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Only South Carolina can change its 2024 narrative. Time is running out to do that

jordan kaye
·4 min read

Shane Beamer wants respect.

Beamer has a gripe — not about his football team, but how his football team is perceived. In his postgame news conference Saturday, just minutes after the Gamecocks fell 27-25 to No. 7 Alabama, he was adamant his team wasn’t doing cartwheels in the locker room at halftime just because they were hanging with the Tide.

He also knew that the Crimson Tide were 21-point favorites. That most of the public put the Gamecocks’ chances of winning between slim and nonexistent.

Yes, the Gamecocks were coming off a blowout loss to Ole Miss, Beamer argued, but how could folks not see past that? Not see all the good? Not somehow transport into the locker room Sunday through Friday, gauge the psyche of each player, understand what is going on in offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains’ head, determine how many of LaNorris Sellers’ fumbles were actually his fault and then provide some actual predictions?

“It’s amazing to me from Kentucky, the way we performed, the perception of us was really, really high,” Beamer said Saturday. “And then we had a crappy performance last Saturday and all of the narratives are that we aren’t worth a crap. And that’s not the case.”

His displeasure with those wishy-washy opinions is an indictment of an inconsistent team.

A team (3-3 overall) that needed a fourth-quarter turnover to beat Old Dominion … then looked like the 1985 Bears reincarnated in a win over Kentucky.

A squad that blew out the Wildcats … then committed 13 penalties and blew a 17-point lead at home to LSU.

A squad that waxed Akron and had an entire bye week to prepare and get healthy … then didn’t score a touchdown and got walloped by Ole Miss.

A group that looked completely helpless against the Rebels … then went toe-to-toe with No. 7 Alabama, out-gaining the Crimson Tide and coming a field goal short of a miracle.

How is anyone supposed to know what to expect from South Carolina? Who on earth thought that South Carolina — a week after not throwing a pass of 25 yards — was going to connect on a 36-yard score on fourth-and-9? Or that somehow wide receiver Nyck Harbor, who has hardly played this season, would pull in a last-minute touchdown? Or that South Carolina was capable of its longest drive time-wise of the Beamer era?

Fans and media, as outsiders, are doomed to their outsiderness. We judge this team on Saturdays — and that has been more mercurial than the Palmetto State’s weather. When the Gamecocks play well, fans rally and hope swells. Then — a dud. They lose, mistakes pile up, expectations plummet. That cycle is the only consistent thing about this football team.

So what are we to think of Beamer, who has this team on track for a bowl game but hasn’t beaten a ranked team since 2022? Whose team held second-half leads against LSU and Alabama and beat neither?

What are we to think about Sellers, who threw for more yards Saturday (238) than any game this season, but also turned over the ball three times, including a fourth-quarter fumble that led to Alabama’s go-ahead touchdown?

What are we to think of this defense? Which gave up over 400 yards to Ole Miss last week but kept Alabama in check and attacked QB Jalen Milroe like bulls in Pamplona?

And the big one: What are we to think about South Carolina going forward, with six games left on the regular-season schedule?

To fully buy in to the trend of the season is to think, coming off a solid showing against Alabama, a stinker is coming next week at Oklahoma. Offensive struggles. Defensive lapses. Everything we didn’t see in Tuscaloosa.

But the Gamecocks looked dang good Saturday. There were moments South Carolina’s defense had Milroe in a blender, with blades slicing and dicing the Heisman hopeful. There were moments the offense didn’t just look confident, but — dare I say — explosive. Guys were breaking tackles. Sellers aired it out. There were shifts and motions and third-down conversions.

So, of course, we will get lulled into the trend once more believing the Gamecocks might be legit. And maybe they are — but they have done nothing to earn trust. That comes only in time, in the aftermath of winning and winning and winning — of playing really well … and then doing the same thing the following week.

South Carolina, once again, finds itself burdened with expectations. Now what?

South Carolina 2024 football schedule