What Shane Beamer said after South Carolina’s blowout win over Oklahoma

Following a 35-9 win over Oklahoma on Saturday, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke to the media about the team’s performance. Here’s what he had to say.

— So happy for the players to come off the heartbreak of last week and respond the way they did today. It was really freaking awesome. The mentality was enough is enough. It’s time to kick the door down.

— So happy and proud to be their coach. His energy is renewed every Sunday. They come back and continue to work every week.

— One of the keys to victory was to dominate the turnover battle and they absolutely did. Points against OU’s defense were going to be hard to get. When you can score like that on defense, it’s a great way to start a game.

— Hated the way the team played in the third quarter. They were dominating the first half. Wanted to see them do the same coming into the second half. So that’s disappointing. But road wins are hard.

— This is a great testament to what kind of program they have at South Carolina.

— Didn’t want to change the offensive mentality at all. Told the offense to stay loose on the sideline. Play with a killer instinct. When they got up like they did, it was going to be hard for OU to come back.

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— O’Donnell Fortune tweaked something a little bit in the game. Didn’t want to risk any injury with him.

— The defense was hunting today. Gave a game ball to the whole defense. When you get as many sacks as they did, they deserve that. They continue to get better.

— This win feels extra special coming back to a place he has so many memories at when he was at OU. Really grateful and appreciative for his time here in Norman. It was so cool seeing so many players that he coached here out there today at the game. But this would’ve been one of the more special wins either way because of the way the team responded. That’s what makes it even more special.

— They can go toe to toe with anyone in this country. The record may not say it but they’ve shown they can play well against the best in the SEC. The young men in the program are so fun to be around. Grateful to be their coach.

— When they line up and play, the defense feels like they have an advantage against the opposing offensive line. They’ve got a good group on defense.

— Today was a little bit of both with effort and scheme. They’ve got older guys and are able to do a lot. But defense is about effort. The other key was to strain every play. Said that because of how hard OU plays. They knew they had to play harder than the Sooners did.

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— Nick Emmanwori is an elite football player. Credits him for the plays he made. It goes back to effort. Can’t remember a time where the defense got off to a start like they did today. They were on a mission to get takeaways.

— It was kind of the same story on offense today. The key drive right near the end of the first half on the Simon touchdown was huge. Every team left on the schedule has a good defense. So they need to be better. Stubbing their own toe too much offensively. But they did a great job of protecting the football. Whoever won the turnover battle was going to win the football game in his mind.

— The decision to start Cason Henry came down to having a better week of practice. But he has high hopes for Henry and Jatavius Shivers. Got to be more efficient on the offensive line. But it’s not just them; it’s everybody.

— You never relax in a game like this. No matter what the score was at halftime, they were trying to score points. They were going to try and go for two instead of kicking an extra point in the second quarter. Kai Kroeger hung onto the ball too long on the fake field goal. He had the play there. Felt like they knew what they would get from OU and not be very fake conscious. Points are hard to come by against this defense.

— They were ready for both quarterbacks — Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr. — in this game. But they didn’t treat them any different. Arnold is a good athlete, so they saw that on tape. Didn’t really feel like they needed to change their game plan in any way.

— The other key to this game was don’t allow OU to steal an extra possession. They expected OU to do something when the Sooners were down 21-0. They have a history of faking punts and field goals. They worked a lot on fake punts and field goals this week to prepare for anything OU threw at them. Knew something wasn’t normal with OU’s fake punt. Great job by Demetrius Knight to make a stop.

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