In each of Frank MartinFor the first eight seasons in South Carolina, Gamecocks opened the season with an exhibition game. Although that was not the plan this season, a scheduling conflict will make it nine in a row.
The Gamecocks released their list of nine non-conference games on Wednesday afternoon, but the November 25 home display game listed the opponent as “TBA”. Martin guaranteed that there is an opponent, a small state school, for the dispute that is 13 days away.
“The school has already been chosen,” said Martin shortly after the schedule was released. “The reason we were unable to launch is because the contract was not signed. To clarify what happened, I had a first division school that agreed to play (November 25th) and they came back and gave up.
“The exhibition game would be at the end of the year. Trying to find another school for that opening date was very difficult, so we managed to find a school at the end of the year and just took it and decided to play the exhibition game as we traditionally do every year, at the beginning of the season. “
Gamecocks will then play seven games that count before the start of the conference, which starts on December 29 at No. 10 Kentucky. The final meeting outside the conference will be on January 2 against Florida A&M.
South Carolina non-conference agenda
Saturday, November 28 – Northwestern (Kansas City)
Sun, November 29 – TCU / Tulsa (Kansas City)
Saturday, December 5 – Houston No. 17
Thursday, December 10 – Wofford
Monday, December 14 – in George Washington
Saturday, December 19 – Clemson
Wednesday, December 23 – State of SC
Saturday, January 2 – Florida A&M
“Our schedule is very difficult,” said Martin. “We went back to important consecutive games in Kansas City, came home for three or four days and came back and went to Houston. They have the best team they’ve had since the early 1980s. So we come home and play Wofford, go to George Washington, then Clemson at home. I don’t know when I’ll be able to take a deep breath, but that’s okay. I prefer to play these difficult games than games that have no pop effect ”.
Gamecocks will play two neutral website games, two road games and four home games. Martin wanted to be sure, even in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, that his team would find matches that reflected the start of the season in the home / road / neutral he prefers.
“The guys in Kansas City (for the Hall of Fame Classic) immediately contacted us, changed the date and it kind of fit our schedule,” said Martin. “Their tests will be very consistent and the four teams agreed that we would all be part of the same thing. It was a very smooth transition from that point of view.
“Since these dates worked, for us, it was just a matter of me wanting to play home games, street games and neutral court games, which we do every year in our non-conference. I never bought bubble things. I didn’t know how they would make it work, because each league has different test mandates. I don’t think (compiling a schedule) was as crazy for us as some people made it seem. “
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Although South Carolina and Clemson are unable to play women’s football or basketball this year, Gamecocks and Tigers face off for men’s basketball. Martin said there was never any concern for him and Clemson’s head coach Brad Brownell I wouldn’t be able to make the annual rivalry game work.
“The Clemson game was never in doubt,” said Martin. “The date (December 19) worked. He and I never talked about trying to move it. The challenging part that we all had to wait for was the conference schedule. If we had started before Christmas, it would have impacted our game. I’m not sure when ACC is playing, but they are not playing that week, so our game was safe. “