South Carolina’s football team is on a roll. 

The Gamecocks picked up their third straight SEC win last week, putting a 42-25 beatdown on Oklahoma to earn a place in the latest AP top-25 poll as the No. 23-ranked team in the country.   

South Carolina jumped out to a 28-10 first-half lead and kept their foot on the gas to cruise to victory. 

“Really, really proud of the effort. We've got a lot of great players on this team,” head coach Shane Beamer said after the game. “This is a big win to come on the road and play like we did tonight. You can hear it in the celebration across the wall here.” 

With four games to go, there are still many possibilities for how this season could go. South Carolina will be back at home this week to host Texas A&M before playing games against Arkansas, Georgia and Clemson.   

Here are three takeaways from the win over Oklahoma. 

Blown leads seem to be left in the past

For the third straight week, the Gamecocks built a lead and held on. The same could not be said about this team early in the season. 

South Carolina blew multi-touchdown leads in their losses to Kentucky and Mississippi State this season. Facing the same scenario in their most recent games, the Gamecocks stood strong. 

The Gamecocks led Florida by seven at halftime and went on to win by 19. They led Oklahoma by 18 at halftime and won by 17. 

Against Tennessee, things were a bit closer. South Carolina almost let its 14-0 lead go to waste, and actually went into the break trailing. 

Instead of letting the game get away from them, like what happened in all their losses, the team settled in, made crucial plays and wound up winning by three. 

The ability for South Carolina to take and hold its lead has been a huge difference in the team from the first few weeks of SEC play to now. 

2024 LaNorris is back

South Carolina’s entire team has been playing better since digging itself out of a 2-3 hole, but one player in particular has raised his contributions to an elite level. 

That player is obviously quarterback LaNorris Sellers. 

When Sellers is on, the Gamecocks' ceiling is raised significantly, and the past few weeks he’s been on fire. 

The Gamecocks' quarterback finished the Oklahoma game completing 19-of-24 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns. As always, he was also a threat to take off and run, rushing for 96 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.   

“He's playing really well right now, and everybody feeds off that,” Beamer said. 

Sellers' current play is reminding people what made him one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in college football just a short time ago. 

After a breakout 2024 campaign, there were talks of Heisman campaigns and high NFL draft stock. A disappointing 2025 Gamecock season and the slow start to 2026 put him off a lot of people’s radar, but he’s starting to storm back. 

Sellers is currently playing even better than what he showed in 2024. Not only is he as dangerous as ever to take off with his legs, but he’s seeing the field better and throwing a better ball.   

The improvements in his passing ability were on full display against Oklahoma as he aired out a pair of 79- and 84-yard touchdown passes. 

“Those are great plays,” Beamer said. “When you see him throw it, you're like, ‘The ball looks beautiful.’ It's like slow motion in the air, and then it's an even better feeling when you see there's a receiver that's wide open down there that catches it.”

What is the ceiling?

With everything clicking right now, it’s fair to ask what the ceiling is.   

Can South Carolina win out? Could the Gamecocks make the playoff? How about the SEC championship game?

All of that is possible, but it won’t be easy, and there is no room for error. 

To make the playoff, the Gamecocks would likely have to win out and, depending on other results, have a few teams lose games they’re not supposed to. 

Same goes for the SEC championship game, though those odds are a bit slimmer. Still, with three conference losses and only three more SEC games to go, still being in the hunt this late is impressive and indicative of how the current college football season has played out. 

South Carolina’s remaining schedule is pretty favorable outside of a game against No. 2 Georgia. Texas A&M and Arkansas are 1-4 in conference near the bottom of the standings, and Clemson is in a down year. 

Even if the Gamecocks can’t win out, they’ve already surpassed last season’s win total. They only need one more win to clinch a bowl appearance, and finishing the regular season with eight wins is a decent expectation.