Beamer joins Spurrier as only South Carolina coaches to beat ranked Florida and Tennessee in one season

For just the second time in program history, South Carolina has beaten ranked Florida and Tennessee teams in the same season, and the achievement puts head coach Shane Beamer in company with his former boss, Steve Spurrier. The note was highlighted by David Cloninger of The Post and Courier after the Gamecocks knocked off No. 11 Tennessee in a close finish, with Beamer noted as the only South Carolina coach to do it when both opponents were ranked in the Top 20.

The Tennessee win came 27-24 on a walk-off field goal, capping a sudden turnaround after a rough start to the 2026 season. Two weeks earlier, South Carolina had picked up its first SEC win of the season by beating then-No. 16 Florida 38-19 in Gainesville, then used a bye week in Week 8 before returning to edge the Volunteers.

The only previous example came in 2005 under Spurrier. That South Carolina team won 16-15 at No. 23 Tennessee in Knoxville, then two weeks later beat Florida 30-22 in Columbia, spoiling the Gators' chance to reach the SEC Championship Game.

The comparison otherwise shows how different the two tenures have been. Spurrier coached South Carolina from 2005 to 2015 and went 86-49, including three straight 11-win seasons from 2011 through 2013. Beamer, who served as an assistant under Spurrier from 2007 to 2010, is 37-33 and has yet to produce a double-digit win season in his first five years. A strong finish to 2026 could still give him his first, with South Carolina next traveling to Oklahoma.