South Carolina football is facing an extremely important 2020 season, but there are some reasons why this team will not make it.
South Carolina is scheduled to open the 2020 season on September 26, when volunteers from Tennessee travel to Columbia to face the Gamecocks.
While Carolina’s faithful are hopeful of a winning season and an improvement in recent years under coach Will Muschamp, this is unlikely to happen this year.
Let’s discuss the three reasons why Gamecocks will struggle in 2020.
3. COVID-19
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opening of the season was postponed, the number of games was reduced and opponents outside the conference were eliminated from the schedule.
As a result, Gamecocks will not play Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Wofford or Clemson this season. Instead, they will play at Auburn on October 17th and head out on the road to face Ole Miss on November 14th.
This is the first time since 1908 that the “Palmetto Bowl”, a game of internal rivalry between Clemson and South Carolina, will not happen. South Carolina will face Georgia on Saturday after Thanksgiving, when the rivalry game would have taken place.
In addition to the challenges of changing the schedule due to the pandemic, several Gamecocks players chose not to play this season, maintaining their athletic eligibility.
In early August, Jordan Rhodes and Mark Fox dropped out, but Rhodes came back, passed the COVID-19 test protocols and is listed on the depth chart behind the initial left guard Sadarius Hutcherson.
In early September, OrTre Smith and Randrecous Davis also opted out of the season.