South Carolina and Missouri will face off this weekend to see who will take home the Mayor's Cup, but frankly, it should be called the Battle for Columbia, but hey, the Mayor's Cup sounds cool too.
These two teams first played each other in 1979, with the Tigers winning the first matchup and then again in 2005. When Missouri joined the SEC in 2012, the Gamecocks and the Tigers faced off every year, with both teams finding win streaks during the series.
It was all going South Carolina's way up until 2019 when the Tigers started to find some life and go on a roll. Those were dark days for South Carolina with coaching changes and players leaving, however, this might be the year it all changes.
If a month ago, someone had said this game would have been a ranked matchup, many probably would not have believed it. Even right now, some don't believe the Gamecocks should be ranked with a 5-3 record, but the fact is, they have played five ranked opponents, are 2-3 against those opponents, and really, only one of those games did they get blown out.
Heading into this Mayor's Cup matchup, though, No. 23 Missouri will come into the real and better Columbia to face No. 21 South Carolina, according to the College Football Playoff rankings. The committee felt that the wins South Carolina has cultivated during the season were enough to not only be in the rankings but leapfrog the Tigers this week.
The Tigers are coming in riding a five-game win streak over the Gamecocks, and for the last five years, it hasn't been pretty when these teams have faced off.
It all started back in 2019 when Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks were out-gained 421 to 271, and South Carolina had three turnovers. This all came after South Carolina was able to win the previous three meetings.
Then, in 2020, the year many want to forget, the Gamecocks welcomed new Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz to town and were hoping to spoil the warm welcome. However, when Missouri jumped to a 17-0 lead in the first half, South Carolina did its best to catch up but fell just short of dropping their second straight game to the Tigers.
In 2021, head coach Shane Beamer had just taken over the squad, and he was going to get his first crack at the Missouri Tigers. Just like the year before, though, the Gamecocks were in an early hole and had nearly half of the total yards that Missouri had. Three turnovers also didn't help South Carolina in any fashion and it all resulted in the Gamecocks third straight loss to the Missouri Tiger.
After the 2021 season ended a bit more favorably, there was hope that in the 2022 season, Beamer would be able to break the streak and bring the Mayor's Cup back to the true Columbia. However, the worst game of this losing streak came in 2022 when a No. 25 South Carolina team forgot how to play football at home. Again, the Gamecocks fell into a 17-0 hole at halftime and they were never able to get anything going offensively and ended up losing 23-10 for their fourth straight loss.
The most recent loss came last season when a ranked Missouri Tigers team that surprised everyone in the SEC came into the game and just completely dominated on offense. The Gamecocks were unable to stop the bleeding and lost 34-12, the worst loss according to score during what is now a five-game losing streak.
So, will this be the year the Gamecocks finally get a win over the Missouri Tigers and end the streak? A ranked matchup seems like the way to do it, and the hot streak is the best way to help.