South Carolina Football: Time to get excited about the Shane Beamer era

How will South Carolina football fare in 2021?

The wheels completely came off the bus a year ago after a 2-2 start became a 2-8 finish. Shane Beamer will look to make his mark on the program in his first season.

Here is our game-by-game breakdown.

• Game 1: Eastern Illinois (W) — FCS foe should be the first win for Beamer.
• Game 2: at East Carolina (W) — This is a sneaky tough road trip but Gamecocks get off to a 2-0 start.
• Game 3: at Georgia (L) — No way do the Gamecocks go into Athens and win for the second time in a row.
• Game 4: Kentucky (L) — Toss-up game, but Wildcats have won six out of last seven match-ups in the series.
• Game 5: Troy (W) — South Carolina has won all three match-ups against the Trojans and will make it four this season.
• Game 6: at Tennessee (L) — Another toss-up game and this one on the road. Vols pull off a close win.
• Game 7: Vanderbilt (W) — Two first-year coaches face off in this game. Fortunately for the Gamecocks, they have fewer question marks than the Commodores.
• Game 8: at Texas A&M (L) — Gamecocks have never beat the Aggies in seven tries. Not likely to happen this year either.
• Game 9: Florida (L) — The Gators will be challenging for an SEC East title and the Gamecocks are nowhere near that level yet.
• Game 10: at Missouri (L) — By this point in the season, the Gamecocks should know what they have. This will be a close game but Missouri squeaks by.
• Game 11: Auburn (W) — South Carolina seems to be good for one upset a season. This will be the 2021 version.
• Game 12: Clemson (L) — The Palmetto Bowl returns after a year hiatus. It will be the same result as the previous six contests.

Prediction: 5-7, 2-6 SEC

Expectations should be reset considering the new coaching staff and the roster turnover. There are only a few outstanding pieces on either side of the ball to expect Beamer to make significant strides in his first season.

The good news is avoiding Alabama and LSU from the SEC West, but this is a challenging schedule nonetheless. Always is with the SEC and the only real gimme is Eastern Illinois.

If the Gamecocks can pull off a win against one of the three close toss-up games (Kentucky, Tennessee, or Missouri), then they will have a shot at getting bowl eligible. But there are far too many unknowns with this year’s team to predict it. The Gamecocks will at least double their win total from a year ago. Beamer should be given time and patience to rebuild the program.