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Shane Beamer putting no extra pressure on South Carolina bowl eligibility

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby: On3 Staff Report11/01/22
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South Carolina coach Shane Beamer claps during warmups before the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Dec. 30, 2021. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

South Carolina was untracked by Missouri on Saturday, with the Gamecocks’ four-game winning streak snapped in a 23-10 loss to the Tigers. At 5-3 on the season now, South Carolina’s bowl eligibility is just a win away.

Of course, coach Shane Beamer doesn’t want his team thinking in those terms.

“In our team meeting this morning I didn’t even bring up the bowl game or getting bowl eligible,” Beamer said Tuesday.

The Gamecocks have a pretty good shot at earning that sixth win this weekend. South Carolina will hit the road to take on Vanderbilt, where it’ll be a 6.5-point favorite.

Still, Beamer doesn’t want his team taking anything for granted.

“I mean to me every game’s going to be tough,” Beamer said. “I know it’s easy for people to say, ‘OK, well you look at the next two opponents and then you’ve got these two after that…’ I mean it’s week to week. I know it’s cliche, but it really is.”

Reality?

Chances to become bowl eligible could dim in a hurry if the Gamecocks can’t secure that sixth win this weekend. The rest of the schedule looks like this: at Florida, vs. No. 2 Tennessee, at No. 5 Clemson.

Shane Beamer not adding pressure as South Carolina seeks bowl eligibility

The one thing Beamer seemed intent on avoiding was heaping pressure on his team this weekend ahead of the showdown with the ‘Dores.

If South Carolina’s bowl eligibility is at stake, so be it.

Beamer wants his guys focused not so much on outcomes right now but on how they can best set themselves up to achieve those outcomes.

“Everything this week is just a total commitment to doing everything in our power to prepare this week to go play our very best in Nashville on Saturday night,” Beamer said. “Talking about how we do that in all three phases and what it’s going to take and not thinking so much about the result, but just the process of how we’ve got to get to that.

“I know we have a chance to continue to progress and be a really, really good football team. We’ve shown that in spurts this year. We’ve just got to put all three phases together and do it more consistently than we did the other night.”

South Carolina and Vanderbilt are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday with a broadcast on the SEC Network.