South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer. Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

Shane Beamer led South Carolina to a major upset of Clemson on Saturday, and apparently he had some extra motivation from an ESPN analyst.

Beamer called out ESPN’s Jesse Palmer in his postgame interview after the 31-30 win over the Tigers, essentially suggesting that both Clemson and Palmer had overlooked the Gamecocks.

“I heard Jesse Palmer on TV last night, and I love Jesse. But he said Clemson needs a big win to impress the committee,” Beamer said. “Clemson needed to worry about winning the football game, because we had a confident bunch and we had a hell of a football team coming in here. I think the narrative was that we were a feel-good story. We got a good football team and we showed it.”

Nothing wrong with using comments like Palmer’s for a little bit of added motivation. The Gamecocks have certainly done a lot to ensure that they won’t be overlooked going forward, as they also derailed Tennessee’s season with a 63-38 upset win last week.

As for Beamer, he has demonstrated more than once that he pays attention to what the media says about his team and does not forget it. Palmer got off easy here, if anything.

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