Shane Beamer now appears more than just the head football coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He is looking like a fortune teller. Beamer made a bold claim this time last year when the College Football Playoff rankings came out. It turns out, he was spot on.

On Tuesday Nov 18, 2025, a frustrated Shane Beamer looked at reporters during his weekly press conference and pushed all his chips into the center of the table.

"I do know next year at this time, we're going to be sitting here on this Tuesday night, watching the playoff rankings to see where we are," Beamer said.

At that time the Gamecocks were 3-7 and officially out of any postseason discussion. The offense had not played well, the Gamecocks couldn't stop the run or run the ball, and the coaching staff left a lot to be desired. So instead sitting back and hoping change would happen, Beamer got to work and forced change.

South Carolina Makes Initial College Football Playoff Rankings

In that article, we wrote about the two things coach Beamer must do if his team wants a shot at making the College Football Playoff. First, he had to nail the offensive coordinator hire, and boy did he ever. Kendal Briles came in from TCU and breathed new life into that side of the ball this season. From near dead last as an offense in 2025, Briles has led the Gamecocks to a top five offense in the conference. 1/1 so far.

The second thing Beamer had to do was retain his star players and hit on impact players out of the transfer portal, check and check. Not too far after the season concluded, LaNorris Sellers, Nyck Harbor, and Dylan Stewart announced they were coming back to Columbia for another season. Even though that was great news, the team still needed help, especially at offensive line.

Beamer and newly hired offensive line coach Randy Clements completely revamped the offensive line room with new full time starters across the board. They added transfers in Jacarrius Peak, Emmanuel Poku, Hank Purvis, and Carter Miller all who have contributed significantly for this team. And on top of that added true freshman Darius Gray who looks poised to be a freshman All-American. This doesn't even include the impact transfers and freshman on the defense and skill positions.

Those additions to both the staff and the roster has the Gamecocks sitting at 5-3 with four games left on the schedule. The College Football Playoff committee released their first rankings of the 2026 season with Beamer's squad coming in at 21. Their highest position ever in the initial release of the rankings.

Still there is work to be done. South Carolina will have to win out and have chaos strike above them if they are to make the playoffs. And if the 2026 season has shown us anything, it's that chaos is completely in the realm of possibility. If the Gamecocks can end the season on a six game winning streak with wins over ranked Florida, top 15 Tennessee, and top five Georgia, they will likely have the best case of any three loss team to make the final top 12 rankings.