Gamecocks looking to break trend, replicate last week's success against Clemson
Shane Beamer and his Gamecocks have a chance to capitalize off a huge momentum boost this weekend.
South Carolina shellacked Tennessee last weekend, and will look to duplicate at least some of the success it found against another top-10 team this week in Clemson.
If history repeats itself though, the game may not go the way Gamecock fans will like it.
Last year after South Carolina got a big win over Florida, they turned around and lost to Missouri the next week. Then it bounced back and got a big win over Auburn the following week – just to get shut out by Clemson at home.
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We’ve seen the same thing happen this year as well. The Gamecocks got big tastes of success in back-to-back weeks by beating Kentucky and Texas A&M, but then lost to Missouri and Florida.
This inability to consistently sustain success isn’t something that is unique to the Beamer era in Columbia – or to South Carolina for that matter – but it is something that the head coach has acknowledged ahead of the rivalry game.
“We didn’t do a good job of that last year,” Beamer said. “We had an unbelievable home win against Auburn in 2021 and got bowl eligible. Played (Clemson) seven days later and obviously were not ready to perform like we needed to perform and that’s on me.”
Beamer said that in order to translate from the win over Tennessee to the matchup with Clemson, the Gamecocks will need to have an even better week of preparation.
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“I told them (Tuesday) there’s a lot of reasons we played as well as we did last Saturday, it started with our preparation during the week,” Beamer said. “For us to have a chance to perform well and have a chance on Saturday up there, we’re going to have to prepare well during the week also. “
Spencer Rattler had a career-night against the Vols, and will likely be looking to do it all over again on Saturday. Rattler said this week the Gamecocks have focused on consistent communication and fine tuning the team’s game plan.
“I think we had a great plan last week, I think we called a good game,” Rattler said. “Everybody was on the same page, players and coaches wise, it was great. We need that same thing this week so that’s what we’re focused on right now in practice.”
The win over Tennessee has provided the Gamecocks with some much needed confidence, but they aren’t letting it get to their heads.
“You definitely get a little type of swagger from that game, a little confidence boost,” Nate Adkins said. “At the end of the day its next game, next man up … we’re gonna have to bring our A game and everybody is gonna have to do their jobs to the best of their ability.”
