South Carolina's Shane Beamer talks 2-point attempt, LaNorris Sellers after loss to Alabama football

Shane Beamer's South Carolina team had every chance to beat Alabama football on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Gamecocks had a chance to tie the game with a late two-point conversion, but failed in the attempt and then saw their chances evaporate with an interception on the final play of the game and lost 27-25.

After the game, Beamer said he wasn't shocked that USC was able to keep it so close.

“We're not a bad team, so we expected to win this game,” Beamer told reporters in Tuscaloosa. “No one felt like they had to come here at halftime and do cartwheels because we had a close game with Alabama. We expected that because we have a good football team. Life at this conference is really, really hard. There are really good teams that you play against week in and week out.”

On the two-point conversion attempt, Gamecock quarterback LaNorris Sellers rolled right and fired the ball into the back of the end zone. He gave the pass way too much heat and it flew unstoppably past every USC receiver.

Beamer said afterward that the play call was specifically planned for Alabama.

“They played a few different coverages in their two-point play situations,” Beamer said. “One is more of a zone, one is more of a Max Blitz cover zero look. So we got the play that we thought would be good for both of them.

“I haven't seen the replay but from what I've been told we didn't play with great technique and didn't block great, we had a few players open. Unfortunately we put a bit of pressure on that.”

Despite the miss on that play, Beamer remained focused on Sellers. The quarterback gave Alabama's defense fits at times, using his legs to extend plays and drives.

“He’s a warrior,” Beamer said. “Proud of him. He's getting better every week. Come on the street. 23 of 31, 238 yards, ran the ball well, I thought he did enough to win the football game and he will continue to improve.”

South Carolina's defense played well most of the time against the Crimson Tide. The Gamecocks sacked Jalen Milroe four times and intercepted two passes.

According to Beamer, this was a key focus at the start of the game.

“One of the keys to the game for us was influencing the quarterback and Milroe,” Beamer said. “And we had stopped the run. We had fired him four times. We created the ball, picked up the ball and also had a turnover. So I thought they did enough to win for us. I wish we could have finished that (final) drive a little better when Alabama got the ball back.”

Next up, South Carolina plays on the road again, traveling to Norman next Saturday to face Oklahoma. Saturday's loss dropped the Gamecocks to 3-3, 1-3 in conference play.

“They ended up making more plays than we did,” Beamer said. “Proud of our team’s fight to get here and no one was surprised by our performance. We expected that. We competed hard against each other. All three facets. Everyone expected to win the football game. In the end it came up a little short.”