Tuesday Morning QB: Did South Carolina, Beamer save season with victory over Florida?

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Oct. 13—If there's one thing I've learned over the past four decades following the South Carolina football program is that the narrative, no matter how good or bad, about the team can quickly change.

For three weeks, South Carolina fans have been calling for Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer to be fired or his contract bought out after losses to Mississippi State, Alabama and Kentucky.

The Gamecocks' defense was a joke against SEC opponents — wide receivers were running wild in the USC secondary — while Beamer and the team's top defensive player, Dylan Stewart, were feuding on the sidelines. To make matters worse, Heisman Trophy hopeful LaNorris Sellers looked confused and out of sync with each game under new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.

Then the Gamecocks go on the road and play then-16th-ranked Florida at The Swamp, a venue where USC has had little success over the years.

Sellers had his best passing game of the season against the Gators, throwing for 279 yards and four touchdowns, and ran for another score. This was the Sellers that many Gamecocks fans have been waiting to see this season. The one that's an NFL first-round draft pick and one of the most dangerous offensive players in college football.

A lot of the credit goes to the USC offensive line that gave Sellers plenty of time to throw the ball, and Briles called an excellent game.

"Cutter (Woods) took some first-team reps with the offense last week going into Kentucky," Beamer said. "But it wasn't like it was a 50-50 split. It was 75-25. I challenged LaNorris in a team meeting after the Alabama game in front of the team. And I told him, 'Cutter's going to get some first-team reps. And you need to play better.'"

The Gamecocks defense forced three turnovers and put consistent pressure on Florida QB Aaron Philo, especially in the second half.

"(Defensive coordinator) Clayton White was awesome today. He was taking criticism," Beamer said. "(Secondary coach) Torrian Gray was awesome today. Our whole staff was awesome today. But Kendal was a stud tonight. I thought he called a great game. He was aggressive. We never took our foot off the gas pedal. And we responded.

"I get it. The opening drive of the second half, they go down there and kick the field goal. And it's, 'OK, here we go, offense. What you gonna do?' And we went right back down there and scored a touchdown."

The Gamecocks have been consistently inconsistent this season. One defensive stop on a two-point conversion against Kentucky and a couple of plays against Mississippi State, especially on defense, and the Gamecocks could very easily be 5-1 now with a legitimate claim of being in the College Football Playoff conversation.

Of course that's not the way football works.

Now, the question becomes how will the Gamecocks handle success?

USC has an open date this weekend and will have two weeks to prepare for a Tennessee team that struggled to beat Arkansas.

Was the win over Florida enough to save Beamer's job and the season?

The next month will tell us.

Bucs respond after 0-2 start to season

Let's give Charleston Southern coach Gabe Giardina a shoutout for keeping this Buccaneer team together after an 0-2 start to the season.

The Bucs could have folded their tents and taken their ball and gone home for the season.

Giardina wasn't going to let that happen.

The Bucs are coming off a sloppy but thrilling 49-39 win over then-No. 21 S.C. State.

"We did some things that we have corrected. It wasn't pretty, but we had a lot of good plays," Giardina said after the game. "We really shot ourselves in the foot, and we have to be better at controlling our emotions. We're better than that, and I know that. But there is so much more to this team than wins and losses, but we love to win."

Like USC, Charleston Southern is a handful of plays away from being 5-1. The Bucs lost to Gardner-Webb and Lindenwood by a combined five points.

An overtime win over The Citadel and now this victory over S.C. State has the Bucs back on track to have a solid season, and Giardina deserves full marks for not letting the team fall apart.

Charleston Southern will travel to Clemson this Saturday in a "money game" and then finish the season against five Ohio Valley Conference opponents.

Reach Andrew Miller at 843-937-5599. Follow him on X @APMILLER_PandC

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