The South Carolina football team will play, arguably, the toughest schedule in college football this fall. With a grueling SEC schedule, the annual rivalry with Clemson, and a border state rivalry game against North Carolina, the Gamecocks will have very little margin for error if they hope to improve on their eight-win 2022 campaign. One of college football’s biggest risers in recent years, South Carolina hopes to continue their ascension in 2023.
After a tough opener in Charlotte against border rival North Carolina, the Gamecocks will open their home schedule against the in-state Furman Paladins. (“What is a Paladin?” you ask? It’s a legendary knight that may or may not ride on a dragon and can use magic. Sounds pretty Furman-like, honestly.)
Furman is an FCS school that was ranked 10th in the offseason FCS rankings. A good team for their level, the Paladins only gave up 20 points per game last season, despite playing Power 5 program Clemson and making a short run in the FCS Playoffs. Offensively, they will return their starting quarterback Tyler Huff and leading rusher Dominic Roberto. Combined, the two offensive engines for the Paladins rushed for over 1800 yards and 19 touchdowns. Top pass catcher Ryan Miller is moving on, but Joshua Harris is a good player out wide.
With all due respect to Furman, however, a good Power 5 program like South Carolina should not have any trouble defeating an FCS team. The talent difference between the two rosters should be too much for Furman to overcome, despite their status as a good team at their level. The Gamecocks will not have the luxury of a “get right game” to start the year, but they will likely use the second weekend of the season to do just that.
Fans can expect lots of Gamecocks to see snaps against Furman. If (and, hopefully, when) South Carolina gets out to an early lead, most of the starters, important rotational pieces, and injury-prone players will be rested in favor of younger, more inexperienced players. Future cornerstone pieces of the program’s future (like freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers) could see their first game action in this one.
The kickoff to the 2023 season for South Carolina football is still 158 days away, and the Furman game is 165 days from now. There is still a lot of spring, summer, and fall practice between now and then, and the final transfer portal window has not yet even opened. Teams will likely look very different by that time. However, with spring practice around its halfway point, college football season is here for diehard fans, and it’s never too early to talk about the season.