South Carolina football: Gamecocks no longer playing in Gasparilla Bowl

South Carolina football’s season is now officially over.

Just two days after learning that it was invited to participate in the Gasparilla Bowl, South Carolina has announced that it will no longer be playing due to COVID tracing within the Gamecocks’ locker room.

It was made public yesterday that a coach on the Carolina staff had tested positive, leading the Monday’s practice being canceled. According to a report from 247 Sports, the Gamecocks had a team-only meeting this afternoon, shortly before the news of the bowl cancelation broke.

According to the report, some of the Gamecock players did not want the team to play Saturday.

Earlier this week, coach Mike Bobo said that the team had a little over 50 scholarship players available for bowl preparations. Pair that with the majority of staff being quarantined after the recent positive test, and it makes sense for the players to be concerned about participating.

This is the first cancelation of the year for the Gamecocks, after being one of only two league teams to play all ten regular season games as originally scheduled.

Athletic Director Ray Tanner released a statement on the bowl game Tuesday afternoon.

"“The team was excited to learn Sunday that it would play in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on Saturday. However, between members of the coaching staff and student-athletes, COVID and contact tracing has taken a toll too high for us to overcome. I have notified the bowl and the SEC office that we are not able to play in the game on Saturday.”"

South Carolina will now finish its 2020 campaign with a 2-8 overall record.