Yahoo Sports How will South Carolina follow its big win over Texas A&M? What history tells us
OK, so a college football team snags a massive victory. Then what? What does that head coach say on Sunday to bring his team back down to Earth, humble them back into thinking they’re the scrappy, overlooked team that everyone counts out?
Those are the weeks coaches earn their keep.
After Alabama knocked off No. 2 Georgia back in September, vaulting the Crimson Tide to the top team in America, Bama staffers began sprinkling rat traps across the facility. The Tide were preparing to face Vanderbilt. Rat trap = trap game. You get the inference.
Apparently the props didn’t quite drive home the message. Vanderbilt beat Alabama for the first time in decades.
Which brings us to South Carolina. The Gamecocks are in the same precarious position — coming off their biggest win of the season with No. 24 Vanderbilt on deck.
On Tuesday, just days after South Carolina knocked off No. 10 Texas A&M and Gamecocks fans stormed the field, USC head coach Shane Beamer seemed to steer his messaging away from USC being the Big Bad Wolf and, instead, a squad that still hasn’t earned its respect.
“When you guys, the media, did your national rankings this week,” Beamer said, referring to the AP Top 25 poll, “you looked at it and said that Vanderbilt’s one of the 25 best teams in America and South Carolina’s not. That’s what the rankings say right now, so we know we have a big challenge.”
Saturday will be the 19th time the Gamecocks have faced a ranked opponent since Beamer took over in 2021, and success has been slim: South Carolina is 4-14 (.222%) in that span against ranked foes.
Remarkably, though, the Gamecocks have a better winning percentage when you only look at games against Top-10 opponents. Including last week’s victory over the 10th-ranked Aggies, South Carolina is 3-4 (.428) against Top-10 squads under Beamer.
But let’s forget about that for a second. Because while Saturday’s game in Nashville will feature another ranked opponent, college football fans will simply see it as the answer to: Was last week a fluke?
“I’m sure there’s a lot of people who think, ‘Well they played great against Texas A&M. They can’t do it two weeks in a row.’ ”
Time will tell. But what does history say?
For starters, there are some South Carolina fans who will always be nervous about these potential let-down games. At least since 2010, when the Gamecocks secured arguably the biggest win in program history — beating No. 1 Alabama — before losing seven days later to an unranked Kentucky team.
Since 2010, the Gamecocks have knocked off a Top-10 team eight times: No. 5 Georgia (2012), No. 5 Missouri (‘13), No. 6 Clemson (‘13), No. 6 Georgia (‘14), No. 3 Georgia (‘19), No. 5 Tennessee (‘22), No. 8 Clemson (‘22) and No. 10 Texas A&M (‘24).
In the games directly following those victories — including bowl games — South Carolina is 4-3 with no losses to unranked opponents.
The most-recent success story came just two years ago, when South Carolina one-upped a rout of No. 5 Tennessee with a win at No. 8 Clemson — its first victory at Memorial Stadium in a decade.
Beamer sees a clear comparison from the spot South Carolina was in then to its present-day situation. In the week leading up to that Tennessee upset, Beamer spoke to his squad about what was in front of them — not just two more more games, but an opportunity to “change the direction and trajectory of the program,” Beamer said.
Perhaps most notable: Beamer did not put all the emphasis on just the Tennessee game. He put the onus on the rest of the season. Some coaches talk about taking things one game at a time. In a way, he did the opposite.
“Last week, we talked about ‘They remember November,’ ” Beamer said, referencing his message to the team. “And they do. It’s not just, ‘They remember November 2.’ It’s what you do the whole month as well.”
So, really, Saturday’s win over Texas A&M was just one-fifth of the November puzzle. The Gamecocks can collect another this week in Nashville.
Next South Carolina football game
Who: South Carolina at No. 24 Vanderbilt
When: 4:15 p.m. Saturday
Where: Commodore Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
TV: SEC Network
