Shane Beamer had little patience for the noise after South Carolina stunned No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday night.
The Gamecocks coach said the chatter around the 2022 meeting between the two teams has gone too far, especially the conspiracy theories that have followed South Carolina’s 63-38 win over Tennessee two years ago.
“All the bullcrap conspiracy theories from the last four years, hopefully, we can put that crap to bed now,” Beamer said. “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.”
That 2022 win came in Williams-Brice Stadium, where unranked South Carolina, 6-4 at the time, hosted No. 5 Tennessee, which entered at 9-1. The Gamecocks were coming off a lopsided loss at Florida, and few expected them to beat a Volunteers team that had been averaging nearly 50 points per game.
Instead, South Carolina delivered one of its biggest surprises of that season. Spencer Rattler threw six touchdown passes, while Clayton White’s defense slowed down a Tennessee offense that had looked like a championship contender.
Since then, social media, message boards and the wider college football world have kept the theories alive. Some Tennessee supporters have pointed to former Michigan staffer Connor Stallions, claiming he passed information to South Carolina before the game. They also latched onto the fact that the Gamecocks’ defense wore wristbands as supposed evidence.
Stallions denied that idea last year and said he doesn’t even know anyone at South Carolina.
White has made no secret of how little he thinks of that storyline. Earlier this week, he called it one of the “funniest stories” he’d ever heard, and he poked fun at it again on X less than 10 minutes after South Carolina’s walk-off win Saturday.
“What Wristbands!!!!!!” White posted. “Go Gamecocks!!!!!!!”
Another theory has centered on South Carolina allegedly putting sand on the field at Williams-Brice to bother Tennessee. The Gamecocks’ social media team leaned into that one after the game, posting a picture of beach chairs sitting on sand at midfield.
Beamer said the whole thing misses the point of what happened in 2022 and again on Saturday, when South Carolina pulled out a 27-24 victory.
“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,” Beamer said.
“…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.”
He also admitted he knows the theories won’t disappear anytime soon.
“I don’t know what conspiracy theories they’re going to come up with this year,” Beamer said. “Maybe it’s the lights from the State Fair, or something affected their ability to play, I don’t know.”
Beamer even tossed out one more possibility himself after a reporter noticed the stadium scoreboard had shown Tennessee with a timeout left, seemingly setting up Malik Orsan’s game-winning kick. Beamer said the board was wrong.
“The scoreboard was wrong,” Beamer said. “It said they had one (timeout) left.
They didn’t have a timeout. … Maybe that’s the conspiracy theory.
[We] made the kick because they thought they had a timeout and they didn’t. Maybe that’s what they’re gonna say.”
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