South Carolina football meets familiar foe in bowl game

The South Carolina football team won six games this season, landing bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018. After taking a week off to the close of the regular season, the Gamecocks now know their bowl fate as destinations and matchups were announced on Sunday.

South Carolina will face a familiar foe this postseason as they travel right up the road to Charlotte, NC. The Gamecocks will face off against former ACC rival North Carolina, the two teams’ first meeting since the start of the 2019 campaign.

Shane Beamer far exceeded most preseason projections surrounding the Gamecocks in year one, guiding his team to a 6-6 overall record with wins against Florida and Auburn in the month of November. Most pegged South Carolina as a three-win team entering the year.

Instead, coach Beamer will get another few weeks of practice as they prepare for the Tar Heels and a chance to build some positive momentum heading into the offseason. Let’s preview the matchup and see where the Gamecocks stand.

South Carolina football bowl history

The South Carolina football program has participated in 23 bowls in its history. They’ve posted a 9-14 overall mark in that time which dates back to 1945.

The Gamecocks actually dropped each of their first eight bowl appearances before landing the school’s first postseason win in the 1994-95 campaign. That was a victory over West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl.

South Carolina missed out on bowl action the next few years before earning a spot against Ohio State in the 2000 Outback Bowl. That year, the Gamecocks logged eight wins to break what had been a 21-game losing skid entering the season, culminating with the bowl victory. The Gamecocks would repeat over the Buckeyes in the same location the following year.

Since 2000, the Gamecocks have made 14 bowl appearances, posting an 8-6 record. This matchup against the Tar Heels will be South Carolina’s second straight bowl trip to Charlotte after playing Virginia in the 2018 Belk Bowl.

South Carolina football history vs. UNC

Speaking of the Tar Heels, they’ve been one of the Gamecocks’ most played opponents over the years. The two teams have met 56 times on the gridiron with North Carolina boasting a 33-19-4 overall advantage in the series.

It’s a rivalry that dates back to 1903. The Tar Heels jumped out to an 8-0-2 record over the series’ first 10 contests. They held a dominant 4-18-4 advantage up until 1953 when both teams joined the ACC.

The Gamecocks won that inaugural ACC meeting with an 18-0 shutout and have posted a 15-15 record since. South Carolina is 7-3 in the last 10 matchups though North Carolina did take the latest edition 24-20 in the 2019 season opener.

While these two programs are certainly familiar with one another, they’ve never met in a bowl game. This will be the first postseason occasion and the winner could grab some head-to-head momentum on the recruiting trail.