SEC · Shane Beamer, year 6 (35-31) · Williams-Brice Stadium · 80,250 · 78,106 avg in 2026
LastL 34–41 vs Mississippi State · Sat Sep 19 · Matthew Fuller 73 rush yds, 1 TD, 85 rec yds
Nextat Alabama · Sat Sep 26 · 7 pm ET · Bryant-Denny Stadium · Alabama by 12.5 · series 3-15, lost the last 3 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 22 · through week 3
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #16 | #122 | -35.5✓ | Kent State | W 57–0 120 | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #17 | #175 | -44.5✗ | Towson | W 45–9 67 | 2-0 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #16 | #107 | -3✗ | Mississippi State | L 34–41 140 | 2-1 | 0-1 |
| 4 | Sep 26 | #22 | #16 | +12.5 | @Alabama | |||
| 5 | Oct 3 | #23 | #86 | Kentucky | ||||
| 6 | Oct 10 | @Florida | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | Tennessee | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | @Oklahoma | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | Texas A&M | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @Arkansas | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | Georgia | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | @Clemson |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19 | Mississippi State | L 34–41 | 431 | 2 | 34:15 | +0.124 | 38.0% | 130.0% | Season-low EPA/play |
| Sep 12 | Towson | W 45–9 | 502 | 2 | 26:08 | +0.172 | 48.5% | 123.1% | Best defensive stand |
| Sep 5 | Kent State | W 57–0 | 645 | 0 | 34:47 | +0.683 | 68.9% | 120.9% | Season-high EPA/play |
| Season average (3 games) | 526 | 1.3 | +0.327 | 51.8% | 124.6% | ||||
South Carolina is the SEC's hardest-luck believer — a program that has never won a conference championship in over a century, fights like it might at any moment, and watched a preseason-No.-13 season with a Heisman-hyped quarterback crater to 4-8.
Gamecock fans have spent generations as the SEC's welcome mat for Georgia, Clemson, and the rest — and they wear the grievance like a badge. They'll tell you nobody fights harder for less, and that…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 4-8 · last season
✓ measured from 12 games · ranks are among SEC teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Mixed. 3-7 over the last 10, and lost the last one.
He wasn’t able to finish. Nothing from an injury standpoint. It just wasn’t able to go at the end there in the fourth quarter, which is disappointing
Next Sep 26
vs Alabama · away
~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-22
the open questiondoes the recruiting haul translate on the field?
With Malik Clark (WR, #106 nationally) arriving in Shane Beamer's fourth straight top-25 class, South Carolina aims to break its 118-year wait for a second 11-win season.
our readfront page
South Carolina collapsed 35 spots in SP+ — the 4-8 record and lack of returning production raise one question: can Shane Beamer reverse the slide before the program’s next 11-win season?
our readbackground
Shane Beamer enters his sixth season with a 4-8 losing record, South Carolina's program identity hanging on the promise of its first 11-win season since 1903.
our readdeveloping
Matthew Fuller sees a real spike in usage once the game is out of reach, and his efficiency in competitive snaps sits below the position baseline -- the numbers lean on the opponent giving up.
our readdeveloping
Nyck Harbor is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
our readbackground
Vandrevious Jacobs is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
With Darius Gray (IOL, #37 nationally) arriving, Shane Beamer's class aims to break South Carolina's 118-year wait for an 11-win season — but Clemson's top-20 haul looms as a rival challenge in the SEC.
our readfront page
South Carolina: coordinator change reshaping a unit.
our readbackground
Outcome band · South Carolina · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
South Carolina signed a top-18 recruiting class. It is fourth consecutive top-25 recruiting class. A class ranked in the teens won the trail competition. The depth-chart work starts now. National coverage is split on what the ranking actually signals for this program.
The optimistic read: the class is real, the program is a destination again.
The 'rankings don't tell the whole story' counter -- development gaps, position holes still open.
This event was in 120 of 5904 board posts (2%) over the last 60 days — engaged but not consumed. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
Board health this week (572 posts): 9% positive · 37% neutral · 54% negative. Team-level weekly mood — not specific to this event. The boards ≠ the fanbase: a self-selected vocal slice.
South Carolina enters 2026 rated No. 49 in 2025 SP+ (+5.9), down 35 spots from 2024. SP+ reflects three years of tape; a drop this steep is structural, not noise. The recovery window is open but the room knows it. The preview consensus leans in — but preseason ratings reward the recent past, not the season ahead.
The 'the projection is underselling us' read -- fans betting the season beats the preview number.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter -- efficiency ratings reward what a program has actually done, not hope.
Nothing in our corpus yet — this door stays open for when there is.
This event was in 838 of 5904 board posts (14%) over the last 60 days — a fanbase consumed by it. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
Board health this week (572 posts): 9% positive · 37% neutral · 54% negative. Team-level weekly mood — not specific to this event. The boards ≠ the fanbase: a self-selected vocal slice.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
South Carolina is the program waiting for its second 11-win season since 1903.
The program ledger
since 2025Michigan hires new head coach
Michigan's coaching chaos is South Carolina's recruiting window — Beamer already adding in-state OL while the Wolverines sort out their room, and a top-18 class doesn't stall over someone else's hire.
UNC DC Steve Belichick resigns
Belichick walked away from Chapel Hill — and Shane Beamer's staff now looks even more cohesive at the top heading into a season where the SP+ climb and a top-14 class have Gamecocks talking SEC relevance out loud.
Kicker transfers after court ruling
A court ruling forced the roster move, but Beamer's kicker room now has an opening with a top-14 class and SEC expectations on the line — special teams depth isn't a footnote in the SEC.
South Carolina WRs out for season
Two receivers wiped from the 2026 depth chart while the 2025 room is already absorbing three draft departures — Beamer's passing game is running thin at exactly the wrong moment for a program trying to prove the SP+ climb is real.
Kendal Briles hired as OC
Briles runs RPO-heavy systems that punish defenses vertically — with three draft departures and OT pressure already in the room, the Gamecocks needed an architect, not a coordinator who'd manage a broken blueprint.
CB Ethan Johnson transfer commits from App State
Lost Norwood, swapped one corner net-zero in the portal, and now Beamer raids the Sun Belt for a guy the NFL noticed — Johnson isn't raw depth, he's a starter audition in a room that can't afford another hole.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
SC leads the 2026 class with 9 commits. National footprint reaching 5 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
88 signees across 14 states, 2023-2026. SC leads the pull.
That is 16.4% of every high-school FBS signee SC produced over those cycles — the biggest share any program takes — App State is next. The full map →
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median South Carolina player grew up 191 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Williams-Brice Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 104 of 111 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
Fan confidence a bit lower than recent years
23rd percentile among FBS programs
3 of 68 AP voters have them ranked, AP ballot, week 3 (2026) — from #20, Chris Carter (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), to #22, David Paschall (Chattanooga Times Free Press). 65 voters left them off the ballot entirely.
Individual AP Top 25 ballots, AP ballot, week 3, 2026 — 68 voters tracked.
Recovering 42% of their own fumbles — running cold vs. the ~51% league rate.
5 of 12 own fumbles recovered themselves; 10 of 18 forced fumbles recovered, 2025 only.
Winning the penalty battle: 18 penalties committed vs. 29 drawn on opponents, a 43-yard edge.
173 penalty yards committed vs. 216 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · South Carolina · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026