COLUMBIA, S.C. — The last two weeks have seen a disturbing trend for South Carolina football.
Two ranked opponents.
21-0 deficits.
The Gamecocks saw Arkansas score touchdowns on their opening three drives only to watch Georgia accomplish the same feat this past Saturday in a 48-7 win.
While Carolina’s opening SEC games have come against teams that are currently ranked in the top 10 (Georgia 1st, Arkansas 10th), that doesn’t lessen the angst that is permeating through the coaches’ offices as they try to reverse that trend. That includes starting practice with the game-like tempo.
“We don’t just stretch and ease into things. We try and start practice fast every day because that is how you start games,” Beamer said Tuesday.
“We have a walkthrough, and we stretch and then we usually do some sort of turnover or tackling circuit and a quick special teams period and then it is right to either a competitive period or a team period or some kind of physicality. We do that and we did it today.
“We just have to continue to look at how we are starting games schematically. And then when we get out there, we have to execute. Because it has happened way too often, I get it. We have had way too many bad starts to games, offense, defense and special teams. I think this was the second game in a row that we have given up a touchdown drives the first three times that the opponent had the ball and can’t get stops. We are getting ourselves into a hole and it is hard to dig out of.”
South Carolina steps out of the SEC for the next two weeks with home games against Charlotte and South Carolina State.