Kirk Herbstreit reveals why Shane Beamer was so emotional after Auburn win

Kirk Herbstreit discussed his “why I love football” moment of the week on Monday and gave the honor to Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“This was a team that was probably the quietest bowl-eligible team in the country,” Herbstreit said on the ESPN CFB podcast. “They’re in a tough and challenging conference, it’s tough to get things going in the right direction, and they went through some really tough times.

“I was texting with Shane earlier and I was like, ‘It’s not just that you’re bowl eligible, that’s great, it’s how you got there.”

Beamer was emotional after the win over Auburn. The Gamecocks were 8-point underdogs coming in and then got behind by two scores in the first quarter.

“The reason I think he got emotional after that game was because they were down 14 in that game, and for a guy that’s trying to preach to his team about fight … and you’re sitting there, you’ve got Clemson coming up, this was a game they needed,” Herbstreit said. “They were down 14 and they didn’t give up. They won 21-17 and this is after a loss to Missouri the week before. His dad’s there, his kids come out, he’s crying. I’m crying watching.”

Beamer shares heartfelt message after clinching bowl eligbility

South Carolina made a bold move this offseason, one that many tabbed as ill-advised, replacing former head coach Will Muschamp with Shane Beamer, who had most recently served as Oklahoma’s assistant head coach/tight ends coach.

Beamer had never served as a head coach prior to his arrival at South Carolina; certainly not at the Power Five level, but not even at the Group of Five level. He had only held assistant-coaching roles since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1999. One of the strongest cases for Beamer’s hire, an intangible mark on his resume: he’s the son of College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer, the longtime Virginia Tech coach, who won four ACC titles over his career at the helm.

People mocked and ridiculed the hire. News outlets rated him as the 14th-best head coach in the SEC, ranking him dead last in the conference. Nearly a year after his hiring, Beamer has South Carolina bowl eligible for the first time since 2018, notching victories over heavily-favored teams in Florida and Auburn, and is a legitimate candidate — perhaps even the favorite — to win SEC Coach of the Year. Beamer grew emotional in his postgame press conference following South Carolina’s 21-17 win over Auburn.

“I told you guys two weeks ago (after the Florida win) it was a great night for South Carolina,” Beamer said, choking up. “I didn’t know two weeks later it was going to be even better.”

Beamer’s message to his players was similar, and again, he choked up while delivering a postgame speech in the locker room.

“That was big boy, SEC football. We got that thing to the fourth quarter, and you never flinched. I am —,” Beamer said, before choking up and struggling through the rest of his message. “I’m so proud of you guys.”

Gamecocks overcome QB obstacles

Beamer has far exceeded expectations, and he’s done so despite some miraculous obstacles. South Carolina’s quarterback, sophomore Luke Doty, entered the season as the presumed starter after starting three games in 2020. He started five games before suffering a season-ending injury. Quarterback was the thinnest position for the Gamecocks at the time.

In Doty’s absence, Beamer first turned to Zeb Noland. Noland was a graduate assistant-turned-walk-on who came to South Carolina with no intentions of playing. A transfer from North Dakota State, Noland traded his whistle in for cleats and did a solid job. However, he too suffered a season-ending meniscus injury.

The 6-5 Gamecocks kickoff versus Clemson at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this report.