South Carolina Football: A quick dive into the 2024 SEC football schedule and the all-time series against each team
By Kevin Miller
In case you missed it, South Carolina football (and the rest of the Southeastern Conference) had their 2024 SEC football schedules revealed on Wednesday night. For the first time in what feels like forever, the Gamecocks will not face off with Georgia, Florida, or Tennessee, but there will be a first-ever matchup on the docket.
Dates, times, and television information are not yet known (the SEC will broadcast yet another television special in September to announce the 2024 schedule specifics), but the in-conference contests of the 16-team league’s first season are now set. South Carolina football is still set to play Clemson.
Missouri
Missouri is on an inexplicable 4-game winning streak over USC. At least two of those seasons, Carolina has had a better team than Missouri (maybe three of those seasons), but the Gamecocks have played some of their worst football of the past few seasons against the Tigers.
The Gamecocks have played Missouri every season since the Tigers joined the league in 2012. Carolina is 5-6 against Mizzou in that time span and 5-8 all-time. The 2023 matchup is considered a “swing game” for the two programs that could mean a lot to the winning team.
Both teams view their programs as being in need of a big 2023. South Carolina football needs to show the country (and lots of talented high school recruits) that they are, indeed, “on the rise.” Missouri needs to show college football fans that they can take the next step under coach Eliah Drinkwitz and move past the 5-7 wins-per-year mark.
The 2024 contest between the two Columbias will be an important measuring stick for the South Carolina program. If the Gamecocks had a big 2023, can they keep it up by beating a team they feel they should? If 2023 was somewhat of a disappointment, can Carolina bounce back by beating the team they lose to more frequently than they should?
Texas A&M
The 2022 season saw South Carolina football knock off Texas A&M for the first time in program history. The two teams have played every year since 2014 when they became “cross-divisional rivals.” The Aggies lead the series 8-1.
Jimbo Fisher’s A&M squad had a poor showing in 2022 when they went 5-7 with just 2 wins in SEC play. The talented Aggies surely will be better in 2023, and a trip to College Station will be one of the Gamecocks’ tougher road contests on the season.
In 2024, the Battle for the Bonham Trophy could be a major factor in the expanded College Football Playoff. Both South Carolina football and Texas A&M football believe themselves to be top-15 programs in the nation. Both schools have recruited well-enough to be in that realm, as well. If both Carolina and A&M show progress and win 8+ games in 2023, the 2024 game could have lots of potential playoff implications.
LSU
South Carolina has not beaten LSU since 1994, and the program’s only other win in the series came in 1930. A strange tie in 1995 gave the Gamecocks’ a two-game non-losing streak against the Tigers, but LSU has rattled off 7-straight victories since then. 19-2-1 is the lopsided historical record.
If Shane Beamer’s team can make the leap they hope to make in 2023, a home contest against the Bayou Bengals will be a true litmus test for the 2024 season: are the Gamecocks for real, or are they still on the outside looking in at all the other true playoff contenders.
None of the players on either roster were alive the last time Carolina knocked off LSU (in fact, some of them were still ten years from being born). Because of that, Brian Kelly’s team feels like they should always beat South Carolina. If the Gamecocks are to become the program the fans believe it can be, reversing the trend against a traditional power like LSU will be necessary.
Ole Miss
South Carolina has won 3 of the last 4 games against the Rebels of Ole Miss, but the Gamecocks lost the most recent game in the series, a defensive-deficient shootout in Oxford in 2020 that led to Will Muschamp’s dismissal.
As Muschamp’s successor, Shane Beamer will get his first crack at the Rebels at home in 2024 where the series is tied 4-4 all-time. Ole Miss leads the matchup with a historical record of 9-7.
In recent history, both Ole Miss and South Carolina have had short stretches where they have shot up to the upper echelon of the Southeastern Conference, but neither team has been able to stay near the top for more than a handful of seasons at a time. A win in this game in 2024 will be needed for either team to return to prominence.
@ Alabama
It’s never easy going to Tuscaloosa to play a football game. However, in modern history, the matchup between the ‘Tide and the ‘Cocks has not been overly one-sided. ‘Bama won the first ten games of the series through the year 2000 (but gave one back due to NCAA-mandated forfeit). Since then, the Gamecocks are 3-4 against Alabama, and the Crimson Tide forfeited another to bring the record to 3-3.
One of those Carolina victories came in Tuscaloosa, and in 2009 against one of the best Alabama teams in history, Carolina gave Nick Saban’s squad one of their toughest games of the year in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The big 2010 upset of the then-#1 ‘Tide is the last Carolina victory in the series and the last time Alabama has lost to a team from the SEC East in a regular season game.
2009 was a loss for Carolina but a competitive one that showed the college football world that the Gamecocks were ready to become real contenders. From 2010-2013, the Gamecocks had their best success in program history with an SEC East championship and three-straight 11-win seasons.
Flat-out winning in Tuscaloosa in 2024 seems a bit farfetched at this point, but a 2009-esque showing could be exactly what the program needs in order to keep ascending the mountain that is the college football hierarchy.
@ Kentucky
The Gamecocks will be going for their second-straight victory in Lexington in 2024 after beating the ‘Cats at their place in 2022. Recent years have not been kind to the Gamecocks in this series as Kentucky has owned the rivalry by winning 7 of the last 9 contests.
Overall, South Carolina football is 19-14-1 in the series against UK, but 13 of those victories came under Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier, compared to just 4 losses. Carolina must go back to beating Kentucky most seasons in order to take a consistent place in the middle of the pack in the SEC, let alone a spot near the top of the conference.
The intrigue surrounding this matchup grew even more in 2022. Kentucky coach Mark Stoops seemingly mocked Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks at SEC Media Days with his “stupid sunglasses” comment. Beamer and his team made it no secret that they didn’t appreciate the comments, and the two fanbases have been at each other’s throats ever since. 2024 should be a fun continuation of the “new” rivalry.
@ Vanderbilt
South Carolina doesn’t lose to Vanderbilt. Most teams can make this claims, but Vanderbilt has a worse record against the Gamecocks than any other team in the SEC. Carolina owns the series 28-4 and has a 14-game winning streak over the ‘Dores. Vandy has two separate two-game win streaks (‘98-‘99 and ‘07-‘08), but two of those (‘98 and ‘99) were the worst two Carolina teams of all-time, and one (‘07) was part of the worst collapse in program history.
Getting Vanderbilt on the road is an ideal pickup for the South Carolina football schedule in 2024. Most road games in the SEC are extremely tough, even games against the “lower-tier” of the conference. That is not the case when playing in Nashville as visiting fans routinely outnumber the Commodores in their own stadium.
The game in Nashville should be viewed as a win on the schedule until it isn’t one. A loss to Vandy would be a massive disappointment and, likely, a sign of worse thing to come during the other 7 conference games. A win is almost 100% necessary for a good season to be possible, and a loss…well, Gamecock fans should hope it doesn’t come to that.
@ Oklahoma
Every team in the SEC will play Texas or Oklahoma in 2024, and the Gamecocks drew the Sooners. The game will be the first-ever matchup between the two teams, something of a rarity considering how long the Gamecocks played an Independent schedule in ‘70s and ‘80s.
Oklahoma is coming off of one of their worst seasons in recent memory, but the Sooners are expected to bounce back in 2023. By the time 2024 is here, most are expecting Oklahoma to look like Oklahoma again.
South Carolina does have some familiarity with the Sooner program, however. Shane Beamer spent three seasons as an assistant in Norman under previous head coach Lincoln Riley, and new head coach Brent Venables spent a decade at Clemson. If the OU defense begins to look like Venables’ Clemson defenses, and the OU offense plays like a typical Oklahoma offense, the SEC could be in trouble. There is a lot of football between now and then, though, so the Gamecocks (and the rest of the SEC) will be watching the Sooners closely.