5 final thoughts, prediction for South Carolina football vs. Coastal Carolina
South Carolina plays its penultimate regular-season game on Saturday afternoon against Coastal Carolina (6-4).
The Gamecocks (3-7) have no path to bowl eligibility, but can at least head to the offseason with positive mojo if they finish out the 2025 season with wins over Coastal and Clemson (5-5).
South Carolina is 2-0 all time against CCU. The Gamecocks and Chanticleers kick off at Williams-Brice Stadium at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday. The game will air on SEC Network.
Those are some facts. Here are some thoughts.
1. This team lacks leadership
A suspicion I’ve had all season was confirmed on Wednesday: This Gamecocks team lacks great leadership.
“We still need to build those leaders,” play-caller Mike Furrey said, “that can get those guys together and are comfortable saying, ‘Hey, let’s go to work. Let’s clean this up. Hey, did you see that? Let’s fix that.’”
That’s a phenomenal sentiment ... in March or July. It’s not what you want to hear in mid-November. And to be clear: That’s not Furrey’s fault. Heck, depending on how you think about such things, it’s not any of the coaches’ fault. This is where players have to be accountable.
This year, there hasn’t been that vocal leader to rally the team, to keep them believing after, um, they blow a 27-point lead in 20 minutes.
Head coach Shane Beamer has seemed dumbfounded all year trying to find the reason for why his squad withers like cotton candy in water when the fourth quarter comes. Well, it’s probably because there isn’t the leadership to keep them focused on the field. There’s no Demetrius Knight or Debo Williams or Rocket Sanders to calm everyone when adversity strikes and heart rates spike.
And it’s not just Furrey calling out the leadership.
“We can get them in the right plays and do as much camaraderie stuff that we possibly can to make them understand the fourth quarter is important,” said defensive coordinator Clayton White. “I do think leadership. I do think that our guys talk about it. They try it. They understand the importance of the fourth quarter. We talk about it a lot in practice. We just have to do a better job.”
2. What to make of LaNorris Sellers
The Athletic ran an insightful piece on Thursday breaking down the struggles of LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina’s redshirt sophomore quarterback.
I thought the story glossed too much over the multitude of times it seemed like Sellers had plenty of time to get a pass off, or at least throw the ball away, and he took a sack or ran too late. But it does make mention of the fact that Sellers too often gets stuck looking at his first or second option and has been off target more than he was last year.
In saying all that, the story basically pins all of Sellers’ — and thus, South Carolina’s — struggles on the Gamecocks’ protection, mentioning that Sellers has faced pressure on nearly 43% of his drop backs.
“Even with Sellers’ struggles in 2025, it’s hard to envision a QB-needy NFL team not grading him as a first-rounder based on talent alone,” The Athletic reporter Nick Baumgardner wrote. “The only way that might change in the coming months is if Sellers fails to impress during interviews.”
He added: “However, he’d also be a sizable risk for an NFL franchise, based purely on the lack of reps he’s had in a functional offense.”
Based on everything Beamer has said, South Carolina wants Sellers back. In talking with Sellers, the Gamecocks better show him how they’re going to make the offensive line better this offseason. They also better hope that no NFL team falls in love with his upside and lures him to the NFL.
3. Beamer vs. Dabo
For the past few weeks, South Carolina’s most-notable football coaches have seemingly been engaged in a competition for who can say the most outlandish thing during their press conferences.
And you have to hand it to ‘em. Both guys really want the title.
A few of Swinney’s gems this season:
“Hey, listen, if Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way,” Swinney said after Clemson started 1-2.
“This may be unexpected, but I don’t think it caught God by surprise,” he said the next week after his team dropped to 1-3.
“I may get fired today, (athletic director Graham Neff) is there in the back, so I don’t know, can’t say I’d blame him,” Swinney said after a loss to Duke and 3-5 start.
And then there’s Beamer.
“I made a change last week, Jack,” he said when asked if an offensive change is needed after USC’s loss to Oklahoma.
There was, of course, his diatribe defending his offensive coordinator hires that included him defending OC Marcus Satterfield because the Gamecocks put up 63 points in a win over Tennessee.
Then there was this bizarre discussion this week, where Beamer said, unprompted: “We’re going to be sitting here next year on this Tuesday night watching the playoff rankings to see where we are in the ranking show. And we’re going to be firmly in the mix for a College Football Playoff berth next year at this time.”
My first thought hearing that: What was the point of that? Who is hearing that, amidst a 3-7 season, and pumping their fist? Why add more pressure to this 2026 season?
I quickly thought of this quote from LSU quote Brian Kelly in December.
“We’re taking receipts and we’ll see you at the national championship (in 2025),” he said 10 months before being fired.
4. Act like you’ve been there before
On Wednesday, special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis — a veteran coach with three decades of NFL experience — was asked about the stark difference from the first half to the second half of the Texas A&M game.
“I think, guys that are up and down a lot, when you see coaches that go here and here and here and here,” he said, pointing his finger back and forth between the ceiling and floor, “I think that’s sometimes a little dangerous. So, to me, the way I handle it is, I try to be the same throughout the game.
“Obviously, you’re gonna have some times where you’re emotional, and all that kind of stuff,” he continued. “But I think the players, hopefully, get into that, too, where they end up understanding, ‘Hey, man, let’s try to keep this thing riding the right way.’”
To me, this was DeCamillis — perhaps subliminally — talking about his head coach, talking about that video of Beamer walking into the locker room at halftime looking like he just clinched a ticket to the national championship.
And, yes, Beamer was pumping up South Carolina fans, not trying to piss off Texas A&M fans. Still ... come on, Shane.
Give a quiet fist pump and nod. Act like you weren’t surprised. And, above everything else, do not then go into your postgame presser — after blowing a 27-point lead — and claim, “Nobody came into the locker room celebrating,” because, well, at least one person was.
5. Don’t think Coastal can pull the upset
Of all the years when one of these Group-of-5 teams could pull off the upset on South Carolina, this is the one.
The problem: I don’t think Coastal Carolina has the talent to do it — especially without their starting quarterback.
If South Carolina can play half as well as it did against Texas A&M, the Chanticleers probably won’t be able to pull off a 27-point comeback.
PREDICTION: South Carolina 37, Coastal Carolina 13
This story was originally published November 21, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
