Following a robust 2024 marketing campaign through which they gained 9 video games and narrowly missed out on the School Soccer Playoff, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks hope to take one other step ahead. The talent is in place, however the Gamecocks must buck historic traits to make it occur.
South Carolina has gained at the very least eight video games 16 instances in its 131-season historical past. Solely six instances (with 2025 nonetheless pending) have the Gamecocks adopted an eight-win marketing campaign with one other. Simply twice (2000 to 2001 and 2010 to 2011) has USC improved its win complete after an eight-win 12 months.
Let’s check out every of this system’s eight-win campaigns and the Gamecocks’ subsequent follow-up seasons.
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Carolina gained eight instances for the primary time in 1903, although that 12 months included victories over the Columbia YMCA and Welch Neck Excessive Faculty. The Gamecocks adopted in 1904 with a 2-6 effort.
Practically 75 years later, head coach Jim Carlen led South Carolina to its subsequent eight-win marketing campaign. The George Rogers-led 1979 Gamecocks spent a part of the 12 months ranked and replicated the feat in 1980 when Rogers gained the Heisman Trophy and guided the staff to a different eight triumphs. After 1980, Carlen spent only one extra 12 months main the garnet and black. USC fired him following a 6-6 marketing campaign that ended with three losses in a row to Pacific, Clemson, and Hawaii.
Regardless of a Richard Bell-led setback in 1982, the Gamecocks had been capable of rent Joe Morrison from New Mexico, and Morrison led the staff to a 10-2 document in his second season in 1984. The Black Magic Gamecocks had been top-of-the-line South Carolina groups ever. Nevertheless, they couldn’t replicate that magic in 1985, ending with a dropping document regardless of this system’s third-ever preseason AP rating.
The win complete dipped once more earlier than Morrison righted the ship. In 1987, South Carolina rode a robust protection and elite offensive talent gamers to an eight-win season. The next 12 months, the Gamecocks did it once more, marking simply the second time that USC had ever reached that quantity in back-to-back years. Tragically, Morrison handed away earlier than the 1989 season, one through which his staff went 6-4-1 below head coach Sparky Woods.
Following Morrison’s premature dying, this system scuffled, with neither Woods nor Brad Scott profitable eight video games in a single season. USC gained its first bowl sport, however aside from that 1994 season, six wins was the excessive within the ’90s. After the decade-long doldrums, Lou Holtz helped the Gamecocks do their finest impression of one other chicken, the phoenix. Rising from the ashes of a 1-21 document in 1998 and 1999, South Carolina went 8-4 and 9-3 in 2000 and 2001. The turnaround included consecutive Outback Bowl victories over Ohio State and the primary two-game streak in opposition to Georgia in a decade. The remainder of the Holtz period was underwhelming, together with a 5-7 end in 2002.
When Steve Spurrier appeared in Columbia, he gained eight video games in his second season sporting the headset. That 2006 12 months confirmed promise, and the beginning of 2007 noticed the Gamecocks attain the highest 10 within the rankings. Nevertheless, a late-season collapse noticed the staff miss a bowl sport. It was the primary of three straight six-loss seasons (6-6 in 2007, 7-6 in 2008, and 7-6 in 2009).
The most effective run in class historical past adopted. Spurrier helped information South Carolina to its solely SEC East title and a 9-5 general document in 2010. Then, in 2011, the Gamecocks discovered themselves on the best facet of the ultimate rating on 11 events. Nonetheless carried by a roster loaded with Palmetto State expertise, 2012 and 2013 matched the ’11 season. One way or the other, USC didn’t earn an SEC Championship Recreation berth or BCS Bowl Recreation look. When 2014 arrived–together with the first-ever School Soccer Playoff–some believed the ‘Cocks had been poised to make a run. Issues didn’t prove that method, although, as Carolina went 7-6 after squandering three double-digit, fourth-quarter leads that 12 months.
The subsequent eight-win season witnessed by followers in Williams-Brice Stadium got here in 2017 below head coach Will Muschamp. The Gamecocks went 9-4 general with an Outback Bowl win over Michigan. 2018 began 5-3, and Carolina held an enormous lead on the highway in opposition to Florida in what appeared to be the staff’s sixth win. As an alternative, the season’s momentum dissipated because the Gators stormed again for the win, the primary of three late-season defeats by the hands of SEC and ACC foes. USC’s 7-6 effort felt even worse than it was and led to 2 ugly dropping campaigns in 2019 and 2020.
Shane Beamer’s 2022 squad posted two of probably the most spectacular wins in latest reminiscence, knocking School Soccer Playoff hopefuls Tennessee and Clemson out of rivalry with back-to-back high 10 upsets. Regardless of a Gator Bowl loss to Notre Dame, South Carolina went 8-5 that 12 months. 2023, a season marred by accidents and inconsistency, concluded with a 5-7 mark subsequent to the Gamecocks’ title within the document books.
Then, 2024 occurred. A 9-4 general document included six consecutive wins to shut the common season. Redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers and true freshman EDGE Dylan Stewart emerged as a few of the highest skills in all of school soccer. Expectations are, understandably, excessive that the Gamecocks can use final 12 months as a springboard to large issues in 2025.
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As issues stand, Beamer has reached the eight-win threshold in two of his 4 seasons on the helm in Columbia. That fifty% hit fee is tied for the very best ever at South Carolina with The Man in Black, Joe Morrison, who did so in three of his six seasons main the Gamecocks. Steve Spurrier (5-out-of-11), Lou Holtz (2-out-of-6), and Jim Carlen (2-out-of-7) are the one different coaches to achieve the eight-win mark greater than as soon as.
Constructing off the 2024 marketing campaign gained’t be straightforward. South Carolina should overcome dropping 11 complete defensive gamers to the NFL (5 within the draft, seven extra to UDFA and coaching camp offers), six extra to the League on offense, and each beginning specialist. Even so, because of recruiting (each from the highschool ranks and from the switch portal) and improvement of returning expertise, some imagine the Gamecocks may very well be even higher this fall.
The highway to the Gamecocks overcoming historical past (and making a few of their very own) begins on Sunday, August thirty first. South Carolina will tackle the Virginia Tech Hokies within the season opener in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. ESPN will broadcast the neutral-site contest at 3:00 p.m.
