Shane Beamer reacts to South Carolina’s wild win over Missouri, updates injuries
Here are some highlights from Shane Beamer’s postgame press conference after South Carolina’s 34-30 win over Missouri on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.
It was USC’s first win over the Tigers since 2018, and the Gamecocks get to hold on to the Mayor’s Cup — a trophy that goes to the winner of the game played between the two schools played in a city named Columbia.
Opening statement
“This was a top 25 matchup. We knew they would come in here and it would be a war. They’re a physical football team with a bunch of really good players.
Hats off to Brady Cook. A lot of people didn’t think he was going to play. For him to go out there and show the guts he showed tonight, a ton of respect for him.
What a win for our guys, the resiliency we showed, the togetherness, the never-panic ... so many moments and plays from that game.
Hats our to our grounds crew to get the field back looking like that with the hedges (after the Texas A&M field storm).
Credit to our team. I think that’s the best SEC record we’ve had here since 2017. I think that’s the first time since 2012 that we’ve won four straight SEC games. We talk about remembering November and they’re putting together one heck of a story.
It wasn’t pretty at times to say the least. ...
What a game. I remember looking up at the scoreboard with 2, 3 minutes left thinking Missouri was in this kind of game last week and here they are again.
Our offense came right back down the field. Dalevon Campbell Campbell, Brady Hunt ... to play as much as they did. You never know when your moment is going to be called.
What a run by Rocket on the touchdown. What an interception by (Jalon Kilgore) to seal the win. So much good stuff on tape.
That whole game was a blur. Happy for our team and happy for our fans. Happy to have this thing (Mayor’s Cup) in Columbia.”
On the team’s excitement to have the Mayor’s Cup
“I’m happy for them, happy for those seniors. They probably don’t even know what this thing looks like. We showed a PowerPoint of it in our team meeting Tuesday. No one in this room has ever seen it or held it.
Shame on me. I didn’t make a big deal about the trophy game. I probably should have. We did this week. I didn’t want these seniors to finish their careers here at South Carolina without bringing this back to the best Columbia, in my opinion.
Our guys were on a mission to go get it. They knew how much this game meant to our seniors, me, to be able to get this thing in here.”
On the Rocket Sanders touchdown reception
“We were fortunate that we had three timeouts on that drive. We had some flexibility. One we hit the pass to (Campbell), we know we’re in field goal but we’re not playing for overtime but we also wanted to be smart.
.... It worked out the way we thought. It’s a great way to finish.”
On LaNorris Sellers’ big game (353 yards, 5 TDs)
“Credit to him. That guy is just a player. He makes plays. The moment is never too big for him. ...
(Looks at stats sheet) I didn’t realize five touchdown passes, geeze.
He works his butt off, he’s very grounded, he’s very poised, he’s a competitor, his teammates love him, his coaches love him. He’s just a really good quarterback who continues to get better every single week.”
On injuries
On an upper body injury to defensive back Judge Collier, who was hurt on a collision in the end zone: “I think everybody is OK. We actually took Judge to the hospital. They just wanted to take him to the hospital to check on everything. His parents with with him. Everything is fine. He’ll be OK.”
Beamer said tight end Brady Hunt “has a little bit of a lower leg injury” and Michael Smith “has an upper body injury.”
He said Josh Simon is fine.
