Scott has followed South Carolina athletics for over 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly newsletter (this email) year-round and a column during football season that's published each Monday on GamecockCentral.com.
Scott Davis: No Time Like the Present for South Carolina Football
Lately, all of my conversations have been about the future.
Who will be South Carolina's next offensive coordinator?
Shane Beamer's safe for 2026 – no one's seriously thinking he's in jeopardy, right?
Is LaNorris Sellers staying or going? Will there be a total makeover of the offensive staff? Will recruiting fall apart in the offseason? Is next year one of those "make or break" type deals?
When it comes to South Carolina football, most of us already seem to be living in 2026 and beyond. Everything's a projection, a forecast, a prediction. Which is why what I'm about to say may come as a surprise.
But it's true: There's still something to play for right now, right here in the present, in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Five.
At 3-6, South Carolina can't completely salvage this already shipwrecked season. There have been too many dark moments – too many ugly scenes of Sellers being pulled to the ground by defenders just seconds after the ball was hiked, too many false starts, too many shots of opponents high-fiving and Shane Beamer rubbing his eyes in frustration – for a redemption to happen.
No, the car has already been totaled in this traffic accident of a football season.
The hope is that there may yet still be time to squeeze a little more money out of the insurance company.
This upcoming offseason will be an action-packed affair, filled with rumors and gossip and intrigue. And there can be little doubt that college fans sometimes enjoy all these speculations and upheavals as much as they do the games themselves.
But there'll be plenty of time to indulge in all of the chatter come wintertime.
Right now, there are still three football games left to play. And whether we're ready for the future or not, these three football games could change the way we remember the season we're still in.
Still Something at Stake
South Carolina's first order of business is a much-needed bye week, which is arriving just at the time that many fans have begun to run out of steam on the 2025 season. I don't know what we did in the old days, back when there was only a single bye in any given year. At this point, I'd have been fine with four or five byes.
The Gamecocks will spend the working holiday by breaking in a new offensive playcaller, as wide receivers coach Mike Furrey takes over from the departed Mike Shula. It remains to be seen if Furrey can make a meaningful impact in such a short time with a unit that has grown accustomed to stagnation and self-inflicted miscues. But most of us would agree that a new voice certainly can't hurt.
Things literally can't get worse for the South Carolina offense – the Gamecocks are last or near the bottom of the SEC in every offensive category.
Our hopes for a run at the College Football Playoff were dashed weeks ago, and not long after that, so were any designs on a major New Year's Day bowl game.
So what's left?
As it turns out, quite a lot.
There is still plenty at stake in 2025, and until the last second runs out on this season, plenty left for this team to play for.
Starting a Streak and Ending Some Others
As astonishing as it may be for us to acknowledge, it's still actually possible for the South Carolina Gamecocks to play in a bowl game this year.
Indeed, it almost seemed like bowl eligibility evaporated in early October, so depressing has the grind of this 2025 season been. And yet a mere three-game winning streak will get the job done.
That winning streak is certainly easier talked about than accomplished: It would require South Carolina to win on the road at Texas A&M, and the Aggies are merely undefeated, first in the SEC standings and the No. 3-ranked team in the country. The idea of the Gamecocks winning in College Station seems unimaginable at this point. And yet…
The team ranked No. 4 in the polls right now, just a single slot behind the Aggies, is the Alabama Crimson Tide – the very same team the Gamecocks led by eight points with less than three minutes to go a few weeks ago. True, South Carolina didn't finish the job against the Tide.
But as Coach Beamer has pointed out many times this year, the Gamecocks have either been leading or within shouting distance when entering the fourth quarter in every game but the Vanderbilt contest this season. What if they're finally able to finish? What if this still talented offense is finally able to provide just a serviceable effort, rather than a disastrous one?
Kick-starting a winning streak would require ending a few unfortunate losing streaks.
South Carolina has not yet defeated the Aggies in College Station since A&M joined the SEC, though they have beaten them in Columbia (including last year). That would have to change to keep bowl eligibility on life support.
Beyond that, the Gamecocks would need to hold serve at home against a mildly dangerous Coastal Carolina, and then end yet another streak against archrival Clemson. Though the Gamecocks have won two of the last three contests against the Tigers, they haven't beaten Clemson in the friendly confines of Williams-Brice Stadium since 2013 – an unthinkably long stretch to go winless at home in a rivalry game.
No matter what happens against Texas A&M, the Clemson game seems about as close to a "must-win" situation for the program as is possible for a team that enters the home stretch at 3-6. If South Carolina can't beat the worst Clemson team in more than 20 years, at home, to give the program something to build on in the most important offseason of Shane Beamer's tenure, then we'll need to go ahead and slot this season in the "Unmitigated Disaster" category.
But the good news is that there's still time to avoid that fate.
The good news is that as bad as everything has been that has already befallen us, and as uncertain as everything is that awaits us, the present still provides an opportunity for hope.
For South Carolina football, there is no time like the present.
Literally.
Tell me your thoughts on the stretch drive by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com. (Please do not reply to this email.)
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