South Carolina all bought into Beamer's 'November to remember' mantra heading into big matchup
Just over two weeks ago, head coach Shane Beamer stood at the podium and made a bold statement. South Carolina was going through a tough stretch of four straight losses and needed to do something to right the ship.
So Beamer told reporters and fans watching his press conference that November will be a month to remember for Gamecock football.
“It was just a way to say, ‘Okay, October is behind us. October from a record stand point stunk, losing those games in a row. That’s behind us and now we’ve got a chance to make November special,'” Beamer said.
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At the time, words only meant so much. It was almost laughable with how poorly they had played up to that point.
But then the Gamecocks won their next game over Jacksonville State. Albeit, it was a game that came down to the wire. So not everyone was overly happy.
But then last Saturday, with this message still in mind, South Carolina put up 47 points and played its best game of the year against Vanderbilt. Now, the energy is slowly starting to feel different.
“Every week, we come in here and go to work. But (Tuesday) felt kind of special, honestly, man,” tight end Joshua Simon said. “Just after that win, we got the momentum going. We can taste it. It’s like the blood in the water, we can taste it. Now, we’re ready to go finish.”
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Kentucky football game]
Since Beamer proclaimed this month to be remembered, South Carolina has played a lot better. But he also knows there’s still a lot of work to do.
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“I would hope (the players and coaches are) bought in because we talk about it every day as well. Not so much of okay, remember November, we’ve got to win Saturday. But making sure we’re doing what we have to do today and then the next day or whatever it might be to make November to remember,” Beamer said.
“But it’s one day at a time, not worrying about next week, it’s worrying about today. It was Jacksonville State, then we’ll worry about the next one and we got through the next one, which was Vanderbilt. Now, we’re worried about this one and preparing for it.”
Next up for the Gamecocks will be the Kentucky Wildcats, a team that started out 5-0 but has lost four of their last five games. Then, there’s one game to go against South Carolina’s arch rival. But that’s a next week problem.
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Instead, the focus is on the here and now. Taking care of business against a solid team on Saturday then moving onto the next task. So far, that strategy has worked well.
“(Kentucky is) very well coached and very disciplined. You have to beat them from an offensive standpoint versus their defense. Really dangerous on special teams with talented returners and good cover teams,” Beamer said. “It will be a big challenge for us. Need a great week of practice. Had a good day today. Need our crowd to be an advantage for us on Saturday and know they will be.”
