The South Carolina football team may be looking at some significant changes to its 2020 season.
The next domino has fallen. Just a day after the Ivy League announced that it planned to cancel fall sports altogether, the Big 10 revealed its vision of what the fall schedule, in particular football, would look like in 2020.
On Thursday, Big 10 officials announced that all fall sports, if played in 2020, will compete in conference only. Though the SEC has no scheduled contests versus Big 10 opponents, it does eliminate high-profile meetings between Ohio State and Oregon, Virginia Tech and Penn State, Michigan State and Miami, and Michigan and Washington. The ACC and PAC-12 are expected to follow suit.
So, what does it all mean for South Carolina football in 2020?
Well, first and foremost, it could bring to an end the 111-year streak of consecutive meetings between the Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers, which dates back to 1909. It’s currently the longest active streak between teams that are not in the same conference.
Secondly, South Carolina would lose matchups against Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, and Wofford, which could be replaced by SEC West foes. Based on geography, that could mean adding Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State, or Ole Miss, depending on how many games the SEC plans to put on the schedule.
There seems to be a feeling that all of the Power Five conferences will decide to move to this conference-only format, but there are still many questions left to answer.
How many games will be on the schedule? Will geography play a part in scheduling? Will the Gamecocks be forced to play home-and-home series with SEC opponents that reside closer to the Columbia campus rather than taking long trips to Texas A&M, Missouri, or LSU? Will exceptions be made for in-state, out-of-conference rivalries (SC-Clemson, UGA-GT, Florida-FSU)? And, finally, will this all matter when fall rolls around, or will we see a push to play in the spring?
We’ll keep you posted as more information comes in on the ever-changing 2020 college football season.