South Carolina Is A College Football Playoff Contender?

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Things were not looking good for the University of South Carolina football program entering the 2024 season. Coming off a losing campaign – and facing one of the toughest schedules in America – expectations were low (like, lu’au limbo low) for head coach Shane Beamer’s fourth squad.

After an embarrassing season-opening win over Sun Belt foe Old Dominion, even those diminished preseason expectations felt too good to be true… while Beamer’s future at the helm of the Gamecock program felt less certain than ever.

South Carolina rebounded to show flashes of brilliance in September – including an upset road win over Kentucky and a near-upset over then-No. 16 LSU (a win ripped away from the Gamecocks by terrible officiating). But the onset of October brought with it a humiliating home loss to then-No. 11/12 Ole Miss followed by near-upset on the road against perennial national championship contender Alabama.

With the season halfway gone, Beamer’s team was pretty much where everyone expected it to be heading into the teeth of its SEC slate… with little reason for optimism.

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Then, as suddenly as it had soured, the script flipped. The turnaround started in Norman, Oklahoma, where defensive coordinator Clayton White’s unit decided it was going to put the entirety of Gamecock Nation on its back. Against the unranked Oklahoma Sooners, South Carolina’s defense registered nine sacks, thirteen tackles for loss and four turnovers – two of which it returned for touchdowns.

“We know what kind of team we can be,” Beamer said following the Oklahoma win. “We’ve been banging on the door. It’s time to kick the door down.”

At the time he said that, Beamer’s teams had lost nine games in a row against ranked opponents – one loss shy of the 3-15 mark posted by his predecessor, Will Muschamp. Not exactly an inspiring trajectory, right?

South Carolina was also still limping on offense, with coordinator Dowell Loggains struggling on the play-calling front, freshman starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers merely flashing his vaunted skills, tailback Raheim “Rocket” Sanders being held mostly in check and deep ball threat Nyck Harbor barely even factoring into the game plan.

Loggains’ early-season plan? Rely on the Gamecock defense – which is tied for tenth nationally with 20 takeaways – to gift them the football.

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Heading into November, South Carolina ranked No. 104 nationally in total offense – hardly the sort of foundation upon which to build a compelling late season run against a schedule full of ranked opponents.

Incredibly, though, that’s exactly what Beamer’s team has done.

“There are games which make or break football programs,” I noted ahead of the Gamecocks’ November 2 home matchup against then-No. 10/11 Texas A&M.

How did South Carolina respond to that challenge? By winning not one, not two, but three “make or break” games – in succession. All against ranked opponents. After a breakthrough blowout victory over the Aggies, Beamer’s team won convincingly on the road against then-No. 24/25 Vanderbilt – and then defeated No. 23 Missouri in a thrilling SEC heavyweight battle that came down to the last punch.

With just fifteen seconds on the clock, Sanders took a shovel pass from Sellers fifteen yards to pay dirt – breaking multiple tackles along the way and dragging three Tiger defenders with him across the goal line. His emphatic score – the fourth and final lead change in the fourth quarter – put the Gamecocks ahead 34-30 less than a minute after Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III had hauled in what appeared to be the game-winning touchdown.

Here’s the decisive play…

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WHAT. A. MOMENT. pic.twitter.com/9DYo3YWN74

— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) November 17, 2024

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That is definitional downhill running, people… not to mention the sort of toughness that epitomizes programmatic culture change. So impactful was Sanders’ game-winning touchdown run, the vibration at Williams-Brice stadium reportedly registered on area seismographs.

With three straight victories over ranked rivals (the first time that’s happened in school history, by the way) South Carolina moved to 7-3 (5-3 SEC) on the year and climbed to No. 19 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and coaches’ poll. For those of you checking your dates, that’s the program’s highest ranking since September 2014.

South Carolina could find itself ranked even higher when the College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings are released tomorrow (November 19, 2024).

As for Sellers, he is now leading an offense that ranks No. 66 nationally in total yards (up nearly forty spots in just three weeks) and No. 46 in scoring – not a bad uptick against a trio of ranked foes. The 6-foot-3, 242-pound freshman from Florence, S.C. threw for a career high 353 yards and five touchdowns against Missouri en route to earning SEC offensive player of the week honors. After throwing for only four touchdowns in his first five starts (to go with four interceptions), Sellers has now connected for ten touchdowns against only one interception in his last four starts.

South Carolina faces FCS foe Wofford this coming weekend at home. After that, Beamer’s team travels to Death Valley for a Palmetto Bowl showdown against No. 16/17 Clemson – a game which could conceivably have CFP implications. While both the Tigers and Gamecocks face long odds to make the playoffs, the fact South Carolina is in the conversation at all is a testament to the miraculous job Beamer, his staff and their players have done so far this season.

In other words, doubt them at your peril…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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