Last week, the SEC announced its 2024 in-conference matchups, and South Carolina football will have a tough road as always. In addition to their annual game against Clemson (it will be on the road in 2024), they will play Ole Miss, Missouri, Texas A&M, and LSU at home and will travel to Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma.
That matchup with Oklahoma will be the first in the history of these two football programs that have each been playing for over 100 years. This comes as a bit of a surprise as the Gamecocks played many top teams in the 1970s and 1980s when they were Independent.
The South Carolina football program has spent time in three different conferences and spent almost twenty years as an Independent program, yet Oklahoma is not the only major team the Gamecocks have never matched up with on the gridiron.
Clearly, playing in the conference for the last 30 years, Carolina has played against the entire SEC, and they have also matched up with one of the new 2024 additions when they beat the Texas Longhorns in 1957.
But beyond the SEC, there are numerous programs that have never played against the Gamecocks, and South Carolina football has no history against at least one team from each major conference in Division-I college football.
South Carolina Football vs. The ACC
From 1953-1970, the South Carolina football program was a member of the ACC. Primarily because of ugly basketball rivalries with North Carolina and Duke, Carolina left the conference in all sports. With conference realignment causing an ever-changing landscape across college football, the ACC has changed quite a bit since those days, and the Gamecocks have missed out on playing some of the newer teams in the league.
Boston College: Boston College was an independent for most of its football history before joining the Big East in the 1990s and the ACC in the 2000s. This matchup doesn’t seem like a likely one unless the Gamecocks and Eagles get paired together for a bowl game as Boston College has only made one bowl game the last five seasons.
Louisville: Despite being old Metro Conference rivals in basketball, South Carolina football and Louisville football have never played on the gridiron. The main out-of-conference rival for SEC foe Kentucky, Louisville has had a similar football program to South Carolina in recent years, so a bowl game matchup could be in the future.
Syracuse: South Carolina football plays lots of orange on its schedule most seasons (Clemson, Florida, Tennessee, and Auburn), but they’ve never played The Orange. Carolina fans do have a soft spot for the team from New York, though, as Syracuse knocked off Clemson to keep them out of the College Football Playoff in 2017.
South Carolina Football vs. The Big 10
The Big 10 (or BIG) has several bowl tie-ins that match up with SEC bowl tie-ins, so South Carolina football has had a crack at more programs from the northeastern part of the country than one might expect. The Gamecocks are 3-1 against the Michigan Wolverines, 2-0 against Ohio State, and won their last matchup with the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 2011-2012 Capital One Bowl.
Illinois: The Fighting Illini and the Gamecocks have never matched up on the football field. That almost changed last season as several outlets projected Carolina and Illinois to play in the Reliaquest Bowl (formerly the Outback Bowl) in Tampa. Instead, Illinois took on Mississippi State while South Carolina played Notre Dame a couple of hours north in Jacksonville in the Gator Bowl.
Michigan State: Despite playing Michigan four times, the Gamecocks have never played against the Wolverines’ in-state rivals. The Spartans and Gamecocks both have been frequent participants in the Peach Bowl, Outback Bowl, and Capital One Bowl, so it feels as if it just a matter of time before the two teams meet in the postseason.
Minnesota: Minnesota is another Big 10 team that seems like a likely bowl game opponent for South Carolina football. Each team has played multiple times in the Music City Bowl and Outback Bowl against other opponents, but the matchup between the two teams has remained elusive.
Purdue: A game between two relatively unique mascots (Gamecocks and Boilermakers) has never happened in football. A bowl matchup between the two is possible but relatively unlikely. Unless it is in the Music City Bowl, the two teams would likely need to win 9 games or more to play in the Outback Bowl or Capital One Bowl, something Purdue has only done twice in the last 25 years.
Rutgers: Rutgers may be the oldest college football program in existence, but the Gamecocks have never played the Scarlet Knights. A matchup in the near future seems unlikely, but if it did happen, the fanbases can argue about whether garnet or scarlet is the better version of deep red for football uniforms.
South Carolina Football vs. The Big 12
The Big 12 was formerly known as the Big 6, Big 7, and Big 8 when there were 6, 7, and 8 teams in the league, respectively, but it is good that the conference stopped changing its name after “12” as the league has had a dizzying amount of teams come and go from its ranks. Carolina is undefeated against current Big 12 members Texas, Iowa State, UCF, and Cincinnati.
BYU: Two long-time independents, South Carolina football and BYU football never met each other on the football field. Both programs are some of the most aggressive in scheduling Power-5 competition in out-of-conference play, but most of the Gamecocks’ opponents are regional games (North Carolina, NC State, East Carolina, Virginia, and UCF have all been played multiple times over the last 20 years).
Kansas: South Carolina played Kansas State multiple times in the 1980s but did not play their in-state rival. In fact, they’ve never played the Jayhawks. A matchup seems unlikely in the out-of-conference, and a bowl game matchup is just as improbable as Kansas has made just one postseason appearance in the last 14 seasons.
Oklahoma: This will change in 2024, but the Sooners have never played the Gamecocks. South Carolina football is slated to make the long trip out to Norman, Oklahoma, but the game won’t be as unfamiliar as many may think. Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables was the long-time defensive coordinator at Clemson, and Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spent three seasons as an assistant at OU before returning to Columbia.
TCU: South Carolina and TCU have never played. Much of that is due to the Horned Frogs being outside of the Power-5 for most of the program’s history. Now that they play in the Big 12 and have had sustained success over the last 25 years or so, TCU is a regular player in bowl season, so perhaps the Gamecocks and Frogs will one day meet in the Texas Bowl or Liberty Bowl.
Texas Tech: Scarlet and black vs. garnet and black could get confusing on a television broadcast if the Red Raiders and Gamecocks ever mix it up on the gridiron. The uniforms were difficult enough to distinguish between when the two teams met on the hardwood in 2018 (a Texas Tech win), but the crowd energy in Columbia was great, something that would repeat in a football matchup.
South Carolina Football vs. The Pac-12
The Pac-12 and the SEC are about as far away geographically as two leagues can get in college football, even with all the wild expansion that has been occurring recently. Because of this, South Carolina has only played Southern Cal (the other USC) from the league. Unfortunately for determining bragging rights and ownership of the abbreviation, the two USC programs are 1-1 against each other on the football field.
Arizona: At first glance, the Wildcats of Arizona seem like one of the least likely teams for South Carolina to ever play, but the team is traveling east this fall to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs as the second leg of a home-and-home series. Maybe Arizona’s willingness to travel will make it possible for them to play Carolina at some point, but the Las Vegas Bowl (SEC vs. Pac-12 in even years) seems to be the only realistic way this game would ever get played.
Arizona State: Whoever scheduled games for Mississippi State is a crazy person, because the Bulldogs also have a home-and-home on the books with Arizona State. The Sun Devils are a traveling group as they are also set to go to Texas A&M, LSU, and Florida in the near future. The Gamecocks and Devils have never played, but with that willingness to play across the country, maybe that will change. The Las Vegas Bowl is also in play in even years.
California: The Golden Bears of Cal are another Pac-12 program that is not afraid of long flights. Cal will travel to Florida, Auburn, and Minnesota in the next six years, so a trip to Columbia doesn’t seem too far out of the question. A bowl matchup with the Gamecocks seems unlikely for the first-ever football competition between the schools as Cal has only made three bowls since 2011.
Colorado: Colorado is set to move to the Big 12 soon, so the Buffaloes could be more willing to travel east in the future as most of their games will involve moving at least one time zone eastward anyway. There could be some intrigue in a Carolina-Colorado brouhaha as CU head coach Deion Sanders’ son Shilo played for two seasons in Columbia, and the two programs have unexpectedly faced off for multiple recruits in the last year or two.
Oregon: Oregon fans are mad at South Carolina right now over the recruitment of 5-star athlete Nyck Harbor, so a first-time meeting between the Ducks and Gamecocks would have plenty of interest. Which fowl would reign supreme remains to be seen, though, as there does not appear to be any way this competitive appointment gets made outside of a bowl matchup.
Oregon State: The Beavers of Oregon State are not likely to be on the Carolina schedule any time soon. However, there are some connections between Oregon State and the Palmetto State. Former Clemson starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei transferred to Corvalis this offseason, and former Gamecock running back Deshaun Fenwick will be using his last year of eligibility at OSU.
Stanford: South Carolina baseball had some high-stakes postseason matchups with the Stanford Cardinal in the early 2000s, but the two schools have never played in football. Stanford, a team whose name is a color and whose mascot is a tree, has a rivalry with Notre Dame so is a program used to traveling cross-country.
UCLA: Carolina has never played the little brother program in Los Angeles, but the Bruins have recently made a commitment to be a national brand with their move to the Big 10 with Southern Cal. The Gamecocks have gone out to Los Angeles once previously, but it was to play Southern Cal. A return trip seems unlikely.
Utah: Utah is one of the most aggressive out-of-conference scheduling teams in the nation. The Utes seemingly have no fear in schedule-making, but that doesn’t mean that the Gamecocks will be on their schedule any time soon. Former South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley transferred to Utah, but other than that, there is almost no connection between the two programs, so it seems unlikely that these two teams will meet outside of a bowl game.
Washington: South Carolina football has never played the Washington Huskies. It would be an intriguing game as Washington will be one of the best teams in the Pac-12 once Southern Cal and UCLA move to the Big 10, but, like most of the rest of the Pac-12, a matchup here isn’t likely outside of a bowl game.
Washington State: If South Carolina football was going to play against a team as far away from Columbia as Pullman, Washington, it would almost assuredly be Oregon or Washington, not Washington State. That could change if the Cougars were willing to come to Columbia without expecting a return trip, but that is extremely unlikely. A Las Vegas Bowl matchup is the only realistic way this meeting happens.
South Carolina Football vs. Other Notable Programs
While the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac-12 are the premier conferences in the country, South Carolina football does play some notable programs that are not a part of Power-5 football. Naturally, the Gamecocks play teams in-state such as The Citadel, South Carolina State, and Wofford with semi-regularity, but they have also played teams outside of South Carolina.
East Carolina (20 meetings) has been one of the most common out-of-conference opponents for the Gamecocks, but they also have played Notre Dame 5 times, Appalachian State 10 times, Navy 8 times, and Army 3 times.
Georgia Southern: Despite Georgia Southern’s close proximity to the University of South Carolina, the two programs have never played. GSU has utilized an option attack for most of its Division-I history, but when Carolina has played smaller option schools, they have typically played in-state Wofford or The Citadel. This seems like a series that should eventually begin, but when that might happen is a mystery.
Jacksonville State: The “other Gamecocks” of Jacksonville State will play the South Carolina Gamecocks for the first time in 2023. Given the relatively close distance between the two schools (less than a 5 hour drive) and the shared nickname, it seems strange that the two Gamecocks have never played, even though JSU was an FCS school until this season.
Liberty: Liberty has become a very good Group-of-5 program in recent years, and the Flames are not that far from Columbia. One might think that the Lynchburg, Virginia squad is almost too good to add to the Gamecocks’ schedule, but South Carolina football often plays teams like East Carolina and Appalachian State, so playing Liberty at some point in the future would make sense.
SMU: SMU was one of the top programs in the country in the early ’80s, a time when the Gamecocks received a lot of national attention (George Rogers’ Heisman Trophy win in 1980, a near-National Championship berth in 1984). The two teams never met, however, and a contest doesn’t seem likely any time soon.
Western Kentucky: The Hilltoppers have been one of the top Group-of-5 programs in recent years, and the Gamecocks have played them numerous times in basketball, but they have not played on grass. An out-of-conference matchup between these two teams would be unsurprising in the near future, especially if the SEC moves to 9 games within the league one day.