South Carolina Football New Year's Resolutions:
Win Back the Fanbase
After the 2022 season, South Carolina football fans were among the most satisfied in the nation. The Gamecocks had just won 8 games (two years after going 4-8 and 2-8 in back-to-back seasons), and the final two wins of that season kept hated rivals Clemson and Tennessee out of the College Football Playoff. Despised offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield was gone, and stars Spencer Rattler and Juice Wells were returning to Columbia.
Then 2023 happened.
As Wells got hurt, the offensive line was broken, the defense stunk, and the running game was non-existent, fans' views of the program soured. A lot of players (though, admittedly, not a lot of difference-makers) left the program through the transfer portal. Even the recruiting class wasn't immune from problems as a class that seemed destined for a top-10 ranking didn't add much new talent in the final months of the process.
Shane Beamer's general positivity annoyed fans. His moments of negativity annoyed fans. His foot breaking on a Gatorade cooler after a late-game collapse to lose to Florida annoyed fans. Really, though, it was the losing that got under the skin of the Gamecock faithful. USC's 2-6 start to the year had all but the most optimistic Gamecocks with an anxiety that hadn't been felt since Will Muschamp prowled the sidelines at Williams-Brice Stadium.
"Find some joy," originally taken positively by the fanbase, became a point of mockery, and Beamer's poor track record with hiring and firing some assistant coaches made the season seem that much more lost.
Thankfully, the Gamecocks won 3 of their last 4 to avoid utter disaster, and there are some signs of potential positivity heading into 2024 (another good recruiting class, LaNorris Sellers, needed transfer portal additions, and a slightly easier schedule that might be ranked 5th-hardest in the country instead of 1st).
Missing out on a bowl game has ended the "honeymoon phase" for Beamer, but he can win back the ever-hungry South Carolina football fanbase with a good season in 2024. No one should expect 10 wins, but if USC can return to a bowl and look competitive in their toughest games against Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, and Oklahoma, the young talent should be ready to lead the program to a leap forward in 2025.
Winning back the universal (or almost universal) approval of the fanbase just takes two things in Columbia: win some games and offer some hope that it can continue. Resolving to win isn't exactly a revolutionary concept, but that commitment is needed for the Gamecocks.