South Carolina will take another crack at putting together a strong tuneup this week for Southeastern Conference play.
The Gamecocks will face Football Championship Subdivision member Towson on Saturday night in Columbia, S.C., before beginning SEC competition Sept. 19 at home against Mississippi State.
Even with last week’s 57-0 thrashing of Kent State, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer has found plenty of areas to address in advance of the Towson game.
“There’s a lot for us to dial in and hone in on this week to try to be a better football team,” he said. “What an opportunity to, again, perform in front of our fans.”
South Carolina (1-0) didn’t hit its goal of stopping the run in the Kent State game because of a pair of long quarterback runs, Beamer said.
That might seem like nitpicking. The Gamecocks rolled at times on offense with third-year starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers throwing for three touchdowns. They went 7-for-8 on third-down conversions.
Towson (0-2) will play its first out-of-state game following last week’s 42-15 loss at Navy in Annapolis, Md. The Gamecocks expect the Tigers to be in a different mode after facing the Midshipmen.
“Navy is a tough matchup for a lot of teams the way they run the ball,” Beamer said. “(The Tigers) present a lot of issues. They’re going to throw the ball down the field.”
Towson also is bound to unleash an aggressive scheme on defense.
“They’re going to bring five or more people on third down,” Beamer said.
Towson’s defense has been impacted by freshman linebacker Seth Chestnut, who was selected as the Coastal Athletic Association’s Rookie of the Week following the Tigers’ first game, when he led the team with seven tackles in a 21-18 loss to Maine.
Towson will need to adjust to a different type of setting this week.
“This is a whole unique experience — SEC, at night, under the lights,” Towson coach Pete Shinnick said. “We’ve known that this game was on our schedule for a long time. We want our guys to enjoy the experience but get better in the process.”
South Carolina will look to use a large chunk of its roster to combat whatever Towson throws its way.
“We have some depth, and we’ve got to be able to play them and keep them fresh,” Beamer said.
