REACTION: College Gameday Selection Indicative Of South Carolina's Trajectory

South Carolina's Football program will appear on College Gameday in week one this Fall, signaling the immense progress Shane Beamer and the team have made.

On Monday afternoon, South Carolina Gamecock fans everywhere received news that made it feel like it was Christmas in July, as for the first time since their 2014 bout with Missouri, South Carolina's matchup will garner on-site coverage from College Gameday. Watching College Gameday on Saturday mornings has become as much of a ritual for college football fans as it is watching the games themselves. In other words, everyone will be tuning in, mainly because it's week one of a new season.

This increased exposure is proof of progress for the Gamecocks, who won only two games three years ago against an All-SEC schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic season. Last season, however, the Gamecocks became one of the best stories in the sport after they defeated Top 10 teams in Tennessee and Clemson in consecutive weeks, essentially taking out a quarter of the potential college football playoff field.

Top that off with an admirable showing in a close loss to Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl this past December, and the sport is now curious to see if the Gamecocks are ready to become national contenders as they did under Steve Spurrier between 2010 and 2013. This time around, however, it feels like if Shane Beamer and his staff can weather some more bumps in the proverbial road while continuing to show progress, the future could see the program surpass what they accomplished in the golden years of the Spurrier era in Columbia.

Of course, if South Carolina wants those conversations to continue, they'll have to defeat North Carolina in early September, a team that's garnered attention in their own right due to the playmaking ability of star quarterback Drake Maye. Add College Gameday to the mix, and the pressure to get the job done boils to even higher levels for South Carolina.

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