Losing is a problem every professional, collegiate and amateur sports team experiences at some point in time. For the athletes who make up those teams, suffering a loss in a game can be a difficult obstacle to overcome.
The South Carolina football team was no different on Saturday after suffering a 36-33 loss to No. 16 LSU. The Gamecocks scored 17 unanswered points to start the game, only for the Tigers to come out on top.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Akron football game]
“Guys are in there, and they’re hurting. You lose a heartbreaker like that, everybody’s going to hurt, especially when it’s game we had every opportunity in the world to win,” Robby Ashford said. “We gave them that game. They didn’t beat us – we gave it to them.”
Despite the loss, Shane Beamer and South Carolina’s players are determined to keep it from affecting the team’s outlook on the rest of the season.
Thoughts of negativity likely crept into players minds well before the final whistle, specifically during parts of the game in which the Gamecocks’ were not performing efficiently. But some of the team’s leaders found ways to keep their teammates’ heads in the game.
LaNorris Sellers dealt with adversity during the game primarily in the form of an injury he suffered late in the second quarter. When Sellers noticed the offense was struggling, he made it a point provide with positive reinforcement.
“It makes you feel bad, but you got to be a team players. People look up to you. You got to have a good mindset, good attitude about everything,” Sellers said. “(I) just keep telling the guys what I’m seeing – telling a line, ‘Hey, you all are good. You all are fine. You are all moving the football. Just keep playing smart football.”
Nick Emmanwori also had a moment during the game where he had to channel disappointment and turn it into motivation. Emmanwori picked off his second pass in as many games during the fourth quarter. It was a pass the junior defensive back would return to the end zone, giving South Carolina a two-possession lead.
But the score was chalked off due to an unnecessary roughness penalty called on Kyle Kennard. Upon seeing the referees gather in conversation on the field, Emmanwori threw himself to the ground in frustration.
[Newsletters: Get breaking news and analysis from GamecockCentral]
Emmanwori said he used one of the defense’s mantras as a way to keep going.
“Our motto for the defense is, ‘Put the ball down.’ And that’s what was going through my mind – just put the ball down,” Emmanwori said. “Next play, we’re stopping them in the red zone. I just had to go try to make another play.”
South Carolina made plays throughout the contest, but it also experienced its fair share of struggles, some of which were self-inflicted. The Gamecocks were called for 13 penalties in the contest, which cost them 123 yards. Despite generating a season-high 398 yards of offense, South Carolina also gave up a season-high 417.
Sellers recognizes that the Gamecocks won’t be given a do-over to improve those numbers. But he understands that each game the team plays is an opportunity to correct what went wrong.
“That’s just football, and as a leader, you have to move past it. The game’s over – there’s nothing we can change about it now. All those penalties and stuff that we had – we can’t do anything but learn from it now and move on to next week. You don’t want to dwell on the past.”
And for Ashford, one heartbreaking loss does not mean the end of a season that could still be considered a success for South Carolina.
“The sun’s going to rise tomorrow. It’s going to be a new day. And yeah, it sucks we lost. But, like we’ve been saying, the season isn’t over,” Ashford said. “We got nine more games – nine more games we can go win out and accomplish everything we wanted to.”