SEC expansion is official; how additions of Texas and Oklahoma affect South Carolina Gamecocks sports schedules

July 1st marked the start of a new era in the Southeastern Conference. Though it was known in 2021 and originally slated for implementation in 2025, July 1, 2024 is the official start date of the SEC conference expansion that brings the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners to the best league in college sports. The South Carolina Gamecocks and the rest of the teams in the SEC are now 1 of 16 members after the big offseason of conference realignment.

With Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC, the conference is expanding from 14 to 16 teams. That means the schedules across all sports had to change to accommodate the new league members.

For the South Carolina Gamecocks, some of these schedule changes already are known.

Barring a meeting in the SEC Championship Game, the South Carolina football team will not face the Texas Longhorns in 2024 or 2025 (presumedly, USC will face UT in 2026 and 2027 unless the conference changes the schedule format from 8 league games to 9, which is a real possibility). Shane Beamer's team will take on the Oklahoma Sooners the next two seasons, though, with an October 19th road trip to Norman. 2024 will mark the first-ever game between the two teams.

The additions of Texas and Oklahoma have killed the SEC East and SEC West divisions in football, and the long-standing rivalries are disappearing. The Gamecocks will not play Georgia, Tennessee, or Florida for the first time since before entering the league in 1992.

South Carolina basketball coaches Lamont Paris and Dawn Staley know that they will play against both sides of the Red River Rivalry. For the men, the Texas game will be at home, while the Oklahoma contest will come on the road. For the women, Oklahoma will come to Colonial Life Arena for an SEC tilt, while the Gamecocks and Longhorns will play twice, once in Columbia and once in Austin.

South Carolina baseball does not yet know when they will play the newcomers. The SEC announced new "permanent rivalries" in the league, and the resulting format will have the Gamecocks playing against the Florida Gators and Kentucky Wildcats every season, leaving the other 13 teams rotating on and off the schedule for the other 8 conference series. Whether the Sooners, Longhorns, neither, or both are on the 2025 docket remains to be seen.