South Carolina Football: Do the Gamecocks Have the Toughest Schedule in America?
By Jacob Elsey
The South Carolina football team had one of the hardest schedules in the country last season, having faced four top 10 teams. Next year doesn’t get easier.
South Carolina is coming off a disappointing 4-8 season, some of which can be attributed to starting a true freshman quarterback against the nation’s toughest schedule. Last year, the Gamecocks played four of the top 10 teams in the final AP rankings, including the national runner-up Clemson Tigers. The combined record of its opponents was 107-45, a winning percentage of over 70%.
This year’s slate isn’t much better. The Gamecocks trade a home matchup with Alabama for a trip to Death Valley to face defending national champion LSU. They also have to travel to hostile environments in Clemson and Florida.
The non-conference slate does lighten up a bit, as the Gamecocks trade North Carolina and Appalachian State for Coastal Carolina and East Carolina. They’ll also get Tennessee and Georgia in Williams-Brice Stadium.
On paper, the front half of the schedule looks manageable. After playing Coastal Carolina and East Carolina to start the year, South Carolina will jump into SEC action against a Missouri team that went 6-6 last season, and will be in the first year under new head coach Eli Drinkwitz.
They’ll then travel to Lexington to face the Kentucky Wildcats. The Gamecocks ended a five-game losing streak to the Mark Stoops’ bunch in 2019, but the game is certainly no “gimme.” The Wildcats return senior quarterback Terry Wilson, Jr., who missed last year’s matchup, but whom Will Muschamp’s defense had no answer for in 2018. Kentucky will be looking to build on an eight-win season from a year ago.
South Carolina needs to win at least three of those first four games, because when the calendar flips to October, the schedule gets brutal. They’ll take on a Tennessee squad that won its last six games of 2019, then travel to The Swamp to battle Florida, before taking on Texas A&M, an opponent Carolina has yet to defeat since their arrival to the SEC in 2014.
The Gamecocks end the month in Nashville, which will hopefully be a tune-up game against Vanderbilt before facing three of next year’s top playoff contenders. Those three are Georgia, LSU, and Clemson. Yikes!
Georgia is breaking in transfer quarterback Jamie Newman, but by November, he should have the offense humming. LSU also breaks in a new signal caller after losing Heisman trophy winner Joe Burrow to the NFL. Then the Gamecocks get their third dose of Trevor Lawrence, the probable top pick in next year’s draft.
ESPN has ranked five of South Carolina’s opponents among the top 15 teams in the nation, and two more within the top 40, according to its Football Power Index projections. The Gamecocks are ranked behind all seven of those teams, coming in at No. 39.
A huge reason for the projected success of these opponents is quarterback play. SportingNews recently released its list of top 25 signal callers in college football. South Carolina will line up across from five passers to make the cut. Those rank as follows:
#24. Myles Brennan, LSU
#14. Kyle Trask, UF
#12. Kellen Mond, TAMU
#10. Jamie Newman, UGA
# 1. Trevor Lawrence, CU
It’s certainly going to be a test for the Gamecocks, who might not have their own quarterback situation figured out quite yet. But there may be reason for optimism, particularly when looking at the defense and the team’s top flight SEC corners. They’ll need some guys to step up if they want to exceed expectations as they compete against the toughest college football schedule in America for a second straight season.