After South Carolina concluded a 4-8 season with a 28-14 loss to Clemson, Shane Beamer concluded the year by promising better days ahead.
"I can one billion percent promise you this. We will have a hell of a season in 2026, and when I'm doing this press conference after the Clemson game next year, because of the success we're going to have next season -- and I know we will -- we're going to look back at this season and say it sucked going through it but, because of what we went through in '25, it led us to what we just went through in '26. I'm a million percent confident in that."
Excluding the fact that Beamer evidently dropped his confidence level by a factor of one thousand from one sentence to the next (he was a billion percent confident at first, and then only one million percent confident next), so far it appears Beamer's prediction was off by one word.
Shane Beamer gives his guarantee for the 2026 season pic.twitter.com/YAKQzsTCVz
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) November 29, 2025
The 2026 season has not been a hell of a season, but a season in hell, the Groundhog Day version.
The Gamecocks closed 2025 losing their last six against Power 4 competition, and have dropped their first two so far in '26. The first was a showdown game of sorts with Mississippi State, with the winner likely to return to the AP Top 25. Playing at home, Beamer's team jumped out to a 16-0 lead, then surrendered a 41-7 run to Mississippi State before adding 11 cosmetic points in the final four minutes. On Saturday, an Alabama team that fell behind early to Kentucky and Florida State jumped out to a 35-3 lead on South Carolina and cruised to a 49-18 victory. The Crimson Tide's offense needed only 50 plays to put up 489 yards, 20 first downs, and 42 points. Though it's early, Carolina's defense is allowing 7.47 yards a play and an astounding 222.3 opposing passer rating in SEC play.
Don't think the offense gets off the hook, either. LaNorris Sellers has yet to make the necessary evolution from "outstanding athlete playing quarterback" into "quarterback that's also an outstanding athlete" and it's easy to see why. The redshirt junior has had three coordinators in three seasons: Dowell Loggains during his SEC Freshman of the Year season in 2024, Mike Shula for nine games in 2025, and now Kendal Briles this season. In the process, Sellers's quarterback rating has fallen from 17th nationally in 2024, to 54th, and now sits at 95th so far this season. The only game so far where Sellers has thrown more touchdowns than interceptions was the opener against Kent State.
Making matters even worse, Beamer was forced to suspend star edge rusher Dylan Stewart after his crash out on Saturday.
That's enough of a deep dive, the top-line item is plenty. When Beamer issued his prophecy on the night of Nov. 29, 2025, South Carolina hadn't defeated a Power 4 team since Sept. 27, 2025. On Sept. 28, 2026, that's still true. The last Power 4 team Carolina did beat was Kentucky, who later fired its coach. This coming Saturday, Kentucky comes to Columbia with a new coach and a No. 24 AP ranking. A week later, the Gamecocks play arguably the hottest team in the country, No. 8 Florida, in Gainesville, also led by a new coach. If the Gamecocks do not pull out of this 365-plus-day tailspin by winning one, or perhaps both, of those games, South Carolina is likely to have a new coach of its own sooner than later.