South Carolina football: realistic expectations for the Gamecocks in 2020

The South Carolina football team is set to start its season on September 26th against Tennessee.

The South Carolina football team finished up preseason practice yesterday and will soon turn their focus to the Tennessee Volunteers as they begin to prepare for the season opener. The Gamecocks are coming off of a disappointing 4-8 season, one in which expectations of fans and coaches alike were not met.

Now, South Carolina enters an all-league slate where they’ll look to show progress while playing an unprecedented ten game SEC schedule. Looking ahead to 2020, what do they Gamecocks need to do in order to appease the fanbase? What should be the realistic expectations for head coach Will Muschamp as his seat continues to grow warmer?

There are, as is the case with each new year, new things to look at as the season approaches. The first for this year has to be the effect of the Coronavirus in the landscape of college football. How will the virus alter the season? Will we see a full slate? How do teams overcome postponements, cancellations, or positive COVID cases at key positions? These questions are still unknown but they will have an influence on the SEC race.

Secondly, let’s look at the strength of schedule. South Carolina currently ranks among the top five most difficult schedules in the nation. They’ll play five opponents ranked among the preseason’s top 13 teams. The Gamecocks don’t play top ranked Clemson, but the slate got significantly more difficult with the additions of Auburn and Ole Miss in lieu of Coastal Carolina, Wofford, and East Carolina. The Gamecocks will likely be underdogs in 75% of their matchups. What’s an outcome that would show progress? Staying competitive in most games? Reaching a certain number of wins?

Thirdly, and this in a way goes back to the first talking point, can the Gamecocks be successful in their transition to a new offense? Mike Bobo has come to Columbia as coach Muschamp’s last hope at offensive coordinator. Should he fail, it likely marks the end of Muschamp’s time on the Carolina sidelines, whether that end following 2020 or a season later.

New offenses are always going to produce hiccups, but those mistakes may be more prevalent in a year where offseason practices were shut down amid the pandemic. The Gamecocks do have a quarterback that’s familiar with Mike Bobo’s system, which could help with the transition, but it’s still yet to be determined if Collin Hill can beat out incumbent Ryan Hilinski, as he recovers from his third significant knee injury.

For me, I’d look at the team and results a bit differently in 2020. I want to see the Gamecocks stay competitive with the ‘big boys’ while showing that they can take care of business against foes that, on paper, appear to be on the same playing field (Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss). That could mean reaching anywhere between four to six wins. Anything less will have Will Muschamp on the hottest seat in America in 2021. Anything more will have Gamecock fans ecstatic.

The offense has to show significant progress. The unit finished 104th nationally in scoring last season. This has been Will Muschamp’s Achilles’ heel in his time as a head coach, both at South Carolina and Florida. The Gamecocks’ offense doesn’t need to be the 2019 LSU Tigers, but getting back to the middle of the pack in the SEC will show that the group is moving in the right direction. The defense will carry this team. If the offense can help them out, South Carolina should compete for at least the third-placed spot in the SEC East, which would keep fans in Columbia optimistic heading into 2021.