The Verdict: History will not define this program

South Carolina football superfan Chris Paschal writes a weekly column during the season for GamecockCentral called “The Verdict.” Chris is a lawyer at Goings Law Firm in Columbia.

I just stood there stunned at what I had just witnessed when Rocket Sanders bulldozed his way into the endzone to score the game-winning touchdown.

Was this a dream? Did we just take the lead with 15 seconds left? Are we going to win this game?

Of course, this was not a dream.

Roughly 80,000 Gamecock fans had witnessed one of the great games in South Carolina history. Despite having just let one of the SEC’s great receivers catch a fade pass to take the lead with a minute to go, the Gamecocks had found a way to win the game.

It had turned out that Lucy had not pulled the football out from under us. Or maybe she had, and these Gamecocks just did not care.

Regardless, Carolina had snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat. And it was glorious to watch. 

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There will be plenty of time in December and January to recap and dissect this 2024 Carolina football season. And of course, there has already been great coverage by the staff at Gamecock Central breaking down what this win meant for the program. But from my vantage point, this win signified one very important thing: the past will not define this Shane Beamer-led program. 

Some of you may know this, but back in the late winter and early spring of 2021, I had a podcast. And that podcast lasted about six months before I realized that it is actually a lot harder to spend hours and hours and hours preparing, recording, and producing a podcast than I thought.

But it was a fun experience, and I am glad I was able to share my thoughts on what were the beginning months of the Shane Beamer era in Columbia. In February of 2021, in the sixth episode, I published an episode titled “History Can’t Define You.” In that episode, I examined one of my favorite topics when it comes to Gamecock football. 

For decades, Carolina football was defined by the past. Carolina football was zero SEC titles. Carolina football was zero national championships. Carolina football was the 1984 Navy game. Carolina football was 1-21 from 1999-2000. Carolina football was an after-thought, have-not, bottom of the rung football program and to so many that’s what it always would be. For so many people (and yes, that included some Carolina fans) past results defined future parameters of what this program could be. In other words: once a loser, always a loser. 

There is a reason why in the American jury system propensity evidence is for the most part not admissible in trial. If a prosecutor can’t stand up in front of a jury and argue “once a thief, always a thief,” then I sure as heck am not going to listen to Clemson fans, lazy pundits, and callers into the Paul Finebaum Show say, “Carolina will never be good because they have never been good.” 

It is clear that Shane Beamer, his coaches, and his players, believe Carolina can be good and believe Carolina can win football games. It was easy for coaches of years past to use the demons of this Carolina football program as a crutch. Assistant coaches on a previous staff would tell donors and boosters in private circles that there were certain top-end recruits that you could not recruit to Carolina.

This current staff has locked down blue-chip talent both from within the Palmetto State and outside of it. Sterling Lucas is fighting his butt off to beat Auburn – AUBURN – for an elite edge prospect out of the state of Alabama. There is no backing down with this staff. There is no ceiling on this program with this staff. 

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This past Saturday, we saw that mindset manifest itself in a game so many of us thought was lost in the final moments. When Luther Burden crossed the goal line with just a minute to go, I noticed a lady a few rows in front of me wiping the sides of her eyes with a napkin. And I was right there with her. “Here we go again.” So many of us thought that exact phrase or something close to it. Right when we were on the precipice of, as Wes Mitchell puts it, exorcising another demon, we thought we had come up just short. 

History cannot define this program moving forward. History will not define this program moving forward. There is belief in this program that the future holds the brightest days for Carolina football. 

This weekend, my alma mater, the Wofford Terriers come to town. In 1889, Wofford played the first ever college football game in the state of South Carolina against Furman. We whipped ‘em. Following the game, in the Wofford College Journal, it was written that Furman “left on the afternoon train wiser and sadder men.” As much as I love Wofford, I don’t expect Carolina to leave the field this Saturday wiser or sadder men. This game will be a celebration of South Carolina (and Wofford) football. 

So many great seniors for Wofford will play their final football game in front of a massive crowd. They played the game the right way. They played because they loved the game. They played because they loved their college. They stuck through thick and thin. They experienced the lowest of lows. They experienced their coach getting fired in 2022. They experienced an 0-9 start to the 2023 season only to finish the season off with back-to-back wins over The Citadel and No. 22 ranked Furman (one of the greatest upsets in Wofford history).  They represent Wofford with pride and with class, and I cannot wait to celebrate them this Saturday. 

A large group of Gamecocks will be honored and celebrated, as well, this Saturday. They too have weathered some tough storms in order to run out behind the state flag for the final time in Williams-Brice Stadium. So many of them will be remembered as the ones that helped build the program into what they believe it will become. I encourage all Gamecock fans to get to the stadium early to cheer on this great group of young men. 

Wofford fans are coming for not only a football game, but for a party, too. We will have fun this weekend. I expect Carolina to take care of business and to honor these seniors and upperclassmen the right way. Many of them following the game will raise a health to Carolina in front of the band, jog off the field, and enter that locker room for a final time. I’m sure there will be some time for reflection. 

But then it will be time to prepare for war.

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