7 winners and losers from South Carolina's overtime loss to Kentucky

South Carolina dropped its third straight SEC contest at home, falling 35-34 in overtime to the Kentucky Wildcats. Although the Gamecocks played well, the team still let a 17-0 lead slip away, and lost another game it felt like the team could win. 

Before we turn the page to this week's road contest against the Florida Gators, a look at some winners and losers from Saturday's game at home.     

Winner: QB LaNorris Sellers's response

It was an eventful week for Sellers, as his backup Cutter Woods reportedly received increased first-teams reps at practice at the beginning of the week. Through the last three games, Sellers had thrown four interceptions, and struggled to be consistent in the passing game. 

But against Kentucky, he played much better, throwing for 226 yards passing with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was also effective with his legs, rushing for a season-high 147 yards on the ground. He also added a long 74-yard run early in the fourth quarter that set up a touchdown to make it 27-24. 

His completion percentage wasn't the best, finishing at 55.6%, but it was a performance like one South Carolina fans expected him to have in Kendal Briles' system. But he wasn't perfect, which brings us to our first loser.  

Loser: Sellers' ball security

As great as Sellers was in the air and on the ground, he had three fumbles on the day. While he recovered two of them, the two he lost killed South Carolina drives late in the third and in the fourth quarter, one on a fourth-down attempt. 

Had he taken care of the football, those drives could have resulted in points. That might have put the game out of reach for Kentucky, resulting in a Gamecock victory.    

Winner: South Carolina's improved run game

South Carolina did a good job running the football last week against Alabama, finishing with 216 yards on the ground. But the Gamecocks had just one score to show for it, failing to punch the ball in the end zone on the ground. 

But the Gamecocks' rushing attack looked quite good against Kentucky, as South Carolina finished with 232 yards rushing, led by Sellers, Jabree Coleman and Matt Fuller. Coleman and Fuller both had rushing touchdowns. 

Through five games, South Carolina has the best rushing attack in the SEC, averaging 256 yards on the ground per game. Having a day on the ground like the Gamecocks did will be key in winning some much-needed games as the season goes on. 

Losers: Beamer's 4th-down conversion calls

South Carolina finished 0-for-2 on fourth down, failing to convert on both attempts late in the game. Kentucky, meanwhile, went for it twice and got both. South Carolina could have kicked a field goal instead, but chose to go for it and instead got zero points out of it. The first attempt, with 3:14 left in the third, resulted in Moe Brown II getting stuffed. After the game Beamer defended his decision to go for it with Brown: 

“The one with Moe, felt like we had momentum and wanted to finish the drive and wanted to be aggressive," Beamer said via Gamecock Central after the game. We talked about that all week: that we were going to coach aggressive. Felt like we had a good call. It’s a play that we’ve ran forever now, that we’ve had in our game plan every week. We haven’t called it. Had a good look. There was an unblocked linebacker that we weren’t going to get to, and I’ll take my chances with Moe and him one-on-one in the hole. He bounced it outside a little bit to where the unblocked guy is, and good play by them."

The Gamecocks' failed second attempt came on the aforementioned Sellers fumble. As much as going for it in short yardage is aggressive and can pay off, Beamer can't afford to keep letting South Carolina lose out on easy points in the future.  

Winner: Kentucky head coach Will Stein's gutsy late-game decision 

As much as South Carolina fans may not want to admit it, you have to tip your cap to Stein. His gutsy play call to not only go for the win and execute the two-point play gave his team a huge road victory, and the largest road comeback in school history. 

Although it looked like South Carolina's defense wasn't prepared for the play, Coach Beamer said after the game he didn't want to bail out the Wildcat offense by calling a timeout: 

"I didn’t want to bail them out by calling timeout," Beamer said via Gamecock Central. "I think the play clock got down, if I’m not mistaken, to about two seconds when they snapped it, and I thought they were late getting organized. Liked the call that we had. I mean, it was bringing pressure and playing cover zero and making the quarterback get the ball out of his hands right now. That was what we wanted to do today: play with a little bit more pressure and heat those guys up."

Loser: South Carolina squanders another big lead 

South Carolina losing this one is disappointing, especially because the Gamecocks had a 17-0 lead early. Under Beamer, South Carolina has let seven double-digit leads slip away, all resulting in Gamecock losses. Past games on the list include the 2022 Gator Bowl against Notre Dame, last year's huge lead against Texas A&M and the Mississippi State game a couple weeks ago. 

Loser: Shane Beamer earning any goodwill from the fans 

This was an opportunity for Beamer to cool down his seat a bit, getting a much-needed victory at home. Instead, he let a 17-0 lead slip away, and got bested by first-year head coach Will Stein in overtime. The loss dropped South Carolina to 0-3 in SEC play. Unsurprisingly, Beamer was greeted by boos as he left the field Saturday night:

Unfortunately for Gamecock fans wanting a coaching change, the school reportedly might not be able to afford to move on from him at this time. 

It might be a long season once again in Columbia, folks.

ALSO READ: Shane Beamer updates Dylan Stewart's status ahead of Florida game

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