COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer got a text recently from an SEC rival coach impressed with freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
“You've got ‘Superman’ back there,” the message read, Beamer said.
Sellers may not be the “Man of Steel,” but he's certainly making a major impact for No. 23 South Carolina. And he showed that again on Saturday night with his career-best showing in a 34-30 victory over No. 24 Missouri.
Sellers, a redshirt freshman who took over the starting job from NFL rookie Spencer Rattler, threw for 353 yards and five touchdown passes, the last an inside throw that Raheim Sanders took 15 yards to the end zone with 15 seconds to go as they twice rallied from behind in the fourth quarter.
One play in particular floored Gamecocks defensive tackle Alex Huntley where Sellers twisted out of a sack on the next-to-last scoring drive before hitting tight end Brady Hunt for 11 yards on thrid-and-10. “Did he get sacked?” Huntley recalled saying.
“The second he got out of it, I knew something good was going to happen,” he said.
Sellers has done that more and more the past month after the Gamecocks stood 3-3 after a loss at Alabama on Oct. 12. He's led the way as South Carolina collected wins against Oklahoma (35-9) and ranked teams in Texas A&M (44-20) and Vanderbilt (28-7).
“It's about staying calm, not budging, not flinching,” said Sellers. “Taking one play at a not and not worrying about the outcome.”
That steady approach pulled out a game South Carolina would typically lose.
Twice Missouri took a lead in the final period and twice the Sellers and the Gamecocks answered back with success.
The Gamecocks (7-3, 5-3) have won four straight Southeastern Conference games for the first time since Steve Spurrier was coach in 2012. But it’s now one of Spurrier’s hires with the Gamecocks in Beamer who has South Carolina as the hottest team in the powerhouse conference.
The Tigers (7-3, 3-3) final lead came after Brady Cook’s 37-yard TD pass to Luther Burden III with 1:10 to go for a 30-27 lead.
Sellers, though, was far from done. He hit on passes of 10 and 39 yards to bring the Gamecocks to the Missouri 21. After Sellers’ 7 yard run, he flipped the ball to Sanders who bulled his way across the goal line to send the crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium into a frenzy.
“We were scoring,” said Sanders, nicknamed “Rocket," an Arkansas transfer who's had six of his 11 rushing TDs in the four-game win streak.
Missouri’s last chance ended with Cook was picked off by Jalon Kilgore with 5 seconds left as the Gamecocks beat three consecutive ranked teams for the first time in program history.
Missouri’s Nate Noel ran for 150 yards and a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it didn’t hold up.
The Tigers had defeated Oklahoma 30-23 last week on an scoop-and-score fumble with 22 seconds left. They nearly pulled out their second straight dramatic victory.
“I just think there's a relentlessness that our team plays with, believes in,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “Just didn't have enough tonight.”
Missouri: The Tigers had won five straight in the series and coach Eli Drinkwitz had won all three previous times he came to South Carolina’s stadium, including a 20-15 as Appalachian State coach in 2019. That run is over along with the team’s chances of a CFP berth.
South Carolina: The Gamecocks will need plenty of chaos, along with a victory in two weeks at No. 17 Clemson, to make their case as a playoff team. There’s no doubt there are few teams in the SEC who’d want to face South Carolina now.
South Carolina has won four straight SEC games for the first time in 12 years. It had never won three in a row over AP Top 25 teams in program history.
“Say that again,” when asked about that run. “I like the sound of that.”
The streak ends next game when it takes on Wofford, an Football Championship Series team. But the Gamecocks can make it four out of five when they play rival Clemson, ranked 17th, in two weeks.
Missouri's Cook played strongly in his latest start, throwing for 239 yards with a touchdown and an interception after coach Eli Drinkwitz thought it unlikely he'd be recovered enough to play this week. Cook's 35-game starting streak ended last week when he hurt his wrist at Alabama.
Missouri: At Mississippi State next Saturday.
South Carolina: Hosts Wofford on Saturday.
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South Carolina wide receiver Nyck Harbor (8) makes a 43-yard reception over Missouri safety Daylan Carnell (13) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.
CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change, and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Frequently criticizing what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” He has never served in government, but has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty.
Consideration of Wright to head the administration's energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if reelected.
Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry's top lobbying group, said Wright’s experience in the energy sector “gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership" of the Energy Department.
“We look forward to working with him once confirmed to bolster American geopolitical strength by lifting DOE’s pause on LNG export permits and ensuring the open access of American energy for our allies around the world," Sommers said.
Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called Wright “a champion of dirty fossil fuels" and said his nomination to lead the Energy Department was “a disastrous mistake.”
“The Energy Department should be doing all it can to develop and expand the energy sources of the 21st century, not trying to promote the dirty fuels of the last century," Wong said. “Given the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters, DOE’s core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever."
The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States. The agency is in charge of maintaining the country’s nuclear weapons, oversees 17 national research laboratories and approves natural gas exports, as well as ensuring environmental cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. It also promotes scientific and technological research.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.
“He’s s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said.
If confirmed, Wright will join North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump's choice to be interior secretary, as a key player on energy policy in a second Trump term. Wright will be a member of a new National Energy Council that Burgum will chair. The new panel will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world, Trump said.
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be “an excellent choice” for energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.
Liberty is a major energy industry service provider, with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.
The announcement of Wright's selection came hours after a key Trump ally, billionaire Elon Musk, called for more direct public input into the decision-making process for another top post that the president-elect is still mulling, the head of his new administration's Treasury Department.
“Would be interesting to hear more people weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to consider feedback,” Musk, who Trump has already tapped to co-lead a commission tasked with increasing government spending efficiency, posted Saturday on the X social media platform he owns.
Musk used the rest of his post to become the first participant in the public poll he was proposing, endorsing Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, over hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
Musk said in his post that “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change.”
“Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change,” he said.
Both Lutnick and Bessent have been mentioned as possible picks to lead the Treasury Department. Bessent is considered the more conventional, business-friendly choice. He is skeptical about cryptocurrency, while Lutnick has suggested it could be used for people to pay their taxes.
Trump’s pick to lead his Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also endorsed Lutnick, posting on his own X account, “Bitcoin is the currency of freedom, a hedge against inflation for middle class Americans.”
Daly and Long reported from Washington.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
