We had higher expectations than anyone says — Shane Beamer

Shane Beamer knew early in the season his fourth South Carolina football team could be special.

Good call. The Gamecocks ran off six straight wins to close the year, getting in the College Football Playoff discussion and ultimately earning a bid to the Citrus Bowl against Illinois, with South Carolina (9-3) and the Illini (9-3) gearing up for a 2 p.m. kickoff on Tuesday at Camping World Stadium.

“We as a team, we had higher expectations than anyone on the outside did throughout the year,” Beamer said on Monday.

The Gamecock took a close opener against Old Dominion 23-19. Next, a trip to Kentucky for a game against the Wildcats.

“Just the way that we played, particularly on defense,” he said. “In Lexington against Coach (Mark) Stoops, who’s a blue-collar, physical (coach) — that’s their MO there at UK. We have five sacks, to control the line of scrimmage like we did in that game and then see your freshman quarterback get knocked out of the game with an injury but come back and make some plays. I walked off the field that day not saying that we’re going to end the season on a six-game winning streak and be down here in Orlando, but I remember walking off the field that day thinking we’ve got a chance to be pretty good because of the way we can play defense.”

But for Beamer, he won’t have everyone available on defense on Tuesday. Star defensive end and Nagurski Trophy winner Kyle Kennard opted out. On offense, top running back Raheim Sanders won’t play either.

“Certainly we’ll miss Kyle. When you don’t have the SEC Defensive Player of the Year here, that’s a loss,” he said. “But we’ve got three defensive tackles that are still here that have been a part of our program since either 2020 or 2021. We’ve got three linebackers that are older guys. Our secondary, they’ve played a lot of football together. We’ve got a lot of really good players and leadership around them.”