Shane Beamer reacts: What USC coach said about bowl win, mayo bath, playing 2 QBs
South Carolina football head coach Shane Beamer, having just taken a mayonnaise bath following the Gamecocks’ 38-21 win over UNC in the 2021 Duke’s Mayo Bowl, was overjoyed in his postgame press conference.
Beamer’s Gamecocks went 7-6 in his first year in Columbia, capped off with USC’s first bowl win since the 2017 season and eclipsing the win counts from the last two seasons combined.
Here’s what a proud Beamer had to say after the win.
On being thin at defensive back against UNC:
“Certainly, we were shorthanded today. I don’t know how many scholarship defensive backs we were missing. I mean, R.J. Roderick and Jaylan Foster literally had to play every single play, (so did) Darius Rush. Marcellas (Dial) literally played every play at corner because we were just so so thin in the secondary. But we didn’t sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We just came out and competed. And that’s what those guys did today.”
On criticism of South Carolina’s offensive staff:
“We had a plan of how we were going to win the football game, but I don’t think I anticipated it going that well. Credit to our offensive staff for (that). All I’ve heard for a month is how awful they are, and what am I doing not firing people and things like that. Well, I hope that’s a great answer for you right there. That’s why.”
On the bowl win building momentum into the offseason:
“It’s a great statement about where we are, and I know I said that earlier about the staff changes and all that. Look, I understand we got to be a whole lot more consistent because we look great today offensively, we look great against Auburn, we look great against Florida, (but) we all saw us at Texas A&M, Missouri and Clemson. So the consistency, I’m well aware (that) we have to be more consistent. But to win a bowl game, to go into the offseason with so much momentum, so much belief within our players. They’ve got about two weeks off here before they come back for the spring semester, and I can’t wait to get back and get right back to work.”
On the game plan to use Dakereon Joyner and Zeb Noland both at quarterback:
“Credit Marcus Satterfield. That wasn’t me. We had the game against Clemson, and really early on, even before Jason (Brown) made his decision (to enter the transfer portal), we felt like we needed to get DK going in there. We had a month to get him ready, and just the element of being able to make them defend the quarterback run game. They really hadn’t faced a quarterback this year on their schedule that ran the ball like we were going to do with with DK, and he’s a talented thrower as well.”
On taking the mayo bath after the win:
“I got hammered in the back of the head by the cooler before they dumped it on me, so I may have a concussion from that. And then on top of that, I got the mayo, and it was awful, to be honest with you. I mean, I’m so glad I got to experience (it) because we won. But it was even more awful than I thought it would be, to be honest with you. I mean, these pants, and I changed shirts. I got mayo in my pockets, and I’ll be getting mayo off of me for months.”
On running backs coach Montario Hardesty’s absence and dealing with personnel issues:
“We were missing Montario today. When y’all came to practice (this week), credit to you, you noticed that (wide receivers coach Justin) Stepp and (defensive backs coach Torrian) Gray weren’t there. They weren’t there. We were able to get those guys back, but credit our young assistant coaches that were able to step up, our graduate assistants and analysts. To get those guys ready, we were fortunate that we were able to get some guys back. To be honest with you, (there were) a couple coaches and a couple of players that we weren’t sure about earlier in the week. We were certainly holding our breath on the couple of the tests that we took two days ago, and got some great news from those as well. But it’s next man up. We had some players out with different things today, and we have some coaches, and everybody else has got to step up. Credit those assistant coaches and then our support staff for elevating their games to help us as well.”
