South Carolina football will open the 2025 season ranked No. 13 in both the AP poll and Coaches poll. On Friday, ESPN analysts Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura released their preseason bowl projections. Neither analyst placed South Carolina in the College Football Playoffs, however both had the Gamecocks in a solid postseason bowl game.
Schlabach: ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Indiana
Schlabach projects South Carolina to matchup against the Indiana Hoosiers in the ReliaQuest Bowl, a New Year's Eve game in Tampa, Florida. Formerly known as the Outback Bowl, the ReliaQuest Bowl is one of the most familiar postseason stops for the Gamecocks in recent history.
South Carolina has played in the bowl five times, winning four of those games, twice against Big Ten programs Michigan and Ohio State. The Gamecocks' last trip to Tampa came at the end of 2017, when they beat Michigan.
Bonagura: Duke's Mayo Bowl vs. Louisville
Bonagura's forecast sends South Carolina back to Charlotte for a Duke's Mayo Bowl matchup against Louisville. The Gamecocks have plenty of history with this game, too, including a very memorable 2021 border rivalry with North Carolina. That victory was a sharp contrast to the 2018 edition to the same bowl game, then called the Belk Bowl, when the Gamecocks suffered one of its worst postseason losses in program history to Virginia.
Kickoff is Near
The ReliaQuest Bowl is slated to kick off at noon on December 31 on ESPN, while the Duke's Mayo Bowl is set for January 2, also on ESPN. However, before the postseason journey begins, South Carolina will take on Virginia Tech in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, August 31.