COLUMBIA – It is not a question of wanting and it is not a question of availability.
It’s a question of power, and now, South Carolina just doesn’t know.
“There are many different scenarios that need to be played out so that we can be in a position to receive the invitation,” said sports director Ray Tanner on Monday. “There is none defined at this point, anyway.”
The Gamecocks ended a 2-8 season with a 41-18 loss in Kentucky last week, but their season may not be over. Because of the pandemic and bowling games erasing all victory requirements, USC is eligible for a bowling game.
Some projections are not right and others are, with many of the latter choosing the December 26 Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Florida, probably against an ACC team. The SEC has nine bowl slots outside of the Six Year’s New Year selections, so with Alabama, Texas A&M and Florida all probably playing in the top bowls, that leaves 11 SEC teams for those nine slots.
Going by the current record, the USC seems to be considered about Vanderbilt without a win and perhaps Mississippi State and Tennessee (each with two games left to play). But that is now.
And it is not as simple as inviting and traveling.
They beat
Gamecocks dressed 53 stock market players and 14 companions for the defeat in Kentucky. They were one of the rare college football teams to complete their full schedule without delays or cancellations, and of the faults they had, only a small number were due to COVID-19.
However, they limped out of the game against Kentucky losing 11 players with injuries at the end of the season, including titleholders Aaron Sterling, Brad Johnson, Keveon Mullins, Xavier Legette and Sherrod Greene. Beginners Keir Thomas, SEC sacks leader JJ Enagbare and USC lead tackler Ernest Jones lost the game against Kentucky, along with backups Jordan Burch, Deshaun Fenwick and Jaylin Dickerson.
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There have been no reported defections since the end of the season and new coach Shane Beamer has been announced, but the transfer portal is always open. The team is in between exams on December 14 and mainly off campus, which means that if a bowl is accepted, the team has to report and practice as much as possible until the bowl (if it is Gasparilla, it is 12 days).
Extra practice time is the benefit. And the players who talked about it, of course, want to play.
“I definitely think there’s something out there for us,” said quarterback Luke Doty. “When that opportunity presents itself, we will be ready to go, whoever and wherever we are.”
Would Gamecocks have enough players to practice and play? Would they have enough coaches to oversee training and games?
The second question seems to be a yes. Beamer, saying he would love to see the team practice the bowl, although he acknowledges that he would not train Gamecocks through them or the game, told two of the remaining coaches that they would not be hired. The rest, including interim coach Mike Bobo, are on a waiting pattern as Beamer finishes his term in Oklahoma and talks to other potential hires, who may also be ending their seasons.
But coaches don’t play. The squad is already frighteningly thin and furious with COVID and the players no longer in their security bubble, who knows what the tests would show when they return to campus?
The second
The conference, of course, wants to fill all bowl seats.
More teams, more TV exposure, more branding is always in mind.
The SEC will encourage any team that receives a bowl invitation to accept, but cannot force it. If a team simply does not have enough players to play, the SEC cannot do anything about it.
“We are going to decide what will happen from now on. We don’t know for sure how that will play out, ”said Tanner, who spoke with Mark Womack of the SEC, Commissioner Greg Sankey’s right hand, on Monday. “Everything has to be verified, but we certainly have a lot of commitments regarding the conference.”
Alabama and Florida will play in the SEC Championship Game, the winner advancing to the College Football Playoff and the loser likely going to the Sugar Bowl, due to the SEC draw. Georgia or Texas A&M are also likely to play in the New Year’s Six Bowl.
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This leaves Missouri, Kentucky, Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU and Arkansas above USC, Tennessee, Mississippi and Vanderbilt for the bowl hierarchy. Nine bowl games remain, including the newly added Armed Forces Bowl to replace the canceled Las Vegas Bowl.
Most non-USC teams still have games to play and there is no telling whether they will be played on December 12 or 19 due to COVID. The SEC has already had to postpone this week’s Ole Miss-Texas A&M game, and although Ole Miss may play on December 19, Texas A&M cannot because it already has a meeting with Tennessee.
If these dominoes continue to fall, other teams may gain more wins to put them ahead of USC, or those teams will not be able to play due to COVID. It may be that a bowling match is arranged and then canceled.
“I don’t think we have a solution for that,” said Bowl Season executive director Nick Carparelli recently. “The assumption is that they would be canceled or considered to be without competition.”
The details
Eleven bowling games have already been canceled. This excluded several major midfielders who probably deserve to go more than an intermediate Power-5 team, but all bowling games have TV considerations and the Power-5 teams attract more viewers.
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There is a cost to be considered. Although the “bowling weeks” (four or five days with team and fan events plus a long stay, will not happen in favor of practicing at home, and then flying to the game the night before, playing and returning to campus), there are still finances.
A flight and overnight stay at a hotel can cost $ 200,000 to $ 300,000, at least on average for USC road trips this year. In a pandemic, every dollar counts, and while managers never refused a bowl invitation because of money, they wouldn’t mind saving that money if no invitation came.
As Gamecocks sit down, four days after the end of their regular season, they know that an invitation could come, but they don’t know what their football team will be like if that happens. Like everything associated with a season during a pandemic, there is nothing to do but wait.