Former Vol from the Josh Heupel era claps back at Shane Beamer after Tennessee’s loss to South Carolina
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer had plenty to say after the Gamecocks’ win over the Tennessee Vols this past weekend.
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was feeling himself after the Gamecocks’ win over Tennessee this past weekend.
Immediately after the game, Beamer, unprompted, went on a rant about the rumors that South Carolina had Tennessee’s signals (via the Connor Stalions scandal) in the Gamecocks’ win against the Vols in 2022.
Beamer loudly proclaimed that South Carolina was the better team in 2022 and that they’re also the better team now.
“I’m sorry for saying this but all the bull crap conspiracy theories from the last four years, hopefully we can put that crap to bed now,” said Beamer. “Because I don’t even want to give credence to it and give oxygen to it because it’s so ridiculous. But it’s disrespectful. All these conspiracy theories about the 2022 game, it’s disrespectful to our fans that were in this stadium that night. It’s disrespectful to our players and coaches that scored 63 points against them that night and held them to 38.
“So I don’t know what conspiracy theories they’re going to come up with this year. Maybe it’s the lights from the state fair or something affected their ability to play. I don’t know, but we won the football game in 2022 because we were the better team. So I hope we can put that crap to bed. And we won the game tonight because we were the better football team. So hopefully that can be our story. And again, I’ve got a lot of respect for Tennessee. I’ve got a master’s degree from Tennessee, and I got a lot of great friends in Knoxville and a lot of great friends on that staff. But that’s embarrassing.”
Former Volunteers offensive lineman Ollie Lane, who played at Tennessee from 2018 to 2023, fired back at Beamer on Sunday while reviewing the game on WNML’s Sunday Sports Soundoff.
“South Carolina didn’t beat us because South Carolina was a better football team than us,” said Lane. “I know Beamer’s on his little press tour, [saying], ‘Oh, we were the better football team in 2022 and we’re the better football team now.’ It is what it is. He can say that if he wants to make himself feel better. But you didn’t beat us because you’re the better football team. Tennessee beat themselves. You beat yourself with penalties. You beat yourself with some mishaps in execution, and then the [result] is what it is.
“I mean, [Tennessee] could have had that game [won] easily, but you just didn’t take care of some of the small things that you needed to. … It is just a very disappointing outcome for a lot of good things that you saw. Your offense came back from behind and took the lead back. That’s something that I haven’t seen the offense do this year, and that was a big positive. I thought your defense got tested, and they responded the right way and came back and adjusted and played really well. You just couldn’t finish when it mattered most.”
Tennessee dominated for 50 minutes of that game. But they made a couple of big mistakes during key moments, and you can’t do that in a tight game on the road in the SEC and get the win.
The better team doesn’t always win, and we saw that in action on Saturday night in Columbia.
