The South Carolina football team faced then-No. 12 Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday afternoon, losing 27-3. This is the second loss in conference play for the Gamecocks, making the team 1-2 against SEC teams.
But South Carolina will face another top opponent this coming weekend when it heads to Bryant-Denny Stadium to play the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama is coming off the team’s first defeat of the season after losing to an unranked Vanderbilt team.
Head football coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday that the team is "eager to get back on the field and compete" as it faces its third ranked opponent so far in the 2024 season.
Fixable penalties
South Carolina football ended Saturday's game with eight penalties for a total of 80 yards.
“The penalties make me sick. The penalties are going to happen. It’s the pre-snap penalties that make you want to throw up, and it's the post-snap penalties that we had on Saturday that we can’t have,” Beamer said. “Some penalties are going to happen, some penalties get called that probably aren’t good calls. But what we try do is in practice emphasize technique."
The Gamecocks' offense was called for offsides on four occasions and had offensive and defensive pass interference penalties.
"In practice, (we have to emphasize) the little things because I feel like what's been killing us is the little things, and penalty wise we've got to stay penalty-free,” senior running back Raheim Sanders said during Tuesday's press conference.
These penalties also included an unsportsmanlike conduct call on the celebration made by true freshman edge rusher Dylan Stewart. Beamer said that Stewart's actions were "unacceptable without a doubt" and that he "got caught up in the emotions."
"We care about Dylan, we love Dylan and we have got Dylan’s back too," Beamer said. "A lot of people don't, but the people in this building have his back."
Everything goes back to training
Throughout practice and film, the team is focused on improving while fixing the mistakes from the loss against Ole Miss.
“Every game I feel like I can do better, but that's just coming in and watching more,” Sanders said. “When I come down onto the film, it's just about making me feel comfortable in a game.”
Veteran players, such as sixth-year linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr., said they see the importance of practicing and creating situational plays for the defense.
"You can have those mistakes on Tuesday, but you go watch the film, then Wednesday, Thursday, you correct those," Knight said.
Preparing for upcoming SEC play
The Gamecocks are about halfway through conference play for the season.
South Carolina started the season with ranked conference opponents LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama, but there are others ahead on the schedule. Teams such as Texas A&M, Missouri and Oklahoma have spent plenty of time on theAP Poll this season as well.
But those names and numbers are just a label to the team, and they want to continue to improve “week in, week out" no matter who they are playing. Redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers said the team does not prepare any different than they would for a regular game played.
"It really just comes down to execution ... communication, small things, nothing big," Sellers said. "But we've just got to go out there and do it."
What's next?
The South Carolina Gamecocks (3-2, 1-2 SEC) will travel to play the Alabama Crimson Tide (4-1, 1-1 SEC) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff is set at noon, and the game will be broadcast on ABC.