This past Saturday night, the South Carolina football program achieved its biggest win of the season after the team beat the No. 10 Texas A&M Aggies 44-20 in front of a sold-out crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The win against the Aggies marked the Gamecocks’ first top-10 victory in nearly two years, as the team has not won a game of this feat since beating No. 7 Clemson Tigers 31-30 in November 2022. This win also marked South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer’s third win against an AP top-10 opponent since he joined the team in 2021.
Beamer spoke about the team’s preparation for this weekend's game against the No.24 Vanderbilt Commodores in his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Not your ordinary Vanderbilt
South Carolina currently holds a 29-4 head-to-head record against Vanderbilt in program history, who is currently ranked No. 24 in the country heading into Saturday.
However, despite past success, Beamer said that this Vanderbilt team is much improved from last year's matchup, a game in which the Gamecocks won 47-6.
The Commodores head into Saturday’s game with a 6-3 record, already making the team bowl-eligible for the first time since the 2018 season. The Commodores have put together a strong resume so far this season, which includes a 40-35 win over No. 1 Alabama and two 3-point losses to No. 7 Missouri and No. 5 Texas.
“They’re doing the things that teams have to do in order to win football games,” Beamer said. “They’re doing a great job of just not losing football games, playing winning football, finding ways to get games to the fourth quarter and then finding a way to win it.”
The Commodores are atop the SEC in several statistics. Beamer said he recognized that Vanderbilt leads the SEC in time of possession, second in turnover margin and that it is the least penalized team in the division.
Beamer also spoke about the impact that the returning Vanderbilt players have had.
Vanderbilt's senior quarterback Diego Pavia threw for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Commodores' 17-7 win over the Auburn Tigers last week.
“It all starts with the quarterback,” Beamer said. “He’s a dynamic player, dynamic athlete, dynamic leader. Their team goes as he goes.”
Sellers' progression
After turning the ball over five times in a two week span against No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 7 Alabama, redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers has recorded four total touchdowns while committing zero turnovers since that two-game skid.
Beamer talked about how he went about coaching Sellers not only on the field, but in the film room as well.
“You don’t want to turn him into a robot where you’re scared to make mistakes,” Beamer said.
Sellers passed for 244 yards and two touchdowns against the Aggies, and rushed for an additional 106 yards and a touchdown. The 350 yards of total offense is the highest of Sellers’ collegiate career.
“(I told Sellers) ‘I want you to go out there Saturday night and cut it loose and have fun and be the playmaker you are,’” Beamer said. "You don't want to coach that out of him."
Great November
Coming off of an upset victory, Beamer said he looks to extend the program’s winning mentality for the rest of the month.
The win against the Aggies that took place on Nov. 2 was just the first of five games that the Gamecocks have remaining in the final month of the regular season.
“We just keep it going, and it wasn’t just, "Let’s just have a great week and go play well against Texas A&M.' It’s 'let's finish the month of November the right way,'” Beamer said.
Beamer talked about the importance of not only showing up to play at kickoff, but “(recreating) the same energy and intensity” in practice day in and day out.
South Carolina plays No. 24 Vanderbilt, Missouri, Wofford and No. 19 Clemson in November to finish out its 2024 season campaign.
What’s next?
The Gamecocks (5-3, 3-3 SEC) head to Nashville to take on the No. 24 Vanderbilt Commodores (6-3, 3-2 SEC) on Nov. 9 at FirstBank Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4:15 p.m., and the game can be watched on SEC Network.