Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks opened their SEC slate on Saturday night against Vanderbilt, and the contest quickly turned into a physical, chippy battle.
The intensity boiled over late in the second quarter when starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers was forced to leave the game after taking a hard shot to the head from Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson. Sellers remained down on the field and eventually had to be helped off by trainers. Backup quarterback Luke Doty was called in to replace him.
Initially, play resumed as if nothing had happened. But just one snap later, officials halted the action to review the hit on Sellers. After a lengthy look, Patterson was assessed for targeting and ejected from the game.
That ruling didn’t stop head coach Shane Beamer from voicing his frustration. Beamer was visibly heated with the officials, upset that the game wasn’t stopped sooner after such a dangerous hit.
The Gamecocks, however, went into halftime in a difficult position, trailing Vanderbilt 14-7 inside Williams-Brice Stadium. If Sellers is unable to return, the pressure will fall squarely on Doty to engineer a comeback for the 11th-ranked Gamecocks.
