COLUMBIA, S.C. — After five games and an open date, South Carolina is now preparing for a run to the end of November with seven consecutive weeks of action.
But during the open date, the emphasis was not only the previous opponent or the one that is next on the docket.
We don’t talk so much about the previous game. We didn’t talk anymore about Tennessee after we talked on Sunday when we got back from Knoxville,” Beamer said Tuesday at his weekly news conference.
“We didn’t spend a lot of time last week talking about Florida. It was kind of a reset of, ‘Here’s where we are. Here’s the things we’re doing well five games in. Here’s the things we’re not doing well. Here’s things we need to do more of, less of, players who need to play more or play less.’ Really step back, get refreshed.
“We’ve had the same schedule the last two years. I think there was certainly a good reset of being able to step back and see where we are. We’re not happy about being 2-3, but we also look at the big picture and what’s in front of us still. Let’s learn from the past and get better going forward. That’s really what we’ve done the last two years. This is the earliest we’ve had our open week. My first year was later in the year, last year was the middle of October. It’s the same process both years and this year as well.”
Kickoff Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. South Carolina (2-3, 1-2 SEC) is currently a two-point favorite over Florida (4-2. 2-1 SEC).