Following No. 2-ranked Georgia’s 40-13 win over South Carolina on Saturday night, Gamecock head coach Shane Beamer was proud of his team and impressed with its physicality despite the 27-point loss. Beamer, who was an assistant with the Bulldogs for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, indicated South Carolina had a hand in Georgia’s victory.

“You can’t help a great football team. We certainly helped [Georgia] in a lot of ways,” Beamer said. “We have to coach better, myself included. We have to play better.”

Georgia actually committed more turnovers (three to two) than South Carolina. Still, senior wide receiver Josh Vann agreed with his head coach’s sentiments.

“We just beat ourselves,” said Vann, who totaled a game-high 128 receiving yards on three catches, including a 36-yard touchdown reception when the Gamecocks trailed, 40-6, early in the fourth quarter. “Shout out to Georgia; they’re a good team. But, we could have easily stuck with them. We just beat ourselves. I don’t know how many penalties we had, but we had a lot.”

South Carolina had nine penalties for 70 yards, or slightly more than Georgia’s seven penalties for 52 yards.

After the Gamecocks scored field goals on two of their first three offensive drives, their offense couldn’t muster a single point on seven consecutive possessions. South Carolina gained 134 of its 310 total yards of offense in the fourth quarter on its final two drives against Georgia’s defensive reserves.

“They have, like, 100 five-star football players on their defense,” Beamer said of Georgia. “They have a defensive lineman (Jordan Davis) who weighs 340 pounds and runs better than everybody on this Zoom call. They’ve got five-star defensive backs. They’re big, they’re physical and fast. Other than that, they're really freaking good. That's why they have the top defense in the country.”

Facing Georgia’s top defense, starting quarterback Zeb Noland, a native of nearby Watkinsville, Georgia, was forced out of the game early on with an injured right hand. In stepped sophomore Luke Doty who, coming off a foot injury, was seeing game action for the first time this season.

“Georgia’s got a great defense. They’re fast and physical up front,” Doty said. “They were able to catch some creases here and there to throw our timing off. But, hats off to them.”

For the game, Doty completed half of his 26 pass attempts for 153 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Entering the game, Beamer was very aware of Georgia’s talent level. And, in the end, the South Carolina head coach thought he was “more excited” about his team coming out of the game than he was entering it.

“I knew what Georgia was, coming into it. I spent two years here with Kirby [Smart],” Beamer said. “I know what kind of program they have here. It wasn’t like it was a big surprise when I got out here tonight—how big, fast, strong, and physical they are. They got some great players—and they are extremely well coached.”