South Carolina football to host College GameDay for battle with LSU Tigers

South Carolina football fans had a good Saturday.

The Gamecocks laid the smackdown on the rival Kentucky Wildcats by the lopsided score of 31-6, moving the team to 2-0 and sole possession of 1st place in the early SEC standings.

They also got to witness former Gamecock kicker Mitch Jeter (who left the program through the transfer portal in a way that didn't leave too many good feelings behind) have two kicks blocked for Notre Dame, including the potential game-winner as the Fighting Irish were upset at home by MAC foe Northern Illinois.

Next Saturday has a chance to be a really good one, too.

South Carolina football will play host to the LSU Tigers in a big-time game at Noon ET (the contest will be broadcast on ABC and streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app), but they also will be hosting another group.

Late on Saturday, ESPN announced that College GameDay will be in Columbia, South Carolina next weekend for Gamecocks-Tigers, the first time the show has made its way to Williams-Brice Stadium in a decade. USC did play on GameDay last year, but the game was in Charlotte as South Carolina and North Carolina played at a neutral site.

With the GameDay announcement, even more hype will be put into next week's game. With a win, the Gamecocks likely would start 4-0 before a brutal stretch of games against Ole Miss, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M. It is a long way from this point, but a 4-0 start plus two or more wins during that difficult stretch would have the Carolina faithful thinking about the College Football Playoff.

The GameDay trip also will come with a side helping of crow-eating by the GameDay crew. Of the show's regulars, only Pat McAfee picked the Gamecocks to beat the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday, and he seemed only to be interested in making an innuendo-laced joke about South Carolina's mascot.

There will be plenty more to say about next week's game, but South Carolina football fans are sure to make Williams-Brice Stadium and Columbia a high-energy environment for College GameDay.