The South Carolina Gamecocks deserved to celebrate its big win over the then-No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday. The Gamecocks successfully notched consecutive victories over ranked opponents for the second time under head coach Shane Beamer.
But the Gamecocks can't sit back and afford to rest on their laurels, as they have to travel on the road to take on the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. South Carolina is already listed as a slight underdog per the Las Vegas oddsmakers.
Coach Beamer is trying to preach to his team that it has to get right back to work. That's especially true inside the SEC, where we've seen several notable upsets, like Florida beating Texas, Tennessee beating Alabama and Auburn upsetting Georgia two weeks ago.
"Human nature is human nature," Beamer said at his weekly press conference via Gamecock247. "I'm 49 years old. That was an emotional night out there Saturday. It was euphoria in so many ways. You got to go right back to work. They're on social media a lot more than I am. If they get on social media this week, it's all still probably Tennessee if they're scrolling their phones. That's whether you're an older team or not."
Beamer added that he likes the mentality that his team has, and that having an older, more mature team helps from a maturity standpoint. One of Beamer's star defensive linemen, Kelby Collins, added that South Carolina has a strict 24-hour rule when it comes to celebrating victories. His teammate, offensive lineman Nolan Hay, recognized that his team knows what it's like to have a letdown game in the SEC, but that he is confident his team won't succumb to it.
"We just had a great practice today," Hay said via Gamecock 247. "I know that there's this thing going around called the SEC flu or something with like having a big win and then coming around and laying an egg. But we're a very mature group. We're not like that. We all just had a mentality of you got to get better. It's a new week, and it's all about us at the end of the day."
Hay was recently crowned SEC offensive lineman of the week for helping lead South Carolina's offense against Tennessee. The unit put up 344 yards of offense over the Vol defense.
Saturday's game will kick off at 4:15 p.m. ET and air live on SEC Network.
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