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Even the greatest special teams guru in college football history could only smile and laugh at what South Carolina pulled off in its season-opening win.

Frank Beamer — the man who built his legendary program at Virginia Tech around an intense focus on special teams known as “Beamer Ball” — sat in the back of the press room as his son Shane walked off the field basking in the glow of what can only be described as a perfect special teams performance.

Two blocked punt returns for touchdowns, two of the seven longest made field goals in the entire history of South Carolina football, converted a fake field goal in the red zone, and had a 79-yard punt in there from a punter who spent most of fall camp dealing with a foot injury.

All of it added up to be more than enough to wash away a choppy offensive showing in a 35-14 season-opening win over Georgia State at Williams-Brice Stadium.

“I’ve been around some really good special teams games,” Shane Beamer said, putting it lightly. “But when you put it all together; fake field goal, flipping the field position on a punt — I mean, Kai [Kroeger] had a 79-yard punt tonight. He punted seven times, which we don’t need to be punting seven times in a game, but to have seven punts or a 49-yard average with a long of 79, that’s big time. And then for Mitch [Jeter] to do what he did from a field goal standpoint as well, and then to block two punts as well, there was a lot of really, really good special teams tonight.”

Even more encouraging than what South Carolina pulled off in the third phase was who pulled it off.

Jeter is a true freshman kicker who said he only found out on Friday that he won the job as the starting kicker over Alex Herrera. His first two career college kicks were successful field goals from 53 and 51 yards out. DQ Smith is a true freshman who started off his college career by recording South Carolina’s first blocked punt return touchdown since 2000.

Rashad Amos is a depth running back who had only appeared in three college football games before tonight, but he snuck through on special teams and blocked the first punt of the night. Similarly, reserve TE Traveon Kenion was able to pull off the second block, only for senior wide receiver Ahmarean Brown to scoop it up and carry it in from 10 yards out.

Special teams units are always a blend of players from various roles and positions, but South Carolina had everything from true freshmen to high-profile offensive pieces making the difference on Saturday.

“We spend so much time on it, it’s almost like we have to be good on it,” Smith said. “Coach [Pete] Lembo does a great job.”

Special teams, and getting players to buy into them, requires attention to detail. It requires looking at the smallest fringes of the game and taking advantage of them, such as installing the fake field goal that holder Hunter Rogers picked up a first down on to set up the first touchdown of 2022. Replacing the leading scorer in program history in Parker White was not going to be easy. Lembo and his staff navigated a kicking competition throughout the off-season, and it showed up when Jeter accounted for six clutch points in the first half.

“"That’s something that Coach Beamer and Coach Lembo have integrated into our whole team to where we want to be on special teams, and it’s not like you have to do it,” Smith said. “We want to go out there and make those plays, but they have done such a great job of making special teams a huge priority within this program. Just watching everything unfold is amazing.”

Amazing would be the only way to describe South Carolina’s special teams showing.

It also needed to be every bit of that amazing after an inconsistent start on offense.

Spencer Rattler’s first game in Columbia was a mixed bag. He threw his first touchdown of the season on a 16-yard pass to MarShawn Lloyd in the flat. He also threw two interceptions, one of which he readily admitted was a throw he really wanted back on a third-and-2.

It was not a disastrous performance, but large portions of it were out of sync. South Carolina punted on four of its first six possessions, including two three-and-outs. It only ran the ball for 78 total yards against a defense that allowed 141.5 per game on average last season. Rattler was consistently on the run behind a fragile offensive line.

It went 3-of-14 on third downs, including 1-of-8 in the first half.

“We didn’t finish enough drives tonight,” Rattler said. “Too many mistakes; we didn’t dominate the perimeter like our goal was. As a whole, we didn’t do too great, but we’re going to get better. This was our first game together; it happens. We just have to get better from it and go to practice, do what gotta do, and make that stride”

The stride is going to have to be immediate. South Carolina will hit the road to take on an Arkansas team who is 6-1 at home in the last two seasons, followed by a home game against a still fully operational Georgia machine.

And if the improvements are going to come, they will have to be in the margins. The missteps on the offensive line that led to three sacks. The dysconnectivity in the deep passing game that led to Rattler only completing two passes longer than 16 yards all night. Mistakes on the outside, which Beamer summed up by saying, “Frankly we got our butts kicked on the perimeter.”

South Carolina’s margin for error — both in terms of overall talent and what it has to produce for the team to find success— is not large enough to survive struggles within the finer points of the game.

“Obviously, we’ve got to be more consistent,” wide receiver Jalen Brooks said. “But you know, that’s where we go back to the drawing board and see where we didn’t do good, where we did do good, and how we can keep up the effort.”

Details won the game for South Carolina on Saturday. They could also be its biggest downfall moving forward.