Shane Beamer would support South Carolina playing nine SEC games under one condition

For several years, part of the offseason discourse in the Southeastern Conference has been the potential of college football’s best league to adopt a nine-game conference schedule. So far, that hasn’t happened. The SEC remains at eight intra-conference contests.

Recently, though, the nine-game discussion has popped up again. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer offered his conditional support behind the idea.

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The Gamecock headman has one condition behind his support: South Carolina cannot be at a competitive disadvantage because of it.

In a conversation with CBS Sports, Beamer addressed the potential of a nine-game slate. “The only issue I have is I just want it to be balanced for everyone in the conference because everyone does not play a non-conference rival like we do when we have Clemson every year,” Beamer explained. “So, in my mind, we’re playing nine Power Four games as it is, plus we play Virginia Tech this year, so we got 10. Next year, we got Miami and Clemson. So, we’re already playing 10 Power Four games. If we play a ninth conference game, now we have 11. That’s great if we’re playing nine conference games, but I would hope that everybody in our league is playing the same number of Power Four opponents as we are each year because, if not, then it is a competitive disadvantage to our program.”

Every season, South Carolina plays at least nine power conference opponents with their eight SEC games and the end-of-season rivalry game against the Clemson Tigers. Many times, like in 2025 and 2026, the Gamecocks also play another power opponent from the southeast. Beamer, understandably, thinks that the total number of quality opponents should match within the SEC.

Built into Beamer’s conditions is an SEC-wide belief that strength of schedule should hold more weight. Every year, the national strength of schedule rankings are littered with SEC teams near the top. Yet, last year’s College Football Playoff Selection Committee didn’t seem to value that fact. Instead, having fewer losses, no matter the schedule difficulty, mattered more. That was evidenced by bad strength-of-schedule teams like Indiana and SMU earning at-large bids over elite strength-of-schedule groups like South Carolina and Alabama.

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Beamer told CBS that the addition of a ninth SEC contest has to help the conference come selection time. “Are we playing nine games for more money? Or are we playing nine games for more money and to enhance our ability to get in the Playoff by playing a more challenging schedule?” he asked.

He also reiterated a point that he has made abundantly clear throughout this conversation: South Carolina’s annual rivalry game against Clemson isn’t going anywhere, even if the Gamecocks are playing an extra quality opponent. “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,” he said. “The baseball series against Clemson every year is a big freaking deal. Whatever we play Clemson in, they feel the same way about us. I don’t want it going away because I know how important it is to the people of this state, on both sides, and it’s great exposure for the state of South Carolina.”

South Carolina has been a popular pick this offseason to earn a berth in the College Football Playoff. The Gamecocks’ road to the CFP will begin on Sunday, August 31st against Virginia Tech. ESPN will broadcast the 3:00 p.m. showdown, and the ESPN app will make it available via streaming.

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