For the second time in 2022, the South Carolina football team is on the road.
In week two, the Gamecocks lost 44-30 at Arkansas after falling behind 21-3 before cutting the deficit to 21-16.
With the #13 Wildcats presenting another top 15 challenge, head coach Shane Beamer hopes his team will get off to a faster start than the sluggish start which occurred at Fayetteville.
“I know we didn’t play great at Arkansas, but I told the guys this morning, I believe in them,” Beamer said at his weekly Tuesday news conference.
“I felt very confident about our ability to go on the road by going to Arkansas. To me, a great road team is able to respond to adversity and not flinch and just get stronger. We didn’t get off to a great start at Arkansas, there is no doubt about it. We were down 21-3. I think a team that is not built to handle the road gets blown out of that game. We battled back and made it 21-16 in the third quarter. We didn’t lose the game to Arkansas because we were on the road and couldn’t handle the environment. We lost to Arkansas because we couldn’t stop the run and turned the ball over three times in the fourth quarter.”
For Beamer, the recipe for success on the road starts with not making being on the road a bigger issue than it needs to be.
‘What we need to do is embrace going on the road. As a competitor, you love going into another stadium. I am sure it will be rocking up there on Saturday night as it should be,” Beamer said.
“We just have to do what we talk about doing that helps us win football games. Running the ball and stopping the run. Creating turnovers and playing smart football. Winning the fourth quarter and winning the explosive play battle. Do that and play well. I feel like we are a mature team that has handled that. Showed some maturity last week handling the short week. It is going to be critical for us to be mature, resilient, composed, physical, all of that stuff in order to win on the road.”