Why the South Carolina Gamecocks Won't be Crashing the CFP Party in 2025

The South Carolina Gamecocks had an alarming amount of buzz coming into the 2025 season. After finishing the regular season last season at 9-3, including a six game win streak, coach Shane Beamer, his staff, and players all had expectations to be a part of this year’s College Football Playoffs. However, after dropping their fourth loss of the season yesterday to Oklahoma, those aspirations have vanished. What led to the early disappointment and collapse of the South Carolina Gamecocks?

Without a doubt, the offensive struggles have been the most alarming issue for the Gamecocks this season. Having a preseason Heisman hopeful in LaNorris Sellers along with a new play caller in Mike Shula, the expectations for the Gamecocks were to have that explosive offense that the team was consistently missing last season. Another major storyline was Nyck Harbor not running track in the spring, but focusing all of his efforts on improving and developing into a primetime target.

What has the anticipation amounted to? The Gamecocks are dead last in the SEC in total yards per game and points per game. Shula’s playcalling has been limited by attrition issues, but he has lacked creativity and rhythm that leads to offenses being dynamic. Through seven games, Sellers has only tallied 1,134 yards, five passing touchdowns, and two interceptions. After having a 99 yard game along with a touchdown in the season opener, Harbor has only gained 179 yards and 13 more catches. What should have been their biggest strengths have fallen flat and at this point are deemed failures.

It’s worth noting that the Gamecocks offensive struggles have also been amplified by the health of the offensive line room. Dating back to the first game, the Gamecock offensive line has been a game of musical chairs, forcing inexperienced, young players to mature quickly and even play out of position. The lack of experience and continuity has led to a lack of push on the ground (another area where the Gamecocks are the worst in the SEC) and very few clean pockets for Sellers to make his reads.

The latter issue of clean pockets is maybe the most alarming issue up front. Sellers is constantly scrambling out of the pocket to make plays because of his line’s inability to provide him enough time to progress through his reads. There are times where Sellers sometimes relies too much on his athleticism rather than feeling out the pass rush, but there is no doubt that the genesis of the passing game woes are attributed to protection issues.

Another issue tied to the offensive line is the abundance of penalties incurred by the Gamecocks. With an offense that struggles to produce yardage, the Gamecocks are constantly making games more difficult with all of the self induced penalties. They average nearly nine a game, which is the 19th highest average in the country. The bulk of the penalties have been presnap offensive line infractions, which keeps an already struggling offense behind the sticks. Their lack of focus and performance combined wereleading causes for coach Beamer relieving Lonnie Teasley of his duties as offensive line coach for the Gamecocks.

With five games left, hopefully the Gamecocks are able to squeeze out at least three more wins in order to be bowl eligible. However, with teams like Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M remaining, there’s a large probability that they will ultimately miss bowl season and play their final game of the season against Clemson. Whatever the case, there’s no question that the South Carolina 2025 season will be remembered largely as a disappointment.

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