Beamer Dishes On What 2022 Win vs Tennessee Did For Program
During his weekly Tuesday press conference, Shane Beamer made it clear that last year's game against Tennessee has nothing to do with the outcome of this year's game and that both teams are very different. However, that didn't stop the media from asking him multiple questions about what the Gamecocks' win over the Volunteers in 2022 did for the program, which has since seen its national profile increase exponentially because millions of people watched the game in a nationally televised primetime slot. Growth took place in the short- and long-term on both an individual player and team level.
"[It's] not that we weren't a confident team before that game, but I think certainly the confidence that we took out of that game led right into the next week against Clemson," Beamer recalled. "And then just the expectations we had going into this season, that was a tremendous team in Tennessee that we played last year here at home, and we played obviously really, really well that night. I think everybody got to see the Spencer [Rattler] that we'd been seeing in practice. He put it all together, and he's only taken off since that game."
What's forgotten by most outside of the SEC is that South Carolina was reeling coming into their matchup with Tennessee last November, coming off the heels of one of the worst offensive performances in recent memory against a Florida defense that, statistically, coming into that game, weren't anything to write home about. The week before the Tennessee game, offensive changes were made, with the general story being that the offense was cut down significantly in terms of its depth and the different formations and sets the Gamecocks ran. Beamer explained on Tuesday afternoon that while it didn't exactly play out that way, that series of events reminded him and the rest of staff something extremely important when tailoring a system to your personnel.
"Did we streamline things that week? Yes, and that's probably the biggest lesson [we learned], [which] is get with your guys, go execute, and at the end of the day it just comes down to your players making plays."
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