South Carolina football's latest bowl projections after another blowout win
On a Saturday full of ridiculous results, Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team took care of business. The Gamecocks beat the in-state Wofford Terriers 56-12 (covering the spread in the final ten seconds of the game) and moved to 8-3 overall and 5-3 in SEC play.
Thanks to the win and the utter ruin left behind by seven top-20 losses on Saturday, the postseason picture has been shaken up tremendously. Some college football voices believe South Carolina could find their way into the 12-team College Football Playoff field. Most, though, think the Gamecocks are in line for a nice bowl trip if the CFP remains out of reach.
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Below are some of the latest bowl projections for South Carolina.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura don’t quite see eye to eye on USC’s bowl future. Schlabach predicts a Cheez-It Citrus Bowl matchup with the Illinois Fighting Illini. Bonagura, on the other hand, foresees a berth in the Music City Bowl against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Carolina has never played Illinois or Minnesota on the gridiron. USC played in a previous edition of the Citrus Bowl (called the Tangerine Bowl) back in 1975 and played in the game (called the Capital One Citrus Bowl) twice under Steve Spurrier after the 2011 and 2013 seasons. The team hasn’t been to the Music City Bowl. Schlabach also includes South Carolina among his list of possible College Football Playoff at-large teams.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports suggests that the Gamecocks could head out west this bowl season. In Palm’s latest bowl prediction article, he places South Carolina and Washington State together in the Las Vegas Bowl. The two programs haven’t met on the field, and the Gamecocks haven’t played in the Las Vegas Bowl previously.
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Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan thinks there will be garnet and black in Tampa, Florida. According to Lassan, the Gamecocks could be making a return to the Reliaquest Bowl. Formerly known as the Outback Bowl, the Tampa-based bowl game has hosted South Carolina on five occasions. In Lassan’s projection, USC will face off with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Though Carolina is 4-1 in Outback Bowl/Reliaquest Bowl appearances, that one loss came in the team’s only matchup with Iowa.
Action Network reporter Brett McMurphy echoes Lassan’s prediction of South Carolina to the Reliaquest Bowl against Iowa.
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With eight wins and at least two games remaining, South Carolina football has the chance to reach 10 wins for just the fifth time. Shane Beamer, who already has tied Steve Spurrier with the most wins through a head coach’s first four years with the program (28) will have at least two more opportunities to beat his former mentor’s number.
The Gamecocks’ final regular season test comes against the rival Clemson Tigers. The 2024 Palmetto Bowl will kick off at noon on ESPN and the ESPN app.
