South Carolina coach Shane Beamer shares thoughts on SEC’s 9-game schedule
Just hours after the SEC announced it would be moving to a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2026, Shane Beamer seemed OK with the change. Well, sort of.
For a long time, Beamer’s frustrations with the idea of the SEC moving from eight to nine conference games was that it really harmed the schools like South Carolina (Clemson), Florida (Florida State), Georgia (Georgia Tech) and Kentucky (Louisville) that already have a formidable Power 4 opponent built into their schedules.
Granted, it seems like the SEC considered that, making it mandatory that all SEC schools play at least one non-conference game against a Power 4 team. For the Gamecocks, Gators, Bulldogs and Wildcats, that’s no problem.
“As a competitor, I love it. Think it’s great for the fans,” Beamer said on Carolina Calls Thursday. “I’ll say what I’ve said all along, I’m great with it as long as every other school in the SEC is playing the schedule we’re playing.”
But, Beamer continued, South Carolina’s schedule is still tougher than what the SEC mandates. That’s because, in addition to Clemson, the Gamecocks have another ACC on its schedule for each of the next six seasons: Miami (2026 & ‘27), North Carolina (’28 & ‘29) and NC State (’30 & ‘31).
Perhaps South Carolina could cancel those series — it would cost $3 million to axe the Miami series and $500,000 to dump the UNC and NC State matchups — but Beamer didn’t seem intent on making that move.
“I’m not shying away from competition. That’s awesome. I’m all for it, as long as the other teams that we’re competing against for playoff spots — they’re playing the same 11 Power 4 games a year, which is the direction that we’re going. And if they are, awesome. And if they’re not, then that’s not very — let’s be honest, fair.”
Beamer seemed to be hoping that more SEC teams would add even another Power 4 game over the Gamecocks having to drop one. He drew a comparison to the NFL — where every team plays 17 games against other NFL teams.
No NFL team, Beamer said, is play “16 NFL games and then they go play one extra game against a college team, in other words, for a playoff berth.”
Still, Beamer did not rule out the idea of tweaking South Carolina’s non-conference schedule moving forward.
“So as long as it’s all fair, I’m great with it,” Beamer continued. “And if it’s not, I think everybody needs to look at — what are we doing? ... I also have an obligation to make sure our team is in the same boat as the other 15 teams in this league.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 8:13 PM.
