The predictions are in: Where South Carolina will finish in SEC in 2025
South Carolina will enter the 2025 season with the highest expectations in the Shane Beamer era.
In the 2025 SEC preseason media poll released on Friday, the Gamecocks were selected to finish fifth among the 16 teams in the conference — the most-optimistic projection since Beamer took over at USC in 2021, and the highest preseason spot for the program since 2018.
The schools above South Carolina for 2025, in order, are: Texas, Georgia, Alabama and LSU. The Longhorns (96 votes) were picked to win the SEC Championship, with the Gamecocks receiving five votes to win the league crown.
The favorable forecast comes just a year after the Gamecocks were projected to finish 13th in the same SEC media poll, then burst through the lowly expectations, finishing 9-4 and narrowing missing out on the College Football Playoff.
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, speaking at SEC Media Days on Monday, expected the poll’s results.
“When the predictions come out this week, the normal schools are probably going to be right up there at the top,” Beamer said. “And when I say ‘normal ones,’ I mean the ones that have been been near the top for pretty much the last 20 years in the SEC.”
South Carolina is not a part of that company, but the Gamecocks are gaining favor outside of the Palmetto State.
With Heisman contender LaNorris Sellers at quarterback, the perception of South Carolina is more bullish than its been in years — with some pegging USC as prime contenders to make the playoff.
Sellers was named by the media Friday as the league’s preseason first-team quarterback. Sophomore edge rusher Dylan Stewart joined Sellers on the first team, with Gamecocks safety Jalon Kilgore being tabbed a second-teamer.
It is yet to be seen if the Gamecocks can live up to the hype, but helping them is — by SEC standards — a fairly easy schedule. It opens the 2025 season against Virginia Tech, South Carolina State, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Kentucky — potentially setting up a massive sixth game at LSU.
But that’s all forecasting and that, as South Carolina proved last year, is rarely accurate.
“Last year, when we were at (media days) in Dallas,” Beamer said, “nobody thought we were worth of crap and weren’t saying very good things about us. We didn’t listen to it then and we don’t need to be listening to it right now.”
Back in 2018, Will Muschamp’s third season as head coach, South Carolina was predicted to finish second in the SEC East behind Georgia. The Gamecocks finished with a 7-6 record that year.
SEC media predictions
Listed by team and number of points from voting. Points are a cumulative reflection of where teams were ranked in each ballot; each place has a designated point value per vote. More points means higher cumulative slot in the voting.
- Texas 3060
- Georgia 2957
- Alabama 2783
- LSU 2668
- South Carolina 2109
- Florida 1986
- Ole Miss 1979
- Texas A&M 1892
- Tennessee 1700
- Oklahoma 1613
- Auburn 1272
- Missouri 1170
- Vanderbilt 936
- Arkansas 764
- Kentucky 512
- Mississippi State 343
South Carolina’s preseason predicted order of finish (Since 2021)
2025: 5th (Out of 16 teams)
2024: 13th (Out of 16 teams)
2023: 3rd in the SEC east (Out of seven teams)
2022: 5th in the SEC east
2021: 6th in the SEC east
South Carolina’s 2025 football schedule
Flex games kick off in either 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. range, or 7 to 8 p.m. range
- Aug. 31: vs. Virginia Tech in Atlanta, 3 p.m. on ESPN
- Sept. 6: vs. SC State, 7 p.m. on SECN+
- Sept. 13: vs. Vanderbilt, 7 p.m. on ESPN OR 7:45 p.m. on SEC Network
- Sept. 20: at Missouri, flex game (afternoon or night)
- Sept. 27: vs. Kentucky, flex game (afternoon or night)
- Oct. 4: BYE WEEK
- Oct. 11: at LSU, flex game (afternoon or night)
- Oct. 18: vs. Oklahoma, early game (noon to 1 p.m.)
- Oct. 25: vs. Alabama, flex game (afternoon or night)
- Nov. 1: at Ole Miss, flex game (afternoon or night)
- Nov. 8: BYE WEEK
- Nov. 15: at Texas A&M, early game (noon to 1 p.m.)
- Nov. 22: vs. Coastal Carolina, afternoon game (3:30 to 4:30 p.m.)
- Nov. 29: vs. Clemson, noon on ESPN or ABC
This story was originally published July 18, 2025 at 1:04 PM.
