Beamer, Stoops chase first SEC win of 2025 in South Carolina Kentucky matchup

Three weeks ago, ahead of South Carolina’s SEC opener against Vanderbilt, head coach Shane Beamer was asked if his team was ready for conference play. In response, Beamer put it very bluntly: They better be.

Fast forward to Week 5, the Gamecocks face a 0-2 record in conference play, with one more chance to get a win before their first bye week. The losses have come in a blowout at home against Vanderbilt and a penalty-filled road loss to Missouri.

Their opponent, the Kentucky Wildcats, also finds itself in a rough spot coming off their first bye week. Despite sitting at a 2-1 record, the Wildcats, like South Carolina, dropped their conference home opener in Week 3. Both teams are entering Saturday with a combined 0-3 record in SEC play.

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“No one’s happy about being 2-2. There’s no question about that,” Beamer said. “But, I know not every person in here is a person of faith, but John 16:33 says, ‘There are going to be trials and tribulations: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ … We’re certainly dealing with some trials right now, but we’re full of good cheer. There’s no question about it.”

Under Beamer, South Carolina historically has entered this game looking for its first conference win of the season. The Gamecocks have faced the Wildcats without a conference win in three of Beamer’s first four seasons, including 2024’s conference opener in Lexington, Kentucky. The only outlier came in 2023, when the teams faced off in the season’s final conference games ahead of rivalry week.

Across those games, South Carolina’s only loss to the Wildcats came in 2021, 16-10. That game was also the last time Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops left Columbia with a victory.

“We know playing at South Carolina, Williams-Brice, that place is incredible,” Stoops said. “What a great atmosphere. It’s always a real challenge.”

Starting 0-2 in SEC play for the first time since 2022 leads to tough conversations within the locker room.

“I mean, you ultimately have a responsibility to this program and the players, the coaches, the university, my bosses, the community, the people that follow Gamecock football, to get this thing right,” Beamer said. “… We’re still a work in progress, but in my opinion, we haven’t gotten the best out of this team in the first four games, and that’s really disappointing, and ultimately my responsibility. So you’ve got to do whatever it takes to get that right and not have that feeling.”

For the Kentucky locker room, it’s about bouncing back from a close home loss two weeks ago with your freshman quarterback, Cutter Boley.

“It’s about us. It’s about our operation,” Stoops said. “For him to play in a hostile environment like that, we have to have people play well around him.” 

South Carolina also chose to focus on fixing their own issues this week. However, they know the challenge ahead after heading home following a difficult road trip.

“We’ve got a big challenge,” Beamer said. “They had a week off, so they’re rested and have had two weeks to get ready for us. We’ve got to get a lot better ourselves, without a doubt. Got off to a great start, really, on Sunday when we came back. (I) Love coaching this group.”

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