Looking back at South Carolina's most recent appearance on College GameDay
3,223 days. That’s how long it’s been since South Carolina was last on College GameDay.
But that streak will come to an end 39 days from now. The premier college football show announced on social media that it will be heading to Charlotte for the Gamecocks’ season opener against North Carolina on Sept. 2.
This will be GameDay’s third trip to Charlotte. The show went to the 2017 ACC Championship game and the 2021 Duke’s Mayo Classic when Georgia faced Clemson in a Week 1 top-five showdown.
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For South Carolina, it’s been awhile. Sept. 27, 2014. But how did that day go down? Let’s take a look back at the Gamecocks’ last appearance on College GameDay.
The Horseshoe was rocking with a sea of Garnet and Black. No. 11 South Carolina was set to host the Missouri Tigers in a primetime showdown. The GameDay crew, comprised of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and Lee Corso, went at it for two and a half hours before the main event of the morning.
When it came time for them to make their game picks of the week, they were joined by the guest picker, country music star Kenny Chesney. Chesney has seemed to be a fan of a lot different teams, but on this day it was the Gamecocks.
The first two picks went by without much chaos. Howard picked Missouri, Herbstreit went the other way. When it was Chesney’s turn, he didn’t disappoint the home crowd, taking “Carolina big.”
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The fans went nuts. Then a brief silence came through when Corso started to speak.
Corso turned to Herbstreit, asking him if he remembered what he said about head coach Steve Spurrier 10 years earlier.
“I don’t think Spurrier wins the SEC or national title. I don’t care if he coaches here 400 years,” Corso said in 2005.
When the old clip finished rolling, boos poured from the crowd. Corso said, “That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.” But he then went on to say that he believed the Gamecocks were good enough to win this particular game. And as is tradition, he put the Cocky mascot headgear on and held up Sir Big Spur.
It was safe to say the Gamecock fans weren’t booing much after that.
But despite three out of four picking South Carolina to win the game, none of it really mattered unless the team played well. The Gamecocks, who had already lost one game that season, needed a big win to stay on track.
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For the most part, it seemed they were in good shape to put the game away, leading 20-7 in the fourth quarter. But with less than eight minutes to go, the Tigers put together two touchdown drives to take the lead.
With one last chance, South Carolina failed to put a good drive together and would go four and out. A few plays later, and Missouri pulled off a shocker.
For those who might remember, it wasn’t the Gamecocks’ best season. With Dylan Thompson under center, they finished 7-6 in 2014. It was a departure from the years of winning 10-plus games.
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But that’s now in the past. South Carolina, under third-year head coach Shane Beamer, are back in the spotlight and looking to make some noise in 2023. And it’ll have a good chance to do so right out of the gate with everyone watching.
College GameDay will be live from Romare Bearden Park in Charlotte on Saturday, Sept. 2. The show starts at 9 a.m. and runs for three hours until noon.
Right down the block, the Gamecocks and Tar Heels will play at Bank of America in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ABC.
