Do you remember what Paul Finebaum said about Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks? “That’s a program that is inching toward the extreme upper echelon,” he said. “They were everybody’s favorite team that deserved to be in last year.” That’s how the ESPN analyst hyped Beamer and co. They had placed the burden of the whole program on the offense. After all, it had weapons like quarterback LaNorris Sellers, offensive line weapons including Nick Sharpe, Boaz Stanley, and Rodney Newsom Jr. However, maybe Beamer bit off more than he could chew. The end result? South Carolina’s offense disappeared during their 38-10 win against South Carolina State. 

Beamer’s team hosted SC State at Williams-Brice Stadium on September 6. The Weather Gods played foul, pushing the finish to early Sunday. While the Gamecocks went home with a win, Beamer must be losing his sleep thinking about Sellers’ play. Last season, the Gamecock’s offense ranked at No.48, averaging 184.4 yards. They might have been expecting a glow up thanks to the Sellers craze. But Week 2 was not evidence of that.

On September 8, on That SEC Podcast, SEC Mike deconstructed the game, sharing his take. “South Carolina State had the lead three to zero. Yep. South Carolina did not score, Shane, until five minutes remained in the first half, and it was a punt return touchdown.” Beamer’s boys went home with a win, but most of the points didn’t come from a strong offensive performance. Fans were expecting something different from Beamer’s offense which was supposed to dominate easily. As the analyst noted,  “This is a team that you should be scoring like 60 points at ease… 14 came on punt returns.”

Defensive back Vicari Swain had two punt-return touchdowns, giving SC 14 points. The Gamecocks took a 17-3 lead into the locker room at halftime. But the credit goes fully to Beamer’s special teams. Mike further noted, “South Carolina did not score an offensive touchdown till the third quarter… as many three-and-outs as scoring drives… went 3 of 12 on third downs… averaged 4.5 yards per play. South Carolina State averaged 4.4.” 

After going stagnant in the first quarter, Beamer’s offense found some rhythm in the second one. But it wasn’t much. South Carolina totaled 97 yards and increased its average yards per play from 1.5 to 5.1 in the second quarter. Things finally broke open for Beamer’s offense at the start of the second half. That’s when the quarterback led the Gamecocks on an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive to start the third quarter. But someone has already walked away from the Sellers’ craze even before their SC State face-off.

David Pollack’s changed stance on Shane Beamer’s quarterback

That’s none other than the Georgia Bulldog legend and three-time All-American David Pollack. Surprisingly, he was the one to root high for Sellers, seeing shades of Cam Newton in the quarterback. But his feelings changed for the quarterback. Talking about Beamer’s signal caller on his See Ball Get Ball podcast, Pollack shared, “I’m not knocking LaNorris Sellers.”

“But I am saying I saw a bunch of misses again today. I saw a bunch of misses. I saw some throws that he’s not going to be the guy who drops back and is picking you apart consistently,” Pollack justified himself. This lack of trust came after Beamer’s South Carolina won against Virginia Tech.

Yes, just a repeat telecast. Sellers completed 12 of 19 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. Surprising right? After all, the stats are spectacular. Being one of Beamer’s primary playmakers, Sellers’ passing stats disappointed Pollack. Tech’s defense sacked Sellers in his own end zone for a safety. Cut to their face off against SC State, the run game sputtered at 3.5 yards per carry, with Sellers failing to force a missed tackle and managing just 9 yards after contact (down from 51 vs. Virginia Tech). His lowlight came on a 3rd-and-10 run before William Joyce missed a second-quarter field goal.

However, it’s good that Beamer is not dodging their shortfalls. “We’ve got to be more consistent and clean that up. We didn’t play enough winning football last night, particularly offensively,” said the head coach in the post-game press conference. Let’s see how their cleanup process turns out.