COLUMBIA — South Carolina football won Saturday’s season opener against Old Dominion 23-19 at Williams-Brice Stadium, but it was far from a perfect game for the Gamecocks.

Coach Shane Beamer made it clear in his opening statement after the game that South Carolina will celebrate the win, but thought almost all three levels of play were full of mistakes.

“Unacceptable from us in the way we performed, starting with me,” Beamer said. “Winning is hard … sloppy without a doubt, on all three phases, lots to clean up … did some good, did some bad, so we have to coach better without a doubt.”

South Carolina was led by redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers at quarterback, and had true freshman on both sides of the field. Dylan Stewart, Josiah Thompson, Mazeo Bennett, and Michael Smith all played their first college game.

“We aren’t the only the school in the country playing true freshman and we have to put them in position to make plays.” Beamer said. “I told those guys coming out of half, you ain’t a freshman anymore, you played a half of SEC football, we are past that excuse.”

What Beamer did draw attention to was the Gamecocks’ self-inflicted errors, like dropped passes and penalties. The Gamecocks were called for two penalties that eliminated scoring chances, and only completed 10 passes for 114 yards. Sellers fumbled on a drive in the first quarter, and knocked over his own player while trying to block for running back Juju McDowell.

“Let’s not beat ourselves, I thought we had too much of that tonight,” Beamer said. “It start’s with us as coaches and we will do a better job of getting that cleaned up.”

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

The South Carolina Gamecocks open the 2024 season by hosting Old Dominion on Saturday, Aug. 31.

GamecockCentral’s Gameday Guide features game info, TV, odds, notes, and more below!

Old Dominion (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) @ South Carolina (0-0, 0-0 SEC)

When: Aug. 31, 2024 – 4:15 ET
Where: Columbia, S.C. – Williams-Brice Stadium (77,559)
Broadcast: SEC Network (Dave Neal, Aaron Murray, Ashley ShahAmadi)
Local Radio: Gamecock Sports Network (Todd Ellis, Tommy Suggs, Chet Tucker)
Satellite Radio: Sirius/XM Channel 106 or 190
Odds: South Carolina -21
Weather: 92°, Sunny

ALSO SEE: South Carolina football recruiting visitors for the Old Dominion game

Other resources from Gamecock Central: News | App | YouTube | Schedule | Future Opponents | Scholarship Breakdown | Roster | Depth Chart | Commit List

South Carolina vs. Old Dominion Preview Content

How to watch today’s game

As South Carolina kicks off the 2024 season Saturday against Old Dominion, SEC Network will carry all the action from the 4:15 p.m. kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium.

The SEC Network is available nationwide from every major cable, satellite, and streaming provider.

GC LIVE: Gamecocks vs. Old Dominion Preview

Watch on YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS feed

Quick notes from South Carolina Athletics

QUICKLY: The South Carolina Gamecocks begin the fourth year of the Shane Beamer Era in non-conference fashion when they host the Old Dominion Monarchs out of the Sun Belt Conference at Williams- Brice Stadium (77,559) in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday, Aug. 31. Game time has been set for 4:15 pm ET.

OVER THE AIRWAVES: The 2024 season opener will be televised on the SEC Network. Long-time SEC play-by-play voice Dave Neal will call the action, with former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray providing the color commentary. Ashley ShahAmadi will patrol the sidelines. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features a pair of Gamecock great quarterbacks in Todd Ellis (33rd season) and Tommy Suggs (52nd season) in the booth. Chet Tucker returns for his second season as the network’s sideline reporter.

A LITTLE HISTORY: 2024 marks year four of the Shane Beamer Era and the 131st season of intercollegiate football at the University of South Carolina, dating back to 1892. It is the 118th-consecutive year in which South Carolina has competed on the gridiron. The University did not field a team in either 1893 or 1906. Carolina owns an all-time record of 634-613-44, a .508 winning percentage. Since the start of the 21st century, the Gamecocks have posted a 168-131 record, a .562 winning clip. In three seasons under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 20-18, a .526 winning percentage.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-LSU football game]

OPENING REMARKS: Through 130 years of intercollegiate football, the Gamecocks have compiled an 86- 40-4 record in season openers, a winning percentage of .677. In the 97 seasons in which the Gamecocks have opened at home, the record is a very impressive 73-20-4, which translates into a .773 winning mark. In 28 seasons in which the Gamecocks have opened on the road, they are 10-18 for a .357 winning pct. South Carolina opened the 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023 seasons at a neutral site, posting a 3-2 record in those five contests. Carolina has won all three of its home openers under Coach Beamer.

IT JUST MEANS MORE: The 2024 season will mark South Carolina’s 33rd year in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina and Arkansas joined the SEC prior to the 1992 campaign. The Gamecocks earned the SEC Eastern Division title in the 2010 season. The Gamecocks are 109-148-1 (.424) all-time in SEC regular season play but posted a 42-38 (.525) record in conference action from 2010-19. Under Coach Beamer, the Gamecocks are 10-14 in SEC play, a .417 winning percentage.

YOU’RE SIXTEEN: The Southeastern Conference will take on a new look in 2024 with the addition of blue blood programs in Texas and Oklahoma. The Gamecocks will not face the Longhorns in 2024 but will travel to Norman for their first encounter with the Sooners on Oct. 19. With the additions of the two schools, the league will no longer be divided into two divisions, but rather just one 16-team conference with the top two finishers advancing to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game on Dec. 7.

TOUGH SLATE: South Carolina has one of the nation’s toughest schedules in 2024, as seven of its 12 regular-season opponents are ranked in the nation’s preseason top 20. The Gamecocks’ 2024 slate includes contests against Alabama (5/5), Ole Miss (6/6), Missouri (11/11), LSU (13/12), Clemson (14/14), Oklahoma (16/16), and Texas A&M (20/20).

Other resources from Gamecock Central: News | App | YouTube | Schedule | Future Opponents | Scholarship Breakdown | Roster | Depth Chart | Commit List

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – A legal challenge now faces a controversial new law in South Carolina.

H.4624, also known as the “Help Not Harm Act,” has already had significant impacts on gender-affirming care since Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law in late May.

Now a group of transgender South Carolinians are suing to stop them from continuing.

“It’s definitely something that has just been this looming cloud, if you will, over the last three months,” said M. Greg Green, a transgender man who lives in the Midlands.

The lawsuit was filed late Thursday in federal court in Charleston by three transgender South Carolina adults and two families of transgender teens.

In it, they argue the state law “has had and will continue to have devastating consequences for transgender individuals and their families in South Carolina” and claim it violates various federal laws.

Green isn’t among the plaintiffs and said he has not been impacted yet by the law but expects that could happen.

“Now having to figure out how am I going to maintain the medically necessary things that I need is very scary,” Green said.

Green is not alone in those fears.

“I’m a transgender man myself, and I haven’t lost care, but I wake up every morning, worried about it,” Jace Woodrum, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina, said.

The ACLU’s attorney are representing the plaintiffs, who are asking the court to block three key provisions in the law: a ban on minors from undergoing gender-transition procedures, including surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy; a prohibition on Medicaid from covering these procedures for anyone, minors and adults; and a ban on state dollars directly or indirectly going toward these procedures.

Because of the latter, the state-funded Medical University of South Carolina announced earlier this summer it would no longer provide gender-affirming care to patients of all ages.

While most of the law went into effect with the governor’s signature in May, the ban on gender-transition procedures for minors is not scheduled to take effect until next January.

In total, the ACLU estimates around 800 transgender South Carolinians have lost or will lose access to care.

“On the one hand, 800 people is not insignificant,” Woodrum said. “On the other hand, we have a fairly small population that lawmakers are picking on with this mean-spirited, unconstitutional, political attack.”

MUSC is among the defendants named in the lawsuit, as is Attorney General Alan Wilson.

The Attorney General’s Office said it does not comment on pending litigation but “will vigorously defend the state’s laws.”

McMaster defended the law he signed this year in a statement, saying he “will continue to support our State’s efforts to fight back against those who wish to force harmful gender transition procedures on our children.”

Earlier this year, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit — which includes South Carolina — found bans on government-sponsored insurance from covering transgender healthcare procedures in North Carolina and West Virginia were illegal.

The new South Carolina law also requires certain school staff notify parents about information concerning their child’s gender identity, like if they ask to use a pronoun that does not align with their sex.

But those school-related provisions are not being challenged in this lawsuit.

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