Everything Shane Beamer said following loss to Texas A&M

"First of all, credit to A&M. They did what championship teams do. I said coming into this game, there was nobody in the country playing better in all three phases than those guys and they showed that. To respond in the second half like they did. Credit to them. It's why they're going to, I guess, play for the SEC championship, certainly be in the playoffs and have a chance to win it all. Congrats to coach Elko and that team.

"Having said that, to say that I'm hurt for our guys is an understatement. I know the rest of the country was surprised with what was going on in the first half. We weren't. If you've been watching us play all season. We had great confidence coming into this game. We fully expected to be in this game, fully expected to be a four-quarter game and certainly, we got off to a great start. We had great confidence. I get it, our record is what it is, but our guys also understood this is, we won this game by 24 points last year. We had great confidence coming into this game for a lot of reasons because there's a lot of players that played out there today that were in that game last season. Like the game last season, we were up, they came back, took the lead, and then we scored 24 straight in the second half. Then today, we were up, they came back, and they were able to finish it. What a heck of a first half. Like I said, we weren't surprised. Nobody came into the locker room at halftime celebrating, thinking the game was over, thinking that we could just go out there and coast in the second half. We talked about it at halftime. The scoreboard is irrelevant. Our whole mentality today was coming in here and dominating. When you're dominating, you don't, look at the scoreboard when you're trying to dominate something. You just keep going and that's what we talked about. In the second half, just really disappointed with the way that we performed, coaches and players. We had our opportunities and I think, one, just told the team in the locker room, we're going to be sick when we watch this tape because there's a lot of missed opportunities in the first half that made it whatever it was at halftime, 30-3, could have easily been what 42-3 if we just score touchdowns in the red zone and make some more plays. Then, in the second half, I think we're going to be sick offensively and defensively with the number of plays that we that we left out there. Credit to them. This one hurts to say the least. I know our guys will respond and we'll come right back to Columbia. Got two home games left to finish this thing out."

"No, I don't think so. They did a great job. Our whole thing was being the most physical team, and they certainly kicked our butts in the run game in the second half. We couldn't get anything going from a run game standpoint. That was that was disappointing. I don't think we got conservative at all. We talked about it. We need to go out here and play good football in the second half and keep our foot on the gas pedal. That was the whole mentality. ... We didn't go to like the the Dean Smith, four corners offense in the second half. We were trying to score points and keep it rolling. We left a lot of plays out there in the run game and the pass game. Had some open receivers that we weren't able to connect on for whatever reason, all the way to that last drive. They just did a good job of playing better in the second half than we did."

"Yeah, it was, I told you guys on Tuesday when we started this week, that we'd have the ball with what three minutes left in the game and a chance to go kick a field goal and win it on the road against the number three team in the nation, we would have all signed up for that. I told the LaNorris at the two minute situations I put him in every day, we do two minute on Sundays, and we do two minute on Thursdays and I try and make it hard as hard as possible. I told him, this is easy compared to what you usually have. You got three minutes and a timeout. We got a good understanding of what they were going to try and do and and I told our whole team, told the team at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and then I told the offense right there in the huddle, like what a story this is going to be. For all the crap we've gone through and the heartbreak and the criticism and whatnot, we got a chance to go win the game, and what a story that's going to be for this offense, for this football team, for this program. We had plenty of time and moved the ball there a little bit. Huge fourth down to Nyck over there on the sideline. Popped the screen in there to get positive yardage. To not finish the drive was really disappointing."

"Go finish this thing out the right way. Nobody thought we'd be sitting here right now with two games left knowing that that's off the table. Competition is a core value of our program. To me, the best competitors are the ones that are intrinsically motivated, meaning they don't need something out there to motivate them. They just love to go compete. I know our guys do, too. They hurt. We're going through this right now, and we're going to be stronger for it next season. I know that. These guys that we have coming back that will remember this feeling, and I don't know why we're going through it. I don't know why we've had this heartbreak that we've had, but we will be better and stronger and hardened because of it as we go into next season. But I really, really hurt for these seniors that have given so much that there won't be postseason. I'm sad for our team. That's one thing we talked about on Sundays. It's such a great group of guys. That's why I hurt so much for them. They're such great kids. We don't have issues off the field. We don't have issues with academics. They work their rear ends off. I don't have to come into the meeting every week and figure out ways to get them to go practice hard. They love competing. They love being around one another. They love playing for each other. That's what we talked about on Tuesday. We didn't want it to end. We wanted a whole month of togetherness as a team throughout the month of December and that hurts. But really, really hurt for these seniors that deserve better than this, and I hate it that, as the head coach, I haven't been able to help them more in the fourth quarter this year."

"Yeah, huge. That's disappointing too, because we had a couple of those against Alabama, too. Some dropped interceptions and opportunity to make a play all across the defense. So that was disappointing to see that again. It's one of the things that, coming into the game that we talked about. Reed is a heck of a quarterback. When you go, wherever he was, 22-of-39 for 439 and three touchdowns and then being able to run the ball effectively. He's a dynamic player, but we did feel like we'd be able to affect him and that he would give us some opportunities to get some interceptions. We talked about in the team meeting yesterday, right before we left to go to the airport. I showed the whole team some plays where, the end of the Notre Dame game, and I'm not taking anything away from him. Please don't take this as criticism, but everybody remembers the fourth down play that they threw to beat Notre Dame. I mean, there was a second down and a third down where Notre Dame had an opportunity to end the game and get an interception right there, and they weren't able to capitalize. We talked about it yesterday in Columbia, that we need to capitalize on those opportunities, that he's going to throw us some, and we've got to capitalize. Those guys are playing their rear ends off and had a chance. They got their hands on balls, and that's all you can ask for. The margin for us, for anybody, especially in this league. Coach Elko and I were talking before the game, people don't understand what a freaking war this league is week in, week out. It's absolute war that's unlike any other conference in the world, and the margins are just that small, and we're not making enough plays on the other side of the winning margins that we need to right now."

"That we are all disappointed. Nobody hurts more than the guys in that locker room. I know our fans will respond next week in Columbia like our players will. We've got the greatest fans in America. They are passionate and loyal. They were loud out there today too, and made their presence felt. Appreciate the ones that came out here to College Station. I know they're disappointed and hurt and saying the same things. What just happened with that. We'll look at it and we'll learn from it. And like I said, we'll be better for it. We'll be better next week against Coastal Carolina because of it. We'll be better in two weeks against Clemson because of it and we will certainly be better as we go into 2026 because of it. There's a lot of young players on this team right now that are hurting, that'll be back next season. Like I said a minute ago, will be battle tested and hardened because of this. We're right there. It'd be one thing if we were coming out every week and we're getting the crap kicked out of us 42-7. That'd be one thing. We've had a chance to win literally every game this season and we're not doing the things that we need to win. That's all me and I'm gonna get it fixed where next year at this time, we're sitting here not feeling sick about not being bowl eligible, but we're sitting here talking about a playoff run and what we're about to do in the month of December."

"I think there's a bunch of absolute horse garbage that's on social media right now."

Well, some folks are saying that he's likely coming back

"Hopefully, that's not horse garbage."

Todd McShay made a comment, there have been a couple of folks insinuating that he's coming back

"That guy was saying he was going to Miami, I think. The same guy was, right? Social media, I love y'all, but it's gonna be the end of all of us, some of the stuff. But no, to answer your question, what I think you're getting to. I've had some really good conversations with a lot of guys on our team in regards to the future. Right now, our focus is on, this week was A&M, and this week is getting better for Coastal Carolina, who I know is really hot. I don't know if they played yet today, but they're on a roll right now. But yes, I'd be not doing my job as a head coach if I wasn't having conversations with players throughout the season in regards to their futures. You've got guys that have NFL decisions to make and a lot of that. I don't want to speak for everyone, there'll be a time for all that. But, I'll say this though. There's a lot of guys on this team that love being a Gamecock, and there's a lot of guys on this team and in this program that hurt like hell right now about what we're going through. There's a lot of guys that have great grit and resolve to get this right and understand how close we are to being where we want to be."

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