Shane Beamer addresses Spencer Rattler remarks about USC offense ‘knowing what to do’

South Carolina’s offense is taking a beating.

It only takes a quick scan of the Southeastern Conference’s leaders to see why. The Gamecocks rank at or near the bottom in most every offensive category through nine weeks this year, falling in line with the unit’s wayward nature from a season ago.

That’s — at least partly — why comments made by quarterback Spencer Rattler following Saturday’s loss to Missouri drummed up such attention.

Rattler was asked about Missouri’s defense and what the USC offense needed to do to make the offense more explosive.

“We’ve just got to get better at everything,” Rattler said. “Credit to Missouri. They gave us tough looks all night long with their blitzes, their pressures, the way they got after us. It was tough to get the drop-back pass game going.”

Then Rattler continued.

“I don’t feel like we had a good idea of knowing what to do. I’d say that’s what we need to get better at, is just preparing and knowing what to do.”

When asked to elaborate on the latter remark, he said: “I think collectively, as a group, we didn’t do what we needed to do. It’s about that basic.”

Head coach Shane Beamer addressed Rattler’s comments during his Sunday night teleconference with local reporters, noting that he’d met with the Gamecocks’ starting signal-caller to address his thoughts.

“I met with Spencer. We talked about that comment and I understand where he’s coming from,” Beamer said candidly. “We didn’t go into that game uncertain about things. We had a great week of practice and great mental week of practice with what we were asking our guys to do.

“I‘m aware of it,” Beamer said of the comment, “and Spencer and I met, but I don’t think it’s an issue.”

It makes sense that Rattler and those in the building — and certainly outside it — flagged those comments.

South Carolina has had its moments of success under offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield (the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, for one), but the most recent anemic effort against a Missouri team that, on paper, USC should’ve better competed with, ruffled plenty of feathers in and around Columbia.

USC was stagnant for the bulk of Saturday’s loss, finishing the night with 203 yards — good for the second-lowest offensive output of the Beamer era. Losing MarShawn Lloyd to injury certainly hurt that plan, though he was held to just 30 yards on his seven first-half carries.

Rattler has had his ups and downs this year, too, and he hasn’t played as poorly as his numbers might indicate. He finished the Missouri loss 20 of 30 passing for 171 yards, and he added a rushing touchdown as the Tigers defensive line swarmed him virtually every time he took a snap deeper than a yard or two off the line of scrimmage.

Still, the former five-star recruit hasn’t yet looked the part of the bankable future NFL signal-caller that preseason prognosticators thought might show up in Columbia heading into this year.

“They got after me, they got after our running backs and made it tough in the passing game,” Rattler said of Missouri’s defense. “We had a couple plays. Credit to them. They did a great job.”

Added Beamer: “People want to talk about some of the plays — Spencer made some big-time plays last night. And we’ve got to continue to help him and be better around him as well.”

South Carolina heads into the final four games of the 2022 season with its preseason aspirations still ahead of it.

USC this week travels to Nashville to take on a Vanderbilt squad that, though improved, remains an SEC East bottom-feeder. A trip to Gainesville to take on an erratic Florida team in its first year under head coach Billy Napier follows.

Beamer noted on Sunday that those outside the program lauding the Gamecocks for reaching The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time a week ago are the same folks criticizing Saturday’s effort.

A win against Vanderbilt would make South Carolina bowl-eligible and give Beamer a chance to become the first head coach in school history to win postseason games his first two years on the job.