Shane Beamer tells AP voters, CFP committee to ‘keep crapping on us’ in rankings

On Saturday, South Carolina secured its second-straight win over a ranked opponent, defeating No. 24 Vanderbilt 28-7. After the game, Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer sent a message to the team’s doubters.

“Anytime the offense needed to respond, they did,” Beamer said. “Whether it be the beginning of the game, whether it be the first drive of the second half. Whether it be after Vanderbilt scored, we went right down the field on them. That is a mark of a really good team, which we are.

“The people that do the rankings don’t think we are worth a crap and that’s fine. Keep crapping on us. That is the way we like it. Don’t rank us this week. We are good where we are. We just like to lay low and work really, really hard and come out and have fun on Saturdays.”

Despite Shane Beamer’s bold statement, South Carolina found its way into the AP Top 25 this week, landing at No. 23. The Gamecocks also were ranked No. 23 in the weekly USA Today Coaches Poll.

It’s the first time this season that South Carolina has made an appearance in the AP Top 25. The spot was certainly well-earned. In the win, the Gamecocks tallied 452 total yards of offense while holding Vanderbilt to a mere 274.

South Carolina locked down Vanderbilt’s typically dynamic quarterback, Diego Pavia, who only completed 16-of-his-31 pass attempts for 166 yards and didn’t throw a touchdown.

The Commodores didn’t have an answer for South Carolina running back Raheim Sanders, who erupted for 126 yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries.

South Carolina’s performance was particularly spectacular when considering the fact they were coming off a stunning 44-20 win over a No. 10 Texas A&M the week prior.

“Just really happy for our guys to come in here, I think everyone thought there would be a letdown coming off last week,” Beamer said. “For our guys to come in here knowing it is going to be a gritty, tough, hard game just because of the way Vanderbilt plays football is really satisfying for us as a football team.

“Like the way that we responded to adversity. Whether it be the defense when Vanderbilt was in scoring position. I think they had three-plus drives maybe inside the 35 yard line and 40 yard line and didn’t get points out of it. Something like that. We did a really good job.”

On Saturday, South Carolina will look to defeat its third-straight ranked opponent as it squares off against No. 24 Missouri at 4:15 p.m. ET. The game will air live on the SEC Network.