South Carolina football: Should Gamecocks have accepted bowl bid?

CONS

Roster deficiencies

While many of the pros relate to the notion of getting more reps for the youth and inexperience on South Carolina’s roster, there’s a reason that many of these underclassmen have seen a bump in playing time over the last month of the season.

Since Will Muschamp’s firing in mid November, the Gamecocks have seen a number of players decide to opt out of the season early or announce intentions to transfer. On top of that, the team will be without leaders Shi Smith, Sadarius Hutcherson, and Ernest Jones, who finished out the regular season, but will now prepare for the upcoming NFL Draft.

The Gamecocks have depth issues all over the defense, particularly in the secondary, where reserve running back ZaQuandre White has recently had to convert to safety. In fact, in the team’s finale versus Kentucky, just one player from the opening day lineup was on the field (Jammie Robinson). The rest have been unavailable for one reason or another, and the result has been a defense that allowed more than 40 points to opponents in each of the last two contests.

Depth has hurt the offense, too. A lack of bodies at wideout, combined with a true freshman starting at quarterback, has seen the Gamecocks fail to score 20 points in any of those last two matchups, resulting in two very lopsided outcomes.

Does the team really want to go through that again?

Perception

The perception is already a little low having a two-win team participating in the postseason, but a defeat at the hands of a Group of Five team with three losses could be even more detrimental in regards to the outside view of the program, making it difficult for a new coaching regime to sell its vision for the future. That, obviously, makes it harder to recruit, especially against the likes of Clemson, Florida, Georgia, and, even, North Carolina.

And, for what it’s worth, Vegas already views the Gamecocks as an underdog, a sign that negative results may be more likely than a win.

The perception of the program is as low as it’s ever been over these last two seasons, and a loss to the Blazers will only make it worse.

VERDICT

While a loss would hurt perception, Shane Beamer has his work cut out for him no matter the results of this matchup. The practice time and potential to build relationships within the team far outweigh the optics from the outside, as the new regime tries to build this program from the inside out, focusing on the team first and cutting out any outside noise.

The team does have some apparent depth issues, but it will give younger players a chance to prove themselves to the staff, potentially spring boarding into more prominent roles in 2021. New team leaders can be identified, and coaches can point out the guys that really want to be with the program. And a win can give you something to build on.

All in all, playing in this game is a positive for the South Carolina football team.