South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer didn’t pull any punches against his former team.
On Saturday, South Carolina took on Oklahoma in the first-ever faceoff between the two programs. The historic game marked a homecoming of sorts for Beamer, who served as an assistant coach for the Sooners for three seasons.
From 2018-2020, Beamer worked under Lincoln Riley as an assistant HC on offense, while also coaching the tight ends and halfbacks. During his time in Norman, the Sooners boasted a 33-6 overall record, secured three Big 12 championship titles and made two College Football Playoff appearances.
In December of 2020, Beamer was named South Carolina's 36th head coach - filling in for Will Muschamp, who was fired on the heels of a slow start to the shortened COVID-19 pandemic season. Entering play Saturday, the 47-year-old had commanded the Gamecocks to a 23-21 overall record across four years.
During an appearance on the Tulsa World podcast earlier this week, Beamer conceded that his return to Oklahoma was quite sentimental to him. “There’s a lot of fresh emotion,” he began. “One, I loved that place. My family and I really enjoyed living in Oklahoma. Made great friends.
“Especially my wife and kids. As a football coach, you’re kind of insulated in the football facility. Your friends are the friends that your wife and kids make. So they’re looking forward to going back. I know they’ve got all kinds of big plans on Friday afternoon and Friday night.
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“It’ll be cool being back,” he added. “I say that, because I really did enjoy my time there. And it allowed me the opportunity to come to South Carolina as the head coach. If I don’t leave Georgia to go work for Lincoln, I don’t know that I’m the coach at South Carolina today.”
It didn’t take long for Beamer and the Gamecocks to make themselves feel right at home in Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. On Oklahoma’s first drive of the game, quarterback Michael Hawkins, Jr. was intercepted by defensive back Nick Emmanwori - setting the stage for a three-yard touchdown run by South Carolina’s Raheim "Rocket" Sanders.
Just a handful of snaps later, Hawkins lost hold of the football while being thrown to the turf in the backfield by linebacker Demetrius Knight. Defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway promptly scooped up the loose ball and rumbled into the end zone to put the Gamecocks up 14-0.
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With just under 10 minutes remaining in the first quarter, South Carolina’s relentless pass rush once again got home, as Hawkins was hit from behind while uncorking a deep pass. The errant throw was once again reeled in by Emmanwori, who was escorted into the endzone by several blockers to put the Gamecocks up by three touchdowns.
Late in the second quarter, South Carolina moved the ball into field goal range with a whopping 32-3 lead. Rather than putting up three more points on the board, however, Beamer opted to run a fake kick - with one X user joking that the decision shows “he wants freaking blood.”
When the dust finally settled on the Gamecocks’ 35-9 blowout win, South Carolina amassed four turnovers and a whopping nine sacks.
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