The South Carolina football team will face an uphill battle in 2021.
It happens year after year. When a college football season ends, projections for the next one begin to emerge. The 2021 campaign will be no different, with the top 25 in the ranking, conference champions and playoff contenders already predicted by the media.
Over the weekend, Brad Crawford of 24/7 Sports gave his hunch about the country’s ten most difficult off-season schedules. And, for the third consecutive season, Gamecocks are included, with yet another brutal picture.
Although Crawford did not rank the teams in any specific order, it is obvious, at a glance, that South Carolina’s schedule is among the most difficult in the country. Crawford says Gamecocks can play up to five ranked opponents, with a list that includes Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia and Texas A&M.
Four of these teams, with the exception of Auburn, appeared on ESPN’s “Top 25 College Football Too Early” earlier this month. Three of these four teams are among the six best programs in the country, which means that they are probably the candidates for the playoffs in 2021. Florida was the only team to be out of the top 15, ranking 16th.
The Gamecocks’ non-conference list shrinks a little, with the exception of Clemson. South Carolina will face Eastern Illinois, East Carolina and Troy in another action outside the league, after playing against teams like North Carolina, Appalachian State and NC State in recent years.
Still, the team will face their typical SEC Eastern opponents, Western Texas A&M annual crossover and Auburn rotational crossover.
Here’s what Crawford had to say about programming as a whole.
Welcome to the SEC, Shane Beamer. The first-year head coach could face up to four Top 15 teams during his inaugural campaign with the Gamecocks, the only glimpse of good news being clashes against Clemson and Florida at home. Then there are Georgia and Texas A&M on the road. If South Carolina doesn’t start well at the non-conference, Gamecocks are looking to their third consecutive season with potentially four or less wins.
As Crawford mentions, Gamecocks will have to start very well outside the programming conference, as they are scheduled to open the year with a home game against Eastern Illinois, followed by a confrontation with the ECU. After that, victories can be difficult to happen.
South Carolina is looking to show progress in its first season under new coach Shane Beamer, and its ability to bring Gamecocks back to bowling would be a great start in 2021.