It’s easy to play the what-if game after a 5-7 season.
What if South Carolina didn’t schedule North Carolina to start the season? What if the Gameco*cks could have just made one play in crunch time against Florida? What if Xavier Legette caught the screen pass that Clemson picked up for a scoop-and-score?
If any one of those things is different, who knows? South Carolina’s definitely in a bowl. Maybe the Gameco*cks win seven or eight games and the momentum from 2022 keeps climbing.
The bad news for South Carolina heading into 2024: The Gameco*cks play seven games against teams in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.
The good news: South Carolina scheduled three cupcakes (Old Dominion, Akron and Wofford) and one of its five road games is against lowly Vanderbilt. Barring an all-time upset, that should be four guaranteed wins.
In every other game, the Gameco*cks will likely be underdogs. If that’s true, South Carolina will need to pull two upsets to become bowl-eligible.
Here are some of its best chances — the three most crucial games of South Carolina’s season.
Sept. 7 at Kentucky
South Carolina’s SEC opener comes really, really early this year. And, well, it means we might have a pretty accurate gauge on this Gameco*cks team really, really early.
And this feels like a complete toss-up.
Kentucky finished 7-6 last season but the Wildcats have a new quarterback (Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff), a new running back (Ohio State transfer Chip Trayanum) and a new offensive coordinator (Bush Hamdan from Boise State).
Kentucky will look different, which maybe isn’t great news for South Carolina. The Gameco*cks have beat the Wildcats in each of the past two seasons, which included the “stupid sunglasses” game of 2023 and a 17-14 victory last season.
The meeting on Sept. 7 will be an early-season litmus test. With a win comes the expectation of a bowl game and the real hope of a special season. Lose the game and the outlook gets bleak. A bowl appearance becomes an uphill battle and a nine- or 10-win season is basically out the window.
In the standings race of the SEC’s middle pack, this game means a lot. It’s significant because Kentucky expects to beat South Carolina and South Carolina expects to beat Kentucky. It’s also because, if South Carolina can’t beat Kentucky, who are the Gameco*cks gonna get? Are they really gonna lose to Mark Stoops’ squad then beat LSU? Or win at Alabama or Oklahoma? It seems unlikely.
For all the goals Shane Beamer has, it is crucial that South Carolina beats Kentucky, that the Gameco*cks get off to a great start and can breathe for a few weeks before any sky-is-falling talk begins.
Oct. 5 vs. Ole Miss
Oh, baby! The Juice Wells revenge game.
Please, ESPN, let it be under the lights at Williams-Brice. (It’s currently a “flex” game, meaning it could kick off anywhere between 3:30 and 8 p.m. The goosebumps would be contagious. The “Judas Wells” posters would be everywhere. The place would be on earthquake watch.
If South Carolina is going to win seven, eight, nine games, it’ll need to have a few true upsets. Not just oh-the-other-team-was-favored upsets. The how-in-the-world-did-that-happen upsets.
They’ll get their chances. The Gameco*cks face No. 13 LSU in Week 3, but who knows how good LSU actually is? USC plays at No. 5 Alabama in mid-October. But the Ole Miss game feels like the best chance to really shock someone.
It’ll be at home. At least part of the game will be played at night. The Wells-return factor will have the place buzzing. And Ole Miss, a team with a billion transfers, has yet to show they’re a proven winner.
Perhaps beating the Rebels is not crucial to South Carolina making a bowl game. But it might be essential to the psyche of the team. Get blown out as Juice Wells giggles around the field and regrouping for — checks notes — Alabama and Oklahoma feels impossible.
Hang tight — or win — and nothing feels out of reach. Not beating Alabama. Not beating Clemson. Or winning 10 games.
Nov. 2 vs. Texas A&M
This gives off all the vibes of last year’s game against Florida.
The Gameco*cks weren’t having the best season. They were 2-3 but had to play at Georgia and at Tennessee. Florida was supposed to be the reprieve. A struggling squad coming to Williams-Brice Stadium for South Carolina to find its mojo against.
Well, as Florida came back and Ricky Pearsall turned into Jerry Rice, the mojo died with the season.
That was the game that most fans say kept the Gameco*cks out of a bowl game. Could folks be saying that about the Texas A&M contest this season?
South Carolina can’t let that happen. Especially not in what might be the only night SEC game the Gameco*cks have at Williams-Brice this season.
Texas A&M is working with newly hired head coach Mike Elko, a quarterback in Conner Weigman who missed the last eight games of 2023 with a broken foot and a new starting running back after Rueben Owens suffered a season-ending injury this week.
The Aggies, who beat South Carolina 30-17 last year, do return two-thirds of their defense, but it seems like to a stretch to think they’ll be at the top of the SEC this season.
In other words: They are beatable. They are especially beatable at Williams-Brice Stadium. And, well, beating them on Nov. 2 might be the difference between the Gameco*cks making or missing a bowl game for the second-straight season.
South Carolina football schedule
Bolded games indicate those with start times that are set. Kickoff times for games with early, noon, night or flex designations will be determined during the season
Aug. 31 – vs. Old Dominion – 4:15 pm, SEC Network
Sept. 7 – at Kentucky – 3:30 p.m., ABC
Sept. 14 – vs. LSU – Noon, ABC
Sept. 21 – vs. Akron – Night (6 to 8 p.m., TBD)
Oct. 5 – vs. Ole Miss – Flex (afternoon or night kick, TBD)
Oct. 12 – at Alabama – Noon, ABC or ESPN
Oct. 19 – at Oklahoma – Early (noon to 1 p.m., TBD)
Nov. 2 – vs. Texas A&M – Night (6 to 8 p.m., TBD)
Nov. 9 – at Vanderbilt – Afternoon (3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TBD)
Nov. 16 – vs. Missouri – Afternoon (3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TBD)
Nov. 23 – vs. Wofford – 4 p.m., SEC Network Plus
Nov. 30 – at Clemson – TBD
