Shane Beamer addresses how to handle success with South Carolina bandwagon 'getting full'
After finishing with a 3-5 conference record and failing to reach a bowl game last season, South Carolina‘s 2-0 start to the season is a breath of fresh air for Gamecocks fans. On Tuesday, head coach Shane Beamer revealed his team’s mindset amid their early success.
“The spotlight is is back on us, but we talked this morning that one of the keys for us this Saturday is we got to handle success the right way,” Beamer said. “There’s a lot going on this week that we didn’t have to deal with last week, or that we didn’t get to deal with last week. It’s a positive.
“We need to get used to it, but we need to make sure that we’re handling distractions the right way, and we also have to handle success the right way, and realize that the bandwagon, if you will, is getting full in a lot of ways. And, understanding that there’s people that are on that bandwagon right now, that may jump right off the next time that things don’t go well.”
On Saturday, South Carolina marched into Kroger Field as 10-point underdogs and left with a dominant 31-6 victory over Kentucky. It was the Gamecocks’ third-straight win over the Wildcats. After the game, ESPN’s College GameDay announced it will be taking the show to Columbia, South Carolina, for the Gamecocks’ Week 3 showdown against LSU.
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It will be the first time College GameDay has visited South Carolina since since Sept. 27, 2014. Although Beamer is grateful for the spotlight on his program, he knows his team can’t allow itself to lose focus on the task ahead.
“The key for us is just continuing to just work and continue to get better,” Beamer said. “That’s what we’ve talked to our players about — just keep working, keep getting better. We know there’s a lot of things from that Kentucky game that we have to clean up, as good as the score was.
“We played with great effort and physicality and toughness, and that didn’t just happen. We prepared last week to go play like we did on Saturday, and that’s going to be the key for us. It’s not get caught up and being in the national spotlight and the hoopla and having Ryan McGee right next door interviewing players and myself, or ESPN right now, but instead, just worrying about what we can control and go get better and get back to work.”
South Carolina and LSU will square off at noon ET on Saturday. The game will air live on ABC.