Shane Beamer reacts to South Carolina upset win over Florida

Following an upset victory against Florida, Shane Beamer had plenty to smile about. Surrounded by family members, the South Carolina coach tried to put into words what this win meant for the program.

“Everything,” he said bluntly. “I’m just so happy for these guys. Unbelievable. For the last two weeks all we’ve talked about is competing. You worry when you’re coming off of a game like Texas A&M and going into an off week, how is the mentality gonna be? We had an unbelievable week of practice the past two weeks. I told you guys that I’m trying to shorten the practices last week in an off week to give them a break, but they’re coming to me wanting to practice longer. They deserve this. I’m so happy for them and hopefully this is just the start of something special.”

.@CoachSBeamer was fired up after a 40-17 win over the Gators❗️ pic.twitter.com/Bw3LLaxCAk

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) November 7, 2021

Coming off a blowout loss to Texas A&M in Week 8, the Gamecocks dominated from start to finish on their way to a 40-17 win against the Gators. Injuries forced South Carolina to start its third quarterback this season in senior transfer Jason Brown. He showed no sign of any nerves, finishing the game 14-of-24 for 175 yards passing and two touchdowns.

“I told the players last night what he did in his first start for St. Francis,” Beamer said “I think he threw for 300 yards and was the conference player of the week. So we told ’em that Jason was gonna play well. Did I know he was gonna play that well? No. He did a great job of running the ball and helping him out. The defense got turnovers. It was an unbelievable night to be a Gamecock.”

The defense held the Gators under 100 yards rushing and forced Florida quarterback Emory Jones to commit a pair of turnovers. That includes a crucial fumble that was recovered for a touchdown with 46 seconds until halftime.

Shane Beamer is in his first season coaching South Carolina and has them at 5-4 following the upset of Florida. The Gamecocks need to defeat one of Missouri, Auburn and Clemson to close the season to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2018.

The son of legendary Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, Shane spent five seasons with the Hokies as an associate head coach from 2011-15. From there he made stops at Georgia and Oklahoma before landing his first head coaching job in South Carolina.

His Gamecocks have their best chance at victory when they take on Missouri (4-5, 1-4 SEC) at 4 p.m. ET next Saturday in Columbia, Missouri.