After falling short of 10th win, South Carolina shifting focus to next season and being even better

Shane Beamer admittedly may or may not have those preseason media predictions from before the 2024 season started saved on his phone. To him, it serves as a daily reminder that not many believed in what he saw.

Even right after finishing out a disappointing 5-7 season in 2023, Beamer still believed in his group. With some returning pieces coming back, along with help on the way in recruiting, there was potential to get this thing right in his eyes. But no one has a vantage point like he does to see what was coming.

“There’s a lot of people if you look at those preseason projections, very few of them even had us in a bowl game in 2024,” Beamer said. “… There was one thought we were going to go 3-9 and someone thought we were going 5-7. There weren’t a lot of people picking us to be in a bowl game, much less the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.”

Things started out well with some starting to take notice. But nothing crazy. South Carolina went 3-1 in the first month of the season but then lost two straight games to Ole Miss and Alabama. Same old Gamecocks? It sure felt that way to some extent.

But after a 35-9 win over Oklahoma in Norman, everything changed and improved for the better. South Carolina ended the regular season on a six-game winning streak, capped off with a comeback win over in-state rival Clemson in the Palmetto Bowl.

With a chance to end the year on a real high note and get a 10th win, the Gamecocks were as motivated as ever. Only two players decided to opt out of the Citrus Bowl, which is rare in today’s college football, where bowl games are viewed as meaningless.

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However, it didn’t roll the way they wanted. South Carolina came up short in a 21-17 loss to Illinois, another team in search of its first 10-win season since 2001.

The Gamecocks led at one point in the fourth quarter but a nine-yard touchdown by Illinois’ Josh McCray with 7:29 left was the difference.

“Really, it’s a hurt locker room in there, as you can imagine. A lot of guys that have poured their heart and soul into Gamecock football and wanted so much for them to get that 10th win,” Beamer said. “We weren’t able to get it done, but like I just told them in there, just don’t lose sight of the journey that we’ve been on and what these guys have done since January when they came back.”

The loss will certainly sting for some time. After all, South Carolina doesn’t play another game this season. But while a tough end to a great season, a year in which the Gamecocks went 9-4 and exceeded expectations, this will serve as a moment to use as motivation.

“Yeah, it’s definitely just fuel to the fire. So next year I’ll tell you is going to be amazing,” Jalon Kilgore said. “Each game, we’re coming in and knocking somebody’s heads off — blowouts. Everybody’s finna keep their heads level, not think too low, just stay on a playing field — stay level — because no one believed in us before the season. Now everybody wanna believe in us. So just gotta keep going on with that same mentality.”

LaNorris Sellers, who was the leading man in helping the team make the one-year turnaround, said this year showed what South Carolina can accomplish. Now it’s just about taking that next step.

“It was a couple plays away from being in the playoffs the first season we had,” Sellers said. “We know what it takes now. We just have to put it all together.”

South Carolina won’t play again until Aug. 31, 2025, when it opens the new season against Virginia Tech in Atlanta. Expectations will surely be higher for the program going into Beamer’s fifth year. But you can bet he’s already making plans to live up to the improved predictions going into next year.

“We play Virginia Tech in 243 days,” Beamer said, “and we’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.”

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