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Credit South Carolina coach Shane Beamer for not downplaying the role that the home crowd could play against visiting Kentucky on Saturday night.
Beamer knows that redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley will make his first Southeastern Conference road start against the Gamecocks even though he did play in losses at Florida and Texas last season.
Of course, South Carolina sold out its game against Vanderbilt earlier this season and lost 31-7, so a sold-out crowd does not guarantee a Gamecock win. But Beamer called it “huge” that the game is sold out.
“You’ve got their first away game. You’ve got a quarterback making his first SEC start on the road. We need that crowd to be hostile and loud and be a weapon, and we know they will be,” Beamer said. “And then we got to do our part as coaches and players to make sure that we’re performing well on the field, or they’re not going to be a weapon because we’ve got to give them something to be loud about.”
Boley knows the crowd noise could be an issue and UK has created noise at practice this week to help prepare Boley.
Kentucky has been doing its best to prepare Boley and the offense for what’s coming, piping in “Sandstorm” and that miserable rooster crow into practice this week.
“We’re blaring music and stuff all day long during every single rep,” Boley said after practice Tuesday. “We’re really working on that communication piece with the O-line, the wideouts, and the running back, making sure that everything gets communicated and everybody is where they need to be. I think with the music, we’re doing a really good job simulating that.”
11 Responses
I don't think it will intimidate Boley as much as it does the HC and OC. If UK gets an early lead, Stoops will go into Full Throttle Don't Lose mode and UK will end up losing. I hope UK either runs away with it or stays close behind and pulls it out in the end.
Can't argue that point Old Fan. Stoops always goes into "eat the clock" mode as soon as he gets a lead. Miami can get aways with it, but the cats are not Miami.
SC is as hard a place to play as there is in the country. The Cats are going to ground and pound most of the night. The Cats start a new win streak against SC. Hope Stoops can eventually retire Beamer like he did Spurrier. #Stoops Troops!
With Sandstorm blaring and their obnoxious fans, yes as hard as any. You have made some pretty ridiculous statements.
I think if it's raining we got a real shot at winning, SC has worst running offense and and 14th best run defense in sec
So do I homemade
As hard a place to play as any in the country?
Michigan?
Ohio State?
Tennessee?
Georgia?
LSU?
Texas?
The Swamp?
These sort of statements are ridiculous.
Agree. There are no easy places to play except maybe KY.
Hes right, they have one of the biggest stadiums in the SEC, only A&M , and Georgia, are louder than SC
I guarantee victory. I think Kentucky gets off to a quick lead. South Carolina comes back to tie the game. Then we kick a field goal and give South Carolina a chance to win or tie and the defense gets a stop in 3-7 point win for Kentucky. Just remember Vanderbilt beat South Carolina 34-7. So Vanderbilt is on another level than South Carolina.
Seriously people, would a quarterback who was any good at all come play for Mark Stoops? Stoops destroys quarterbacks instead of developing them. Giving up 5 sacks and 8 tackles for loss during the first 3 quarters doesn't say much for our offensive line either. Kentucky's approach to playing in the SEC is like the Navy going to battle in a submarine that has screen doors. Yet, some still wonder why we can't win in the SEC. You can fix STOOPid!
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