5 final thoughts, score prediction for South Carolina vs. SC State game
No. 10 South Carolina continues its 2025 season on Saturday against S.C. State.
USC is paying S.C. State $500,000 to play at Williams-Brice Stadium, where the game kicks off Saturday at 7 p.m. It will only be available through streaming via ESPN+ and SEC Network Plus.
Here’s what to know about the game.
1. Mr. Fourth Quarter
There is something spectacular about watching LaNorris Sellers in the fourth quarter.
He’s not bad in the first three quarters, but something kicks in during the fourth. Extra desire. Extra determination.
When the Gamecocks entered the fourth quarter up only 10-8 over Virginia Tech last Sunday, the offense looked helpless.
Even after Vicari Swain’s punt return touchdown, South Carolina was still a long way from winning. Enter Mr. Fourth Quarter.
Sellers unleashed a majestic 64-yard touchdown to Nyck Harbor. And even then, South Carolina still needed to run off more than four minutes of clock. No problem.
On 3rd and 13, Sellers ran for 16 yards. First down. On 4th and 5, he rushed for 6 yards. First down. Game over.
This got me thinking: It seems like Sellers has always been clutch — think about the Missouri and Clemson wins — but what do the stats say?
Going back to the Gamecocks win over Texas A&;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;M last November, here are Sellers’ fourth-quarter numbers: 18-for-28 passing (64%) for 354 yards, 5 TDs and one interception.
He’s also rushed the ball 22 times for 180 yards (111 of which came against Clemson).
Most-notably, though: Sellers hasn’t taken a fourth-quarter sack in his last eight games (Not since Oklahoma in October). It’s no surprise the Gamecocks have won seven of those.
2. Defense isn’t afraid to use its depth
It was staggering to me how many players South Carolina’s defense rotated in the midst of a close game.
Going off Pro Football Focus’ snap-count data, 22 Gamecock defenders saw action — with all but three of them playing at least a dozen snaps.
I went back and looked at the snap-counts from last season’s opener against Old Dominion. The Gamecocks also had 22 players on defense, but only 16 logged at least a dozen snaps.
This is a strategic thing. Defensive coordinator Clayton White said this week that he is always cognizant of his players’ snap counts.
“I mean, we track them throughout the game,” White said. “I’ll literally ask in the middle of the game, ‘How many snaps has he played?
White continued, “We kind of have that plan ahead (of time) to try to make sure that we have our guys for the long road that’s ahead of us.”
3. I think we see four QBs play on Saturday
Here’s how I see offensive coordinator Mike Shula deploying his quarterbacks on Saturday.
Sellers gets the entire first half. Run up the score. Pad some stats for the Heisman race. Get the lead to a comfortable margin.
Luke Doty then plays the entire third quarter. The sixth-year senior is the Gamecocks’ backup and hasn’t played quarterback in a game since 2024. He needs some reps.
OK, one could argue Doty should play the entire second half, but I think Ohio State transfer Air Nolan starts the fourth quarter. Based on warm-ups last week, it looked like the lefty won the job as QB3.
I think Noland gets two drives all to himself. If there’s any time left after that, it would make sense for Shula to throw true freshman Cutter Woods out there. It’s likely that Woods will redshirt this season, but a little game action might be beneficial.
4. The new end zones are clean
Before construction gets underway on Williams-Brice Stadium, South Carolina is already upgrading its actual football field.
A few weeks after the Gamecocks secured a field-logo sponsorship, painting Blanchard CAT marks on the grass, South Carolina revamped the end zones.
Both end zones are now painted garnet with “CAROLINA” and “GAMECOCKS” painted in bold white letters in each respective end zone.
Also, after some outcry over the Blanchard CAT logos replacing the Palmetto trees, South Carolina has also painted the trees in both end zones.
5. Beware of ESPN+
The South Carolina-S.C. State game won’t be available on television. And for the folks who think that is the dumbest thing ever, I’m with you.
Last week, I sat down on Saturday night trying to watch my alma mater, Arizona State, play its season-opener. The game was only on ESPN+, which was fine until the feed went black for the majority of the second half.
It is a shame that South Carolina — the No. 10 team in America — can’t even be broadcast on television. And it would be even more of a shame of ESPN+ bugged out for the second-straight week. (The game is also on SEC Network Plus.)
If/when the ESPN+ stream gets to the point you want to pull your hair out, here’s the link to the radio broadcast.
PREDICTION: South Carolina 51, SC State 7
This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
