For the second game in a row, the Gamecock football team upset a ranked opponent.

South Carolina improved to 4-3 and got their second conference win of the season after beating No. 11 Tennessee with a walk-off field goal, 27-24. In their previous outing, South Carolina knocked off then-No. 16 Florida.

 “Just proud of the resilience of our group,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “We said all week, just get that thing to the fourth quarter and dominate the fourth quarter, and we found a way to win it at the end.”

With a pair of fine wins under their belt, the Gamecocks are back on track and looking to go on a similar run that they went on in 2024 when the team won its final six regular season games. 

The team has shown a lot of promise the past few weeks, but can they pull it off? Only time will tell. 

In the meantime, here are three takeaways from South Carolina’s most recent upset win against the Volunteers. 

Williams-Brice has become a place of nightmares for Tennessee 

Winning in Columbia has been a problem for the Volunteers the past 20 years, and that continued last weekend. 

South Carolina has now won seven of the last nine home meetings against Tennessee, dating back to 2008. The two losses came in the 2020 and 2014 seasons.  

Entering this year’s matchup, there was a lot of chatter about the last time the pair met in Williams-Brice back during the 2022 season. 

An unranked Spencer Rattler-led Gamecocks team dominated the Volunteers, 63-38, ending Tennessee’s College Football Playoff chances. 

In the years since, there have been baseless accusations of foul play committed by Beamer and the Gamecocks’ defense. While the previous upset didn't affect this game, Beamer said he hopes this win finally gets everyone to put their tin foil hats on the shelf. 

“Hopefully, we can put that crap to bed now,” Beamer said. “ I don't know what conspiracy theories they're going to come up with this year. Maybe it's the lights from the state fair, or something affected their ability to play. I don't know.”

While the teams are new and the games unfolded differently, both the 2022 and 2026 games ended the same as Gamecock Nation flooded the field in a sea of garnet and black. 

LaNorris Sellers is playing to his ceiling 

After weeks of shaky play, LaNorris Sellers is finally playing at the level most expected him to. 

Every Gamecock fan remembers Sellers steamrolling his way over Clemson in 2024 to win the Gamecocks the Palmetto trophy. He had another moment like that against the Volunteers. 

Down seven with less than 90 seconds to go and facing a third-and-goal, Sellers kept the ball and steamrolled over one Tennessee defender before fighting through another and stretching across the goal line in heroic fashion. 

It was the play of the game and might be one of the best in Sellers’ South Carolina career, rivaled only by the touchdown against the Tigers. 

“He’s had some great wins around here,” Beamer said. “He’s had some great moments for us.”

Sellers finished the game completing 18-of-22 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown. He added 96 yards and two scores on the ground. 

This followed another strong outing against Florida, where he finished with 279 passing yards and four touchdowns. 

As long as the Gamecocks keep getting this version of Sellers, the rest of the season could be very fun to watch. 

The season is saved 

South Carolina has come a long way in the three weeks since its overtime loss to Kentucky. 

The Gamecocks are no longer winless in the SEC. They’re no longer winless against power conference teams, and they’ve cleaned up a lot of the errors that cost them other games. 

While head coach Shane Beamer appeared to be headed for the hot seat, those conversations will stop after pulling off consecutive ranked upsets. 

South Carolina can’t reach their highest preseason goals. The playoff is probably out of reach, but it’s still possible. 

On the positive side, all the doomer scenarios are also put to rest. The Gamecocks shouldn’t be the worst team in the SEC. They should make a bowl, and they should be favored in most of their final few games. That’s a lot more than what could be said before this recent stretch. 

Looking ahead at the schedule, six to eight wins seem very possible at this point. The only game most won’t give South Carolina a chance in is against Georgia, but anything is possible. 

South Carolina will be on the road this week for a Halloween faceoff against Oklahoma. Beyond that, the team has games against Texas A&M, Arkansas, Georgia and Clemson. 

“I just see a team that continues to get better,” Beamer said. “When you go through shared struggles together, it makes you closer, and we've certainly went through some struggles.”