Could this be ‘the year’ for USC football? Plan accordingly, in case it’s not
There’s a great scene in the 2005 film “Fever Pitch” that parallels how many in Columbia and in little towns and cities across South Carolina are probably feeling right about now.
In that movie, Jimmy Fallon — long before his “Tonight Show” days — plays a die hard, desperately committed Boston Red Sox fan. At one point in the film, his character goes running outside in bare feet on a cold winter’s day and meets the mailman at the curb to pick up a most important package: his Red Sox season tickets.
He takes the package inside, where he and friends unbox the tickets and start passing them around to one another, rapturously referring to them as a “clean slate.” Finally, Fallon’s character takes a sheet of the new tickets and holds them close to his nose, inhales deeply and says, “Yep, this smells like the year.”
It’s the sort of devoted sentiment that is likely relatable to many University of South Carolina football fans as the 2025 season dawns. Perhaps more than any in recent memory, this, indeed, smells like the year.
(Setting aside, of course, the fact that most people’s tickets nowadays are digital, rather than on the old cardstock, and it would be weird to smell your smartphone. But I digress.)
As you’ve likely gleaned by now, expectations for the Gamecocks could hardly be higher headed into Coach Shane Beamer’s fifth season at USC. Following a 9-4 campaign in 2024 that netted Beamer SEC coach of the year honors, the team heads into the 2025 season ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press and coaches’ polls.
Chatter persists across the capital city about a possible College Football Playoff berth. It’s fueled by memories of last season’s glories — that whipping of Kentucky, the mauling of Oklahoma, the last-minute miracle against Missouri, the euphoria of victory at Clemson — and the tantalizing potential of sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers and EDGE rusher Dylan Stewart.
With the return of those two stars and the broader positive trajectory of the USC program under Beamer’s watch, one wouldn’t be blamed for dreaming that a playoff spot could be in the offing. In fact, I feel like some fans are already checking their calendars and setting aside vacation days for just such a run.
But, gosh, I’m nervous. On a couple fronts, actually.
For one, I’m nervous about the idea that many of my fellow fans and even some pundits are either haphazardly — or maybe even willfully — ignoring that the Gamecocks lost the guts of their defense from a year ago.
From Nagurski Trophy-winning EDGE rusher Kyle Kennard to massive run stoppers Tonka Hemingway and T.J. Sanders to veteran linebackers Debo Williams and Demetrius Knight (the intercepting hero at the end of that Clemson game), many of last year’s front-seven defenders are gone. And that’s not to mention the loss of safety Nick Emmanwori — who was picked in the second round of April’s NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks — on the back end of the defense.
Certainly, USC has recruited well, hit the transfer portal and developed the players it has in its program. But until we see the 2025 defense in action, you’ll have to excuse me for being a little anxious, particularly with Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, LSU, Ole Miss and others lurking on the schedule.
And therein lies my other worry, which I suppose is more existential. I feel like expectations are so incredibly high for this year’s team that if they were to, say, go 8-4 in the regular season and get a bid to the Gator Bowl — which would be a really solid year with the schedule the Gamecocks have — there will be a lot of people disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see them go 11-1 and play for an SEC title and make the playoffs and all of that. It would be a hell of a ride. But I also believe that, with all factors currently present, there’s a chance the ultimate results might not be that lofty. Good, certainly, but maybe not season-of-a-lifetime great.
And look, I’ll be fine either way. A lot of us will.
The most seasoned of Gamecock fans have just about seen it all. We’ve sweated out blazing afternoons in the east upper deck at Williams-Brice. Felt the cold winds of deep fall cut through us in the south upper deck. Met George Rogers 749 times. Eaten one — or a hundred and one — too many chicken strips at a tailgate in the fairgrounds. Bought bags of boiled peanuts from an old man selling them from a wagon in the parking lot at Olympia school. And some even have found solace in radio color commentator Tommy Suggs’ maniacal laugh. (It’s me. I find solace in that laugh.)
To be sure, college football season is here, and for a lot of USC fans this smells like the year. Like the one they’ve waited for all their lives. But if it doesn’t quite reach that ultimate peak — if they turn out to be merely a pretty good ball team — don’t let it get you down. Embrace it, and enjoy the party. The season will be gone before you can blink.
Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been reporting for newspapers in South Carolina for 21 years. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not represent the newspaper’s opinion.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
