Shane Beamer braced himself for the mayonnaise bath he both desperately wanted and totally dreaded. South Carolina had beaten North Carolina, 38-21, in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, and he had promised he’d let the bowl sponsors dump four-and-a-half gallons of slightly watered-down mayo on his head if his Gamecocks had won.
So they did.
The postgame mayo bath was arguably the most anticipated moment of the 2021 college football postseason outside of the College Football Playoff. It might have earned that distinction regardless, but it was certainly helped by a year’s worth of mayo-free frustration. Last December, the Mayo Bowl’s Twitter account posted a photo of what looked like it could be a cooler filled with mayo. But the winning coach — Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst — was doused with Gatorade on the sideline.
“As the person who monitors social media, it was very controversial —…
