Where we were right, wrong about the South Carolina football season
By Jacob Elsey
Prior to the season’s start date, we decided to take our best shot at making bold predictions for the 2021 South Carolina football campaign. Unfortunately, college football is very much unpredictable.
Take the College Football Playoff, for example. Who expected Cincinnati to become the first Group of Five program to land one of the top four spots? The same can be said about Michigan. Heck, even Oklahoma State was six inches away from landing their first playoff berth.
On the other side of the spectrum, Alabama narrowly escaped a few close calls to land another playoff invite but the other three teams from last year are out. Clemson fell from the top of the ACC ranks. Oklahoma dropped out of the top four, losing a coach and Heisman Trophy candidate in the process. Ohio State saw their dominance of the Wolverines come to an end.
Preseason expectations can be even harder to forecast when looking at a team like the Gamecocks. The program was entering the inaugural season under a brand-new staff, led by a first-year head coach. A chunk of the team’s defensive production left via the transfer portal while the new coaches had to replace the top receiver and starting quarterback, too.
In essence, nobody knew what the South Carolina football team was going to look like in 2021.
Vegas thought they had an idea on the win total, which was set very low. It’s hard to blame the oddsmakers seeing that the Gamecocks were fresh off two- and four-win seasons. South Carolina was able to overcome those odds and exceed nearly everyone’s expectation.
A few of our preseason guesses came to fruition while others missed the mark. Let’s take a look at where we were right and where we were wrong in our predictions.