South Carolina football defeated a ranked opponent for the second straight week, knocking off No. 25 Vanderbilt 28-7 on the road FirstBank Stadium in Nashville on Saturday.
Last week, the Gamecocks (6-3, 4-3 SEC) beat then-No. 11 Texas A&M 44-20 at home.
“The people who do the rankings don’t think we’re worth a crap, but that’s fine. Keep crapping on us. That’s the way we like it,” coach Shane Beamer said after qualifying for his third bowl game in four seasons with the program. “Don’t rank us this week. We’re good where we are. We just like to lay low and work really hard and come out and have fun on Saturdays.”
South Carolina fell to then-No. 8 Alabama by two points on Oct. 12, right after losing to No. 11 Ole Miss 27-3 the week before. Since the heartbreaking loss, the Gamecocks have won three straight games, two on the road, and picked up their first SEC home win with the upset last week.
“Everyone thought there’d be a letdown coming off of last week,” Beamer said. “For our guys to come in here, know it’s going to be a tough, gritty, hard game just because of the way Vanderbilt plays football, is really satisfying for us as a football team.”
Against the Commodores (6-4, 3-3), who qualified for a bowl game last week with a 17-7 win over Auburn, quarterback LaNorris Sellers threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Rocket Sanders had three touchdowns and 126 rushing yards.
“We just continue to get better,” Beamer said.
HIGHLIGHTS:South Carolina vs Vanderbilt: Final score, highlights from Week 11 SEC game
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
