In Saturday's win over Coastal Carolina, the Gamecocks had an all around dominant performance, creating big plays with their offense and scoring a season-high 51 points.
“Certainly some plays that we'd like to have back,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “But overall, I thought we did a nice job, we gave them some unusual formations and had to make them adjust to some things. For the most part, I thought our guys did a nice job of executing.”
In the 51-7 victory, the Gamecocks finished the game with 579 yards, 277 of which came on the ground and 302 through the air. Tonight’s 579 yards is the third highest total yards in a game under Beamer.
“We work hard every practice day, and we put a lot of effort into this team,” redshirt junior linebacker Shawn Murphy. “Seeing them (the offense) score, it’s a great feeling cause we know how hard they work.”
Of the 69 plays called by South Carolina, the Gamecocks had 10 rushing plays that gained 10 or more yards and six passing plays over 15 yards.
On the very first play of the game, freshman wide receiver Jayden Sellers scored a 75-yard touchdown off of a wide receiver screen. Jayden Sellers then made another big catch on the Gamecocks second drive of the game, this time for 42 yards.
Following the game, redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers talked about the relationship between him and Jayden Sellers and the level of trust between the two.
“Just the growth from January to now,” LaNorris Sellers said. “We played together in high school, so trusted him from then, and obviously he’s my brother.”
The 75-yard catch makes this the longest reception in his career, with his previous high of 25 yards coming against Texas A&M this past weekend.
This is also the second straight week that the Gamecocks have had a touchdown pass of 75 yards or more, with junior wide receiver Nyck Harbor scoring a 80-yard touchdown last week against Texas A&M.
South Carolina in the first quarter rushed for 80 yards with redshirt senior Jared Brown and redshirt freshman Mathew Fuller both breaking off 19-yard rushes.
Later in the second quarter, Fuller had another long rush for 24 yards. He ended the game with 63 yards on eight attempts.
However, graduate running back Rahsul Faison had the longest run of the quarter when he broke off a 46-yard rush. Faison could have ran farther, but he ended up tripping at the Chanticleer 34-yard line.
Along with their 112 rushing yards in the second quarter, LaNorris Sellers also threw for 106 yards.
With the Gamecocks facing a third down, LaNorris Sellers completed a 36-yard pass to redshirt sophomore running back Jawarn Howell for his longest reception of the season.
On South Carolina’s final offensive drive of the second quarter, freshman wide receiver Donovan Murph made a 38-yard reception to set up a field goal to end the half.
Even though the Gamecocks only had a total of 160 yards in the second half, they did manage to have five plays that went for more than 15 yards. LaNorris Sellers had the longest play of the second half after a 26-yard rush.
The Gamecocks have now put up over 300 yards in consecutive games for the first time this season. Unlike the loss to Texas A&M, South Carolina kept its foot on the gas and finished the game.
“Just really, really proud of our guys, this was not easy,” Beamer said. “Especially the emotions of last week, the disappointment of last week ... We made a pretty strong statement tonight about what this place is about and the culture in this program.”