Gamecocks Open the 2025 Season Sunday vs Virginia Tech
South Carolina’s full game notes can be found here.
QUICKLY: The 13th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks open the 2025 football season and the fifth year of the Shane Beamer Era in non-conference fashion when they travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium (70,390) in Atlanta, Ga. to face the Virginia Tech Hokies on Sunday, August 31, in the Aflac Kickoff Game. Game time is set for 3 pm ET.
OVER THE AIRWAVES: The Gamecocks’ 2025 season opener will be televised nationally on ESPN. Bob Wischusen will handle the play-by-play with Louis Riddick providing the color commentary. Kris Budden will work the sidelines for the mothership. ESPN Radio will also have a national audience with Mark Kestecher and Kelly Stouffer in the booth and Ian Fitzsimmons patrolling the sidelines. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features a pair of Gamecock Hall of Fame quarterbacks in play-by-play voice Todd Ellis (34th season) and analyst Tommy Suggs (53rd season). Chet Tucker returns for his third year as the sideline reporter.
TO THE WINNERS GO THE SPOILS: The winning coach of the Aflac Kickoff Game will be presented with the coveted Old Leather Helmet Trophy. An icon of toughness and courage, it represents the origins of college football rivalries.
THE BEAMER BOWL: This one has a special meaning for South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer. Beamer is a 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech and was a member of five Hokie bowl teams (1995-99) and three Big East Conference championship squads as a long snapper and wide receiver. He was a long snapper on the 1999 Hokie squad that played for the BCS National Championship. His father, Hall of Fame coach Frank Beamer, is the all-time winningest coach at Virginia Tech. The elder Beamer compiled a 238-121-2 record in 25 seasons as the head coach in Blacksburg. The younger Beamer also served as an assistant head coach/running backs for his dad at Virginia Tech from 2011-2015.
HONORARY CAPTAIN: The only player from the state of South Carolina to win the Heisman Trophy, George Rogers, will be the Gamecocks’ honorary captain for the 2025 Aflac Kickoff game. Rogers, who was originally from Duluth, Ga., earned the 1980 Heisman Trophy after rushing 324 times for 1,894 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior. He still owns many of the South Carolina school records, including 5,204 career rushing yards. He was the first pick in the 1981 NFL Draft the New Orleans Saints and is a member of several Halls of Fame.
SEC VS ACC: This will be South Carolina’s first venture in Atlanta’s Kickoff Classic, but the 16th time the SEC and ACC will meet in this event. The SEC holds an impressive 13-1 advantage in head-to-head matchups entering 2025. This year’s Aflac Kickoff games feature a double-header between the two conferences as the SEC’s Tennessee Volunteers will meet the ACC’s Syracuse Orange on Saturday, Aug. 30.
