer said.
In Other News...
South Carolina May Have Found A Backfield Weapon Fans Werent Expecting
South Carolinas backfield got an unexpected spark in its Week 1 win over Kent State, and it came from a player who had yet to take an offensive snap in a Gamecocks uniform. Jabree Coleman, the Penn State transfer who redshirted last season, made his collegiate offensive debut look easy, piling up 77 yards on just four carries while finding the end zone twice in a game where the ground attack set the tone.
Coleman said the moment was everything he had hoped for, and he was quick to point to the offensive line for making the night possible. It also fit neatly into a dominant team performance on the ground, with South Carolinas running backs combining for 278 rushing yards and four touchdowns, a reminder that the Gamecocks may already have more depth in the backfield than many expected. [Read more 🡒]
Gamecocks Pass Rush Finally Gets A Very Different Week 2 Test
Kent States passing game last week offered a very different kind of challenge for a pass rush, with Dru DeShields getting the ball out in 2.4 seconds on 23 dropbacks. The Golden Flashes kept things compact, leaning on short passes with an average depth of target of 2.5 yards and only four throws that traveled more than nine yards downfield, the sort of script that can take a defenses sacks out of the equation.
Towson should ask more questions of South Carolina in Week 2, though, because Andrew Indorf has been willing to push the ball deeper and his profile comes with a much higher average depth of target. For a Gamecocks front trying to build on its early work, that creates a different kind of test: less about beating a rapid-fire release and more about staying disciplined when the ball starts traveling farther downfield. [Read more 🡒]
South Carolina Faces An Early Depth Test In First Night Game
South Carolina gets its first night game of the season Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, and the matchup with Towson arrives with the Gamecocks carrying real momentum from a 57-0 rout of Kent State. They are favored again against a Towson team that is 0-2, but the bigger early-season question for Shane Beamers group is less about the opponent and more about how the roster holds up under another game.
The injury picture adds some intrigue to what should be a comfortable home date. Dylan Stewart and Jacarrius Peak are both doubtful to play, which puts a little more pressure on the depth chart as South Carolina looks to keep its start on track under the lights. Fans who want to follow along will need the streaming option, since the game is set for SEC Network Plus. [Read more 🡒]