Josh Pate issues challenge to South Carolina football fans ahead of LSU game

South Carolina football fans better be ready on Saturday. The Gamecocks will host the 16th-ranked LSU Tigers with College GameDay in Columbia, and USC will need the garnet and black faithful to do their part to help Shane Beamer's team get to 3-0 on the 2024 season.

Unfortunately, bad weather could be headed for the Palmetto State as Hurricane Francine will hit the Gulf Coast on Wednesday night and head eastward to bring a weekend storm to the states to the East.

In the face of the potential weather issues, national college football analyst Josh Pate issued a major challenge to South Carolina football fans. Speaking on his podcast, aptly named Josh Pate's College Football Show, Pate called Williams-Brice Stadium "the most underrated gameday environment in college football" but said that it can only be that way if Gamecock fans can overcome the weather:

"Justin King and the folks at the creative media department, press record...it could rain hard Saturday. It doesn't matter. I'm specifically talking to the South Carolina fanbase and the South Carolina student body. I know good and well every one of you have been in a swimming pool once or twice in your lives. It's impossible to be more wet than you got in that swimming pool...you're going to get wet this Saturday if it rains. Deal with it...It's not every day the nation focuses its collective attention on Columbia, South Carolina. It's not every day College GameDay is in town...I couldn't care less what the skies look like Saturday morning, 12:01 Eastern Time, you better bring it. You've got a chance to affect this thing Saturday. You better bring it."

LSU is favored to win the game by about a touchdown, and if the Gamecocks are going to overcome that spread and remain undefeated, the fans must do their part. Head coach Shane Beamer said something very similar just moments after the final seconds ticked off the clock following the Gamecocks' lopsided win over Kentucky: "Williams-Brice Stadium needs to be freaking rocking." And during his weekly press conference, Beamer challenged Carolina fans to "start tailgating at 6:00 AM, whatever you gotta do...this place needs to be rocking."