Now that South Carolina is ranked, what will Shane Beamer's message to his team be? Just win
Shane Beamer was fine with how people on the outside viewed his football team. Specifically for the people in charge of the rankings, he publicly told them not to rank the Gamecocks this week and instead keep “crapping” on them.
That’s the way he likes it. And South Carolina has played better with that mentality as a result … But the people who do the rankings clearly didn’t receive his message.
Less than one day after the Gamecocks beat Vanderbilt 28-7 to move to 6-3 overall, South Carolina jumped into the Associated Press poll at No. 23. Then on Tuesday, the second batch of College Football Playoff rankings came out, and there they were sitting at No. 21, two spots ahead of Missouri and one behind Clemson.
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At this point, Beamer can’t really use the “don’t rank us” disrespect card to his advantage after that. So, what now? What will he use to make sure his team still feels they have that chip on their shoulder?
Well, it’s pretty simple, actually. Just win.
“Let’s be real, the last time we got ranked, we didn’t play worth a crap the next week,” said Beamer, assumably referring to when South Carolina lost to Missouri 23-10 after jumping to No. 25 in the rankings in 2022.
“I would hope that a lot of our guys remember that. And I’m not saying that it was because we sat around patting ourselves on the back because we were ranked. But we need to make sure we focus on what’s important and what’s important is preparing to play a really physical and good Missouri team.”
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Now this time, the Gamecocks are in a similar spot. They’re back in the Top 25 and set to take on Missouri who has had their number for the last five years. To make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen twice, Beamer’s advice is to not listen to the outside noise. But even he knows it’s not as easy as it sounds.
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“I mean, we weren’t listening and being motivated by anything before and we shouldn’t be doing it now, as well. Let’s worry about what we can control,” he said. “I realize that we only have them for fours a day in this building. So, everyone on campus, please don’t be patting them on the back and telling them how amazing they are right now. Please don’t be talking about rankings and bowl games and everything else.”
Should South Carolina win this weekend, Beamer won’t be able to do much to slow down the talk and narratives. Amid a three-game winning streak, the Gamecocks have a chance to keep playing well and do more. And that will come with more praise, but he’d rather have his disrespect card back.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Missouri football game]
Either way, the fourth-year head coach has seen enough from this team to know they have the right mindset. They’ve always had higher goals for themselves outside of making a bowl game and earning a ranking.
There’s more they want to do. And maybe that’s what keeps them going from here on out. Achieve things that haven’t been done around here in years.
“It is good to see that we have been able to accomplish a lot of things already,” Beamer said. “But there is still a lot more for us to accomplish. We can’t take a step back this week either with not performing and playing well.”
