South Carolina Football: Could College GameDay be at the Gamecocks’ season opener?
By Kevin Miller
Earlier this week, South Carolina football learned that its season opener against North Carolina was set to be a night kick. The neutral site game in Charlotte has its kickoff set for 7:30 on ABC.
For college football’s “opening weekend” (there are actually a few games the week before for “week 0”), the battle of the Carolinas is one of the biggest games of the weekend. It should be the best game on Saturday (LSU and Florida State play on Sunday night), and the big-time quarterback matchup between Spencer Rattler and Drake Maye could be host to College Gameday.
Despite the great game between Carolina and UNC in Charlotte, opening weekend is not loaded with great matchups. LSU vs. Florida State in Orlando, Florida @ Utah, Nebraska @ Minnesota, Colorado @ TCU, Coastal Carolina @ UCLA, Louisville vs. Georgia Tech in Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), West Virginia @ Penn State, NC State @ UConn, Clemson @ Duke, East Carolina @ Michigan, Virginia vs. Tennessee in Nashville, Ohio State @ Indiana, and Boise State @ Washington are the only week 1 games with any intrigue whatsoever.
There are no marquee games on the docket, and most of these contests sit somewhere between a 3 and a 5 on a scale of 1-10. The best games are South Carolina vs. North Carolina in Charlotte, Florida State vs. LSU in Orlando, and Florida @ Utah.
Colorado @ TCU has intrigue because of “Coach Prime” Deion Sanders, but the Buffs will stink in 2023. Florida is not expected to be very good this fall and should fall to the Utes handily in Salt Lake City. LSU and Florida State play on Sunday, which would be a tough sell to Saturday GameDay viewers. South Carolina vs. North Carolina makes the most sense.
South Carolina football has not been involved in a College GameDay matchup since 2014 when Carolina hosted the event for their game with the Missouri Tigers.