Shane Beamer’s talked about it before and mentioned how much the Gamecocks emphasize discipline and avoiding penalties but Saturday those reared their head again as South Carolina survived a scare against Troy, 23-14.

The Gamecocks won despite a mental mistake from Jahmar Brown tossing the ball before crossing the goal line and 10 penalties, things they won’t be able to overcome more often than not in the SEC.

“It’s not good enough. It’s not like we’re not emphasizing it. Starting the Kentucky week we started doing different things in practice emphasizing playing smart football and not beating ourselves. It was better last week. This week we tried to emphasize different areas; and we always emphasize playing smart football,” Beamer said.

“It’s one of those things we have to continue to coach it, teach and learn. It’s not like we’re not talking about it. It’s not like we’re not holding guys accountable during the week in practice. We are. Obviously it has to be better because it’s not good enough right now.”

Also see: Instant analysis from Saturday's win

They had 10 penalties for 93 yards, both season highs for the Gamecocks and something that continues to be a problem in year one under Beamer.

Of the 10, four were holding calls, two were procedural—a false start and illegal substitution—another was a roughing the passer call and another was targeting, disqualifying RJ Roderick for the remainder of the game with both of those coming on a Troy touchdown drive.

They’d also tack on two more personal foul calls and a block in the back as well.

“One of our key goals to win games is play smart football. Going back to Georgia, my taunting penalty and Cam’s taunting penalty against ECU is not playing smart football,” Josh Vann said. “It’s one thing when a head coach says it and guys are still not playing smart football and we still have dumb penalties. As an older guy and leader on the team—we’re all leaders on the team—we have to be more accountable.”

Also see: Recapping what Shane Beamer said postgame

What those penalties did was put the Gamecocks in several holes offensively, specifically on third down, where the offense struggled once again.

Six penalties came on offense, which didn’t score a touchdown on any drive where a South Carolina penalty was called. Two penalties came on a drive ending with a turnover on downs, two more came on a punt and two were on drives ending in field goals, stalling in Troy territory.

The Gamecocks’ offense went 4-for-13 on third downs, averaging 9.9 yards to go and averaging 7.5 yards per play. Four of the 13 third downs were over 10 yards to gain with two over 20.

“We have to be able to execute. I can’t remember all of them today. A lot were plays where we had people open. We have to throw and catch,” Beamer said. “It starts on first and second down but we have to be better and continue to get more and more efficient. I know we had a play on offense where we had 12 in the huddle. We had to burn a timeout because we had two guys in the game where there’s some confusion on what they’re doing.”

Also see: Gamecocks in the thick of it with top 75 forward

South Carolina also had an issue late in what would have been the second defensive touchdown of the day and make it a two-score game in the fourth quarter, however Brown released a would-be scoop and score at the one-yard line with the ball bounding out of the end zone for a Troy touchback.

It’s the first time in recent memory a play like that’s happened to South Carolina, something Beamer said can’t happen, punctuating it with a “jeez,” knowing the Gamecocks have to be better mentally all the way around.

“You learn from things like that. Jahmar is a great player,” Jaylan Foster said. “He just has to learn from it. He knows next time when he gets a situation like that, run the ball to the ref and he doesn’t have that problem.”

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