South Carolina football: Possible landing spot in 2020 Bowl Season
By Jacob Elsey
Possible landing spots for South Carolina football this bowl season.
The South Carolina football team enters the midway point of the season sitting at 2-3. The record is about what most thought it would be, although the route taken may be a bit different. Many who predicted the Gamecocks to have two wins at this point probably would’ve swapped the Auburn win for a victory over Tennessee.
Either way, the team stands just a game under .500 after playing a pretty brutal schedule that includes three games versus ranked foes and a trip to defending national champion LSU. South Carolina will certainly have a chance to earn a postseason matchup now that the six-win requirement has been removed for 2020’s COVID impacted year.
With that being said, where could the Gamecocks end up in December or January? Let’s look at some possible landing spots for South Carolina football as bowl season creeps closer.
1. GATOR BOWL
The TaxSlayer Gator Bowl could pit an SEC team with either a Big Ten or ACC foe. Interestingly enough, the Gamecocks actually played in the first ever Gator Bowl back in 1946, a matchup with Wake Forest.
South Carolina has played in the game a total of four times, posting an 0-4 all time record. Those losses have come to programs like Pitt, Oklahoma State, and LSU. The program made three appearances in the 1980s, when George Rogers, Sterling Sharpe, and Harold Green donned the garnet and black.
In his original release, ESPN analyst Mark Schlabach projected that the Gamecocks would meet North Carolina in the 76th annual Gator Bowl matchup, but that was prior to South Carolina’s loss to LSU this past weekend.
2. GASPARILLA BOWL
The Gasparilla Bowl has affiliations with the SEC, ACC, Big XII, PAC 12, MAC, Mountain West Conference, American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Army, and BYU.
Played yearly in Raymond James Stadium (Tampa Bay Bucs), the Gamecocks have yet to make an appearance. In fact, only one SEC team has played in the bowl since its inception in 2008, that being the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
ESPN analyst Kyle Bonagura had the Gamecocks facing off against Florida State in his original bowl projections. That was prior to the loss to LSU.