South Carolina football: predicting the first loss of the 2021 season

Where will South Carolina football trip up first?

The South Carolina football season is set to begin on September 4th, kicking off with a night game in Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks, as is the case every year, will face a difficult slate that includes SEC Eastern foes Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee, crossover matchups with Texas A&M and Auburn, and the season-ending rivalry with Clemson.

Take a look at the full 2021 schedule below.

• vs. Eastern Illinois
• @ East Carolina
• @ Georgia
• vs. Kentucky
• vs. Troy
• @ Tennessee
• vs. Vanderbilt
• @ Texas A&M
• BYE
• vs. Florida
• @ Missouri
• vs. Auburn
• vs. Clemson

Where will the Gamecocks suffer their first loss of the year? 

There are a couple of options, one of which seems more likely than the other. South Carolina should take care of business in the season opener against an Eastern Illinois team that’s just 5-25 over its last 30 games.

The following week, though, presents a tricky matchup on the road at East Carolina. The Pirates return senior signal caller Holton Ahlers under center, and he’ll look to lead an offense that averaged more than 30 points a contest last season. This will be South Carolina’s first road trip under head coach Shane Beamer, and if they get caught looking ahead to the next game, it could spell bad news for the Gamecocks.

We, however, don’t see an upset brewing, which leads us into a week three meeting with Georgia. This is where we think the Gamecocks will fall first in 2021. South Carolina will make the short trip to Athens, where the Bulldogs have their eyes on an SEC Championship and College Football Playoff appearance.

JT Daniels is back at quarterback, and he plans to lead a Georgia offense that returns a ton of talent. The defense will again be stout, and I’m sure the Bulldogs haven’t forgotten about the double overtime loss to the Gamecocks their last time in Sanford Stadium.

It will take a Herculean effort to pull off the upset, and while nothing is impossible, we’re predicting that the Gamecocks fall in this SEC East showdown.