Still today, Lincoln Riley must be grateful to Shane Beamer for his three-season stint at Norman. He led Oklahoma to a 33-6 overall record, three Big 12 football championship titles. But this time around, Beamer chooses to follow his own path. Lately, there has been a lot of buzz around the USC Trojans vs Notre Dame rivalry fading away due to Riley’s disinterest. But when it came to Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks, they marked themselves safe from such controversy. Called ‘laughably one-sided’ by National Outlet, what is the latest update on Beamer vs Dabo Swinney face-off? 

On August 21, CBS Sports analyst Brad Crawford tweeted, “South Carolina’s rivalry game with Clemson will stay, I’m told. Both sides want it.” If Beamer wanted to, he could have resisted and could have raised his opinion about not continuing with the rivalry. After all, in this case, Clemson leads the all-time series 73-44-4 and has dominated the Gamecocks for over a century. 

However, there is more to it than just Beamer and Swinney happily continuing their tradition. As Crawford tweeted, “Those occasional matchups with UNC, NC State and other Power 4 regional foes are over. The ACC will move to a 9-game conference slate as well. Clock ticking on that.” As we are all aware, SEC has decided to move from eight to nine conference games in 2026. Games against North Carolina (UNC), NC State, and other nearby major programs are probably finished. It’s time for Beamer to focus on his new conference obligations instead of these occasional regional non-conference games. So, how is it going to impact the Gamecocks?

For the fans who were fearing that they will be striking off the historic rivalry against Clemson, they can sleep in peace. Any non-conference games already scheduled against teams other than Clemson are uncertain. As Crawford tweeted, “No idea what will happen with future non-con opponents not named Clemson that are currently scheduled over the next few years, but can’t imagine many of those will be played.” 

The Palmetto Bowl is safe, and with both coaches firm on the in-state rivalry, non-conference challenges aren’t a concern for Beamer’s program. And the head coach embraces it with open arms, unlike Riley.   

Shane Beamer accepts the challenge of a brutal SEC schedule, along with the historic rivalry 

“As a competitor I love it. Think it’s great for the fans because they want to see quality opponents, and I’ll say what I’ve said all along, which is I’m great with it as long as every other school in the SEC is playing a schedule that we’re playing,” Beamer said in an interview. Now, that’s definitely courageous, as we will have to navigate a brutal schedule that includes six games against Top 25 teams. That includes Clemson, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss.

But even then, Beamer did not raise any objections or clauses about not taking part in their historic rivalry. But things have been different for Riley. Given the current 12-team format, it can be presumed that Riley’s boys losing to Marcus Freeman’s Freeman’s Notre Dame would do more harm to USC’s resume. So, Beamer’s former boss may have been happy to put USC’s chances at making the College Football Playoff first. He shared, “There are some changes that we’ve all just got to accept, because it’s just part of it right now.”

But that called for a lot of backlash. However, Marcus Freeman was willing to go to any lengths to keep the USC Trojans vs Notre Dame rivalry alive. As Pete Sampson tweeted, “Pete Bevacqua added Notre Dame is open to an occasional neutral site game in the series and reaffirmed Notre Dame is willing to move the game’s date around in the calendar to accommodate USC continuing the series.”  

For Shane Beamer, cutting off the Clemson game has never been an option. As the South Carolina head coach poured his heart out, “The magnitude of this rivalry is unlike anywhere that I’ve ever been of all the places that I’ve coached, and it’s not just football, it’s all sports.” Now, that’s what you call a sportsman’s spirit.