South Carolina Football Way-Too-Early Schedule Preview: Tennessee Volunteers
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina football plays a grueling schedule every season. That is just part of life within the Gamecock football program. An SEC gauntlet plus Clemson plus (oftentimes) a good opponent from North Carolina (UNC, NCST, and ECU are common out-of-conference foes) puts USC’s schedule among the most difficult in the nation. In fact, the 2023 South Carolina football schedule is considered the most difficult in all of college football based on last season’s winning percentages.
The 2023 slate for Carolina begins with a neutral site game against North Carolina in Charlotte, followed by the home opener against Furman. Then, there is a double-dose of Bulldogs as the Gamecocks must travel to Athens to play the two-time defending champion Georgia Bulldogs before welcoming Mississippi State to Columbia. A difficult first four games get even more difficult in week 5 as the Gamecocks must go to Knoxville to take on the Volunteers a bit earlier than usual.
Arguably the biggest pivot point of the Shane Beamer era in Columbia came last season against Tennessee. Positive momentum and good feelings about the program certainly existed after year one when Beamer’s team improved from just 2 wins in the final year of Will Muschamp’s tenure in Columbia to 7 in year one of the new regime. However, fans were growing disgruntled after some continued poor offensive play and an awful three-week stretch that included horrible losses to Missouri and Florida and an uninspired win over Vanderbilt.
The Gamecocks exploded against the Vols for over 600 yards and 63 points in a thrashing that knocked Tennessee right out of the playoff picture. The Gamecocks were much better offensively after the confidence boost they received in the victory, and the optimism returned.
On the other side of the beatdown, the Vols and their fanbase were angry; they were angry over their missed playoff opportunity, angry that starting quarterback Hendon Hooker went down with an injury and missed out on a potential Heisman Trophy win, and angry that the less-historic South Carolina football program has a winning record over the Vols during the last fifteen years. The fanbase also seems to have a disproportionate amount of hate for Shane Beamer.
The Vols will be out for revenge, and with the game in Neyland Stadium, the fanbase likely will be absolutely rabid as they look to knock off the Gamecocks. A minor quarterback controversy exists in Knoxville as the talented but inconsistent Joe Milton is the starter (most likely) at the beginning of the year, but Nico Iamaleava was one of the top quarterback recruits in the 2023 class and (allegedly) cost a massive sum in NIL money. The pressure on Milton and the Vol offense will be high with Iamaleava waiting for his shot.
Regardless of who is at the helm of the Tennessee offense, the orange and white should be among the best in the conference at scoring points. Head Coach Josh Heupel has only put dynamic offenses on the field during his two years in Knoxville, and he fielded good units while in charge at UCF. Because of this, a major key to this matchup will be how Defensive Coordinator Clayton White gameplans against Heupel and new Tennessee Offensive Coordinator Joey Halzle.
If Dowell Loggains’ new offensive system can be executed in a similar way to the 2022 game, none of the rest of this will matter. If Spencer Rattler and his receivers are basically perfect again, the Gamecocks will come out on top, no matter how good Tennessee is on September 30th. However, this should not be the expectation. This game will look much different as there is virtually no way that the Vols’ pass defense will be worse in 2023.
The Volunteers lost their quarterback and top-two receivers from their 2022 offense, but the Gamecocks also are without multiple defensive starters at every level from a season ago. Cam Smith and Darius Rush were among the best corner duos in the nation, and two of the top-three EDGE players on the team are gone. Defensive tackle Zacch Pickens will be in the NFL next season, and two sixth-year senior linebackers must be replaced, as well.
Based on expectations for the two teams’ offenses and secondaries, the passing yardage totals will be high. How effectively the running games can impact things may prove to be a deciding factor. The early advantage goes to the Vols and their top-2 rushers from 2022 (Jabari Small, Jaylen Wright) both returning. In contrast, the Gamecocks still have no idea what their running game will look like as they return no real SEC experience at the running back position outside of scatback Juju McDowell.
Both teams will be playing their fifth game in a row with a bye coming after the matchup. Chances are that by this point, both teams will have gotten into a better groove of things and figured out how to fill the holes vacated by graduations, the transfer portal, and NFL defections.
Carolina will have already played a high-powered offense in North Carolina and the two-time defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs, so they will be adequately tested before traveling up to Knoxville. Tennessee’s toughest game before this one will be on the road against Florida, a team with lots of question marks of its own.
All in all, the matchup in Knoxville will be one of South Carolina football’s toughest games of the season. If the Gamecocks can win, it should be indicative of a successful season for the garnet and black. Another successful season would make the momentum and hype seen in the 2022-2023 offseason feel insignificant compared to the expectations that would surround the South Carolina football program’s future.