South Carolina Football: Gamecocks projected to play in familiar bowl game

So far, the 2023 season has not gone the way South Carolina football fans were hoping. A 2-3 start is at least one win shy of where most fans believed the Gamecocks would be through week 5, and based on USC’s strong finish to the 2022 campaign, optimism was high in Columbia that Carolina would find a way to compete for the 2nd spot in the SEC East behind Georgia.

Instead of being in the discussion for a New Year’s Six Bowl in Shane Beamer’s third season as the South Carolina football head coach, the goals have shifted a bit for the garnet and black. Now, bowl eligibility is the priority as the ‘Cocks have just two wins with games against Florida, @ Missouri, @ Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Clemson still remaining on the schedule.

Games against Vanderbilt and Jacksonville State will push the Gamecocks’ win total to 4, but Beamer’s team will have to win at least two more to reach a bowl. As things stand today, South Carolina football will be underdogs in four of those five contests (and they are very small favorites to beat Florida in the early lines for the post-Bye Week matchup).

With a somewhat uphill climb to postseason play, the Gamecocks are still projected to make their way to December football in 2023.

247Sports’ Brad Crawford released his updated 2023-2024 bowl projections over the weekend. Crawford projected the Gamecocks to return to a familiar bowl game this postseason.

According to Crawford, South Carolina will take on the Baylor Bears in the Birmingham Bowl. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, that familiarity is not from happy memories but of ugly Gamecock losses.

The 2009-2010 edition of the bowl (then called the PapaJohns.com Bowl) saw USC lose to the UConn Huskies 20-7 in a cold and offensive-challenged day. The 2016-2017 game (called the Birmingham Bowl as it is known today) was another Carolina loss, that one with poor defense in a 46-39 overtime defeat at the hands of the South Florida Bulls.

This year’s Birmingham Bowl will be played on December 23rd at Protective Stadium.

Crawford also predicts a College Football Playoff with a top-4 of Georgia (1-seed), Michigan (2-seed), Oklahoma (3-seed), and Florida State (4-seed).