South Carolina’s long wait to start 3-0 has felt like one of those odd program quirks that keeps hanging around no matter how many seasons pass. The Gamecocks have gone 13 straight years without opening 3-0, and even when the path looked clear, something always seemed to get in the way.
That streak has survived some painful near-misses. South Carolina was one win away from 4-0 in 2014 before losing the opener to Kenny Hill and Texas A&M.
In 2017, the Gamecocks opened with two wins before falling at home to Kentucky. Last year, LSU came into Williams-Brice and left with a win aided by some questionable calls.
Then Vanderbilt snapped its own 16-game losing streak against South Carolina and again kept USC from getting to 3-0.
This year, though, the setup looked almost too clean. South Carolina beat Kent State 57-0, handled Towson 45-9, and opened SEC play against Mississippi State, a team that won just one conference game last season.
From the moment the 2026 schedule came out, 3-0 seemed like the safe bet. The real question felt bigger: could the Gamecocks run deeper into September without a loss?
That certainty didn’t last long.
Last Wednesday, DraftKings Sportsbook had South Carolina as 7.5-point favorites. That number has since moved to Gamecocks by 4 after Mississippi State’s 38-13 win at Minnesota last Saturday changed the conversation around the Bulldogs. Now there’s real buzz that Mississippi State (2-0) could be this season’s surprise SEC team, the way Vanderbilt was last year.
A big reason for that buzz is sophomore quarterback Kamario Taylor. Since taking over for Mississippi State’s final two games of 2025, Taylor has taken off this season and now owns the 10th-best odds to win the Heisman Trophy.
He has completed more than two-thirds of his passes, going 38-for-56 for 581 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. Mississippi State has scored on 17 of its 21 offensive drives this season.
“We could talk about him all day. The hype is real,” Shane Beamer said of the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Taylor.
“He’s got great size, so he sits back in the pocket. And his arm talent, he can make all the throws on the field.”
The matchup naturally brings Taylor and South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers into the same conversation.
“Oh yeah, 100%,” USC DB Gerald Kilgore said. “The size, the strength, the speed, it’s all there. (Kamario’s) put some great things on tape, but that’s something we’ve faced just as good or, in my opinion, better with LaNorris.”
South Carolina’s defense has been sharp through two weeks, allowing just nine points, and the Gamecocks will need that unit to keep Taylor from settling in. Mississippi State has plenty more firepower around him, too, with RB Fluff Bothwell carrying 27 times for 168 yards and three touchdowns and WR Anthony Evans III posting 14 catches for 239 yards and two touchdowns.
For Beamer, though, it comes down to whether South Carolina’s front four can create pressure. Minnesota couldn’t. Beamer said Taylor had too many chances to stand in the pocket and pick apart the defense.
If the Gamecocks don’t get that rush, then the burden shifts to an offense that was productive but messy against Towson. South Carolina ran for more than 400 yards and scored 45 points, but it also committed six penalties, lost two turnovers and dropped seven passes.
“A lot of the stuff we got away with the last two weeks,” Beamer said on his Sunday teleconference, “particularly (against Towson) will get us beat going forward.”
South Carolina has already cleared the first two games with ease. Now comes the test that was supposed to be the manageable one. If the Gamecocks clean up the mistakes, win the turnover battle and get Sellers rolling, they have a chance to do something this program has not done in nearly a decade and a half.
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Shane Beamers Mississippi State Story Still Hits South Carolina Fans Hard
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Now, with Beamer leading the Gamecocks, the familys allegiances have shifted with him, and that Mississippi State chapter still lingers as part of the backstory South Carolina fans have embraced. It is the kind of personal detail that makes his path feel bigger than a coaching rsum, a reminder that careers and lives in football often turn on small, unexpected moments. [Read more 🡒]