by WILL FOLKS
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The last time the University of Tennessee football team ventured into Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, the unranked Gamecocks exploded for 63 points and 606 yards of total offense against the fifth-ranked Volunteers.
As we noted at the time, no unranked team had ever put up that many points against a top five opponent – with things getting so unexpectedly out of hand the stadium’s pyrotechnical crew ran out of celebratory fireworks. Adding injury to insult, Volunteer quarterback Hendon Hooker – a Heisman Trophy frontrunner – sustained a season-ending knee injury on the first drive of the fourth quarter, turning the game into a rout.
The upset remains a pinnacle moment for Shane Beamer: the highest-ranked team he’s ever beaten as well as the highest point total ever recorded by one of his teams.
This year’s version of the Volunteers (6-1, 3-1 SEC) enter Columbia ranked No. 11 in the nation and coming off their biggest victory of the season – a 26-10 win at home over sixth-ranked Alabama. Oddsmakers still like the Gamecocks’ chances, though, currently listing them as 2.5-point favorites after initially installing Tennessee as a 2.5-point favorite in the early betting.
Expect that line to go back-and-forth over the course of the next few days… but for now, Smokey is an underdog.
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RELATED | BEAMERBALL BOUNCEBACK
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Four years ago, there was no vacillation. Tennessee came into Williams-Brice favored by 22 points.
Like Beamer, Volunteers’ head coach Josh Heupel is midway through his sixth season at the helm of his program – amassing a 51-21 (.708) all-time record that includes a 27-17 (.614) mark against conference opponents. Heupel’s teams have recorded a pair of Top Ten finishes, one College Football Playoff (CFP) appearance and have won at least ten games twice.
Beamer, conversely, is 36-33 (.521) overall – with a 17-27 (.386) mark against conference opponents. His teams have never finished in the Top Ten, never made the CFP and never won ten games.
As we noted last week, the Gamecock program is at a critical juncture. For the third year in a row, South Carolina is 3-3 overall and 1-3 in conference play midway through a campaign. Two years ago, Beamer’s team nearly ran the table – narrowly (and controversially) missing the program’s first-ever CFP appearance after finishing the regular season with six straight wins (including three victories over ranked opponents). Last season, the wheels came off – with South Carolina dropping five of its final six games en route to an embarrassing 4-8 finish (Beamer’s second losing season in the past three years).
Even with oddsmakers bullish on Beamerball, ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Gamecocks only a 40.1% chance of victory this Saturday. The following weekend, those odds dip further (to 36.2%) when the Gamecocks travel to Oklahoma for a Halloween showdown against the Sooners.
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November’s slate of games features Texas A&M at home (November 7), Arkansas on the road (November 14), No. 5 Georgia at home (November 21) and arch-rival Clemson on the road (November 28).
We polled our audience last week as to what they believe South Carolina’s final record will be, with a plurality (34%) guessing 6-6. Nearly a quarter of our audience (21%) guessed 5-7 while 17% guessed the team will finish 7-5.
On the fringes, 12% of respondents indicated they were expecting another 4-8 season from Beamer’s team while 7% guessed 8-4 and another 7% guessed 9-3.
Tennessee and South Carolina kickoff at 3:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday (October 24, 2026) at Williams-Brice Stadium with ESPN providing national coverage. It’s the first meeting of the teams since 2023 – the final year of the SEC’s divisional realignment. Prior to the latest conference reorganization, Tennessee and South Carolina met every year from 1992-2023 – a streak of 32 straight seasons.
After South Carolina upset then-No. 16 Tennessee in 1992 – the Gamecocks’ first season in the SEC – the Volunteers ripped off twelve straight victories in the series. They currently enjoy a 29-11-2 edge over South Carolina all-time – although Volunteer victories in 2019 and 2020 were vacated due to recruiting violations that occurred under former head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
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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 eight children.
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