'Winning football': What changed for South Carolina to finally get over hump and earn signature win

Shane Beamer paused and scratched his chin while he gathered his thoughts. He tried to think of a word to describe the night he had just had.

He could’ve picked any one noun to describe the way he felt in the moment. Any choice he made would’ve been an acceptable answer to evoke his feelings.

“Gratitude,” the fourth-year head coach said. “That is a core value of our program.”

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At multiple points throughout this season, South Carolina was close to knocking the door down. Not many understood it at the time when Beamer and his players believed they were right there. Maybe it was because the big wins weren’t coming.

South Carolina had its chances to earn its signature win. It had a chance to do so against LSU, only for penalties and more mistakes to let a 17-0 lead slip away. Then a few weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, the Gamecocks were on the verge of upsetting mighty Alabama, but turnovers proved to be costly.

But with a chance to write a new script, South Carolina took complete advantage and made sure another gut-wrenching loss would not be in the cards on Saturday. After a lot of close calls, the team finally broke through. They picked up the long-awaited big win, walloping No. 10 Texas A&M, 44-20.

This was the moment Beamer, the players, coaches, and fans had been waiting for. At long last, they got over the hump and proved they could beat one of the best teams in the country. And with a win like that, it required celebrating. Plenty of it in fact. As the game clock struck triple zeroes, Gamecock fans stormed the field at Williams-Brice Stadium, akin to when they did the same back in 2022 after beating Tennessee.

“I know I say it every year to you guys, but I love coaching this group,” Beamer said. “This team is so much fun to be around. Just the things we do off the field. The togetherness. The closeness of the team. The celebration we just had in the locker room in there. They are just so much fun.”

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In a matter of minutes, it was like taking a trip back in time to that fateful November night in 2022. The green grass field was now covered in a sea of garnet and black with fans going nuts. This was the reward for South Carolina finding a way to finish what it started.

“That place was rocking from the time we got here from the hotel all the way through the game,” Beamer said on the atmosphere. “They had an impact on the game and I am so happy for our fans. They deserve this and are a true 12th man for us out there with the impact they make.”

Facing a tall order of trying to beat not just a top 10 team but the best team in the conference, the Gamecocks had their hands full on Saturday. The key for Beamer and the team was to play winning football.

“Every week, we have our plan to win. It never changes. Run the ball, stop the run, win the turnover battle, win the explosive play battle, play smart football, dominate the fourth quarter. That never changes. But then as you guys know, every week I give them two or three things as I see it that I think is going to be a really critical part of this game, and one of them this week for us was to tackle and break tackles,” Beamer said.

“And then we talked about how much smart football, how much winning football can we play? … That was going to be a key as well to just play winning football. And that’s the thing. Probably go back to your question about what gets us over the hump in our games that we fell short, whether it be Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, we didn’t play enough football.”

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In those losses to LSU and Alabama, the Gamecocks owned the lead going into the fourth quarter in both matchups. But when push came to shove, South Carolina was the team being shoved around and let the other team do what they needed to do to get a win. Not this time, though.

“Probably go back to your question about what gets us over the hump in our games that we fell short, whether it be Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, we didn’t play enough winning football. There was just too much of beating ourselves. There was a lot of that tonight,” Beamer said. “I mean, we gave up a 70-yard touchdown run because we lined up the wrong way on defense and had two guys in the same gap. And we had a turnover on offense when we had momentum and did some things too that weren’t winning football. But we made a lot of winning football plays tonight, and that was just a key for us that we talked about all week.”

It’s not just a big deal for Beamer and the team to get the win. It shows there is a path to making these wins more of a regularity. In the same sense, it’s a win that moves South Carolina one step closer towards its ultimate goals this season. And with four games to go, there’s still much work left to do.

“In today’s college athletics with transfer portal and NIL, it is refreshing that this is a group that believes in one another,” Beamer said. “I am just so grateful to be the head coach here. So grateful to get over the hump, as you say, and have a win like this. So grateful to coach these guys and see the smiles on their faces in the locker room.”

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