This weekend, college football fans across the country will be tuning into the sport's mini slate of games scheduled for Saturday, headlined by TCU-North Carolina in Dublin, Ireland.
Well just two seasons from now, Gamecock fans will get to watch South Carolina play during the weekend tune-up, which has been dubbed "Week Zero." According to a report from FBS Schedules, South Carolina will take on the Bowling Green Falcons from the Mid-American Conference during Week Zero in 2028.
Per their reporting, although the matchup was initially scheduled for Sept. 2, 2028, the Falcons and Gamecock agreed to move it up one week to Saturday, Aug. 26. That lines up with college football's traditional slot for Week Zero. Every year, the week takes place one week prior to college football's opening weekend, typically before Labor Day weekend.
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According to a contract reportedly obtained by FBS Schedules, South Carolina will pay Bowling Green $1.1 million for the contest. It will mark the first meeting between the two schools.
With the Bowling Green matchup seemingly finalized, South Carolina's future non-conference schedules are starting to take shape. In 2027, the Gamecocks will play non-conference opponents in Furman and App State, as well as Wofford in 2028 along with the Falcons. South Carolina has games against App State scheduled for 2029, 2033 and 2034.
The two border-state programs were slated to play each other in Columbia in 2028, and in Chapel Hill in 2029. In fact, Bowling Green was announced as the replacement opponent to fill the void of that 2028 opponent. The game between UNC and South Carolina was previously announced in 2021.
The Gamecocks will also take on East Carolina in 2030. Thanks to the SEC moving to a nine-game conference schedule and the Gamecocks' annual rivalry non-conference game against Clemson, there isn't a ton of room to schedule much else. South Carolina previously had scheduled a home-and-home series against North Carolina in 2028 and 2029, but it was cancelled in May due to both the ACC and SEC's nine-game conference schedules.
For now though, South Carolina fans can look forward to watching the Gamecocks a week earlier than usual in a couple short years.
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