Four years after South Carolina’s wristbands became part of the Tennessee conversation, the Gamecocks leaned right back into it Saturday night.
Following a second straight win over the Volunteers in Columbia - after Tennessee took the 2023 meeting in Knoxville - South Carolina’s social media team posted a graphic poking fun at the old conspiracy theory. The image showed a Gamecocks player wearing a wristband that read, “Cocks win.”
😏 https://t.co/xWlLPeaQUL
- South Carolina Football (@GamecockFB) October 24, 2026
The reference goes back to South Carolina’s stunning 63-38 upset of Tennessee in 2022, when Volunteers fans noticed the Gamecocks were wearing wristbands for the first time all season in that game. That fueled speculation that Shane Beamer’s team may have been picking up some of Tennessee’s signals.
This year’s matchup in Columbia was the first South Carolina-Tennessee game there since 2022, thanks to the SEC scrapping divisions and changing its scheduling model. And before kickoff, South Carolina defensive coordinator Clayton White was asked about the wristbands. He made it clear they were not coming back.
“No, we’re not wearing wristbands this week,” White said. “That was a different era and a different time. It was good for some of the games that we did it.
“I still think it’s one of the funniest stories that’s out there in the world. But it was actually Cam Smith’s idea.
I think our scout team that week had wristbands, and the offense was lining up really fast and running their plays. And actually, it was Cam Smith who said, ‘Coach, why can’t we get wristbands?’
And I put six plays on them, and I guess the rest is history.”
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Mike Matthews Gave Tennessee The Jolt It Desperately Needed
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Matthews had already shown this season that he can finish drives as a receiver, with three touchdown catches to his name, but this one added a different layer to his value. For a Tennessee offense that needed a jolt, the play was a reminder that Matthews can impact the game in more than one way, and that kind of versatility can matter as the Vols try to steady themselves in a tight spot. [Read more 🡒]