Paul Finebaum blasts Shane Beamer for blown lead vs. Texas A&M: 'He looks like a loser'

On Saturday, South Carolina gave up a 30-3 halftime lead, ultimately falling to the Aggies, 31-30. During an appearance on The Matt Barrie Show, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum tore into Beamer for the Gamecocks’ collapse.

“There’s nothing like blowing a lead like that, especially [against] the No. 3 team, especially at their house,” Finebaum said. “Of the 19 mistakes you make in the second half, you only make 18, you still win the game. But, leave it to Shane Beamer and his team to make every one of them.

“By the way, go back about four weeks ago. We saw—not quite, it wasn’t nearly as bad—but it was as gruesome, when they blew that lead at the end of the game to Alabama.”

Texas A&M’s victory was the largest comeback win in program history. In fact, until yesterday, SEC teams were 0-264 in conference play since 2004 when trailing by 27 points or more. Beamer helped Texas A&M break that streak Saturday.

In the second half, South Carolina recorded just 76 yards of total offense. In contrast, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed tallied 298 passing yards in the second half alone.

With the loss, South Carolina fell to 3-7 on the season and 1-7 in conference play. In December of last year, South Carolina hired Jeremiah Donati to be its new athletic director. Finebaum believes Donati could be considering Shane Beamer’s future with the school after the Gamecocks’ loss Saturday.

“He’s also got another problem, and that’s a brand new, state-of-the-art AD, who I’m sure is looking around,” Finebaum said. “By the way, Jeremiah Donati is in that new breed of ADs that is plugged in to where it’s at in college athletics right now.

“… Shane Beamer, right now—hate to say it—just looks like a loser. There’s no getting around it. I don’t know how he scrapes that away. Eight weeks ago, people were concerned he might leave for Virginia Tech. That’s no longer on the board. He’s got a better chance of leaving being shown the door than he does getting another job.”

If the school fired Beamer without cause, it would owe him just shy of a $28 million buyout. Beamer has the 24th-most expensive buyout among the 105 college football contracts USA Today was able to review.

While bowl eligibility is now out of reach for the Gamecocks, Beamer will do his best to help his team rally to a strong finish. On Saturday, South Carolina will square off against Coastal Carolina. The Gamecocks will close out their season with a showdown against Clemson on Nov. 29.