Preventing a catastrophic start to the 2024 season was the goal of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
There are some positives from the first game as the Gamecocks get ready for their first SEC away game of the season against Kentucky.
Dylan Stewart, Edge
When it comes to Saturday’s game, one thing is for sure: Dylan Stewart will be a Gamecocks phenomenon. Stewart recorded 1.5 sacks in his collegiate football debut, forcing two turnovers, one of which resulted in South Carolina’s game-winning touchdown. While Stewart is undoubtedly still a rookie and has opportunity to grow, doing that right away gives this coaching staff and fan base hope.
During the offseason, Kyle Kennard, EDGE South Carolina, invested time and resources in the EDGE role by using the portal and the high school recruiting circuit. Both Kyle Kennard and Stewart demonstrated an instant return on investment. With 2.5 sacks against Old Dominion, Kennard makes his debut in South Carolina.
By the way, Kennard is more than halfway to surpassing the team lead in sacks from the previous season. All offseason, it was emphasized, and the Gamecocks demonstrated in the first game of the season that they can pressure the quarterback this year.
You prevailed. “We celebrate wins around here.” After the football game, Shane Beamer said those things. You would have preferred, of course, to defeat the Old Dominion squad by a wide margin. Of course, it would have been nice to feel more confident before the Kentucky game.
You played about as horribly offensively as you could, but you still managed to win the football game. Preparing Sellers for his first road start in Lexington this weekend will be a big assignment for offensive coordinator Dowell Logains. After a 23-19 victory over Old Dominion, Shane Beamer evaluates his team’s performance.
Following his team’s victory over Old Dominion, Shane Beamer took the podium. According to Coach Beamer, the performance was deemed “unacceptable.””Sloppy, without a doubt,” is how Coach Beamer described the way his squad played. “Lot to clean up, obviously.”
The passing game was one of the main things that needed to be fixed. LaNorris Sellers completed the evening with 114 yards on 10 of 23 plays. Although Coach Beamer acknowledged that all areas needed improvement, he did not place the entire burden on his redshirt rookie.
“A few drips fell. There were certain routes that we ran erratically. There were some problems with protection. Coach Beamer assessed the passing game following the first week, saying, “We had some misreads by the quarterback.”
Even though the passing game was far from ideal, Coach Beamer took the time to support his offensive line. He was proud of their play but noted they needed to improve.
Coach Beamer expressed his pride in the team’s performance tonight. “They want to bring back certain plays, there’s no doubt about it. Suggestedly, the offensive line had difficulty. No, the offensive line played extremely physically and accomplished a lot of really fantastic things.”
Coach Beamer was effusive in his praise of his defensive play following a four-turn play that resulted in 14 points. “When we win the turnover fight, we have an absurdly good record here. Even a tie in the turnover war would be fantastic. Turnover margin is the most important football statistic, in my opinion. Coach Beamer discussed the need for creating turnovers. “We obviously did that tonight, and it was huge.”
Overall victories are not always simple to obtain. Although Coach Beamer is happy with his team’s fight, South Carolina will undoubtedly need to improve as the season goes on.
“We’re really proud of our crew. Even though it was sometimes unsightly to look at and even though we had certain difficulties, I believed that we overcame them all. The other phase took them up whenever something went wrong with the first phase, according to Coach Beamer.
It will be a long, but hopefully fruitful, season for the Gamecocks in 2024 as they try to build on the successes and learn from the setbacks.