2023 South Carolina Football Schedule Preview (Game-By-Game Analysis)

foreign Blake Lovell of Southeastern 14 here to preview South Carolina's football schedule for the 2023 season boy Blake this is not going to be an easy one one thing we talk about some teams have scheduled themselves a path to four wins out of conference uh some teams have done something decidingly less than that and that's one thing that stands out to me off off the top of this Carolina's non-conference schedule it starts with North Carolina in a game played in Charlotte it ends with Clemson in the annual rivalry game which the Gamecocks won a year ago in the middle you've got Jacksonville State which is the closest thing to maybe a layup on the schedule Jacksonville State in its first year in FBS competition and then oh by the way your other non-conference game I'm not going to say Caroline is going to lose this one because it's not but you have easy FCS games and hard FCS games not only did Carolina get one of the harder ones I think with Furman which went ten and three a year ago but also it's an in-state rival in that sense which sometimes those teams bring a little something extra to play you uh that's one thing that stands out to me about South Carolina's schedule is boy Shane Bieber could have made it a lot tougher on or excuse me much easier on himself in terms of what he's scheduled there yeah I mean look you kind of expect the games against North Carolina and Clemson I mean we know what to expect from those two teams now at this point and so those are two challenging games and like you said Furman won 10 games last year um I got the second round of the the FCS uh playoffs I believe Jacksonville State won nine games last year Phil still has this as the second toughest schedule in the country behind Florida which you and I've already talked about the Florida schedule was another brutal one um so take that for what it's worth I mean I don't it's hard to disagree with that right because you you add in those non-conference games which you know you get Clemson at home uh the North Carolina ones in Charlotte but they gotta go to Georgia you gotta go to Tennessee um you know you've got to go to Texas A M who we think is going to be better you probably got a top 25 Kentucky team coming in in late November uh who knows with Florida and road trip to Missouri and Mississippi State like it's yeah it's it's not an easy schedule here and I would agree that it is probably among the toughest in college football yeah I mean I guess about the only thing you can say is it could have gotten worse it could have had Alabama or LSU on there other than that imagine uh it's it's hard to hard to pick many Falls with with Carolina taking on all comers on this one and again you know of course the league dictates that and I say Shane Beamer scheduled some of these games are scheduled years in advance but coaches have made a habit of having their ads write big enough checks to get out of games and uh that that's not the way it's playing out for Carolina coming into the season so hats off the Gamecocks for for making an entertaining schedule for us here gonna enjoy seeing how it unfolds yeah um let's start with okay we've got the North Carolina game in Charlotte to begin in the Furman game then a road trip to Georgia in a game where last year Carolina was not competitive got blown out 48-7 but Georgia changing quarterbacks under Carson back uh of course Georgia lost like 219 guys to the NFL draft last year so um rebuild is is not the word which is the national title favorite but it's a different cast to guys so maybe you you don't want to catch George at any point but you could perhaps catch the Bulldogs at a worse time given that dynamic then here's where it gets interesting to Mississippi State a team that under Zach Arnett Blake is going to be changing some things changing offenses is going to see a tight end for a change uh you're going to see more running plays allegedly you're going to see Emanuel Forbes gone but some good Defenders back on that team that's going to be a very interesting one in Colombia and also be interested to see if the Gamecocks can maybe make it a little more interesting with Georgia than they did a year ago yeah I mean look I think I look at this as a as a hole here if we're just looking at this portion of the schedule and fitting it into the rest of the schedule you know South Carolina won eight games last year right and I think your your first thought is if you're going to move forward as a program you feel like all right let's either get to that point or let's take another step forward and so if you're trying to find those eight or nine wins on the schedule I mean this is one where it's like man think about how important really all for a year yeah I mean think about the importance of these games and look it's not going to be I know South Carolina fans you know probably don't want to hear this but I don't think anyone's going to be circling the Georgia game as a win right now not to say you know we've seen strange things happen in the SEC and we saw Georgia struggle early in the season last year if you remember a couple of those games right was it the Kent State game everybody's all of a sudden panicking about Georgia but so I mean take take that for what it's worth I suppose but um still these are a very important sled of gains because like you said if you can go three in one with a win over a top 25 North Carolina team beat up what probably figures to be a solid to good Furman team um and Mississippi state's a team that I think just with the changes it's hard for us to have high expectations just because based on the unknowns more than anything else yeah I mean going three and one here knowing what you have the rest of the way with some of those other games yeah I think it's important um again if you want to let's say feel like you're not taking a step back and even a you know a six and six seven and six or whatever right like I think you always want that positive momentum as a coach especially you don't want to give anyone sort of any doubt and once you hit the mark that they hit last season with two just game changing wins in terms of the Shane Beamer era to beat Tennessee and Clemson at the end of the season I think getting off to a great start by winning three of these first four in some fashion now obviously if you beat a Georgia as part of that three then then we're having another discussion but um it's very important I think for the schedule yeah then comes one I think is worth discussing as a standalone at Tennessee on September the 30th that was a game last year that might have been the Shocker of the college football season let me just set the stage for you the three games prior Carolina had lost 23-10 to Missouri in Colombia had played Vanderbilt to a well I played Venable II had beaten Vanderbilt 38-27 in Nashville I was at the game in that Press Box we were watching that going these are two teams that aren't very good and boy both those teams flip scripts pretty quickly uh Carolina goes to Florida the next week and gets pounded 38-6 Tennessee was maybe the hottest team in the country and the Vols could not get a stop against the Gamecocks who won 63-38 it was actually worse than that at times so that rematch with Tennessee is going to be fascinating not just for that Dynamic of what happened last year it's going to be that hole as Joe Milton the guy that Tennessee thinks Joe Milton can be are they going to go to the Freshman instead where is Tennessee civility wise with its offense there I just think that game is going to be one to Circle I think it'd be a little more entertaining if it's in Colombia but they will be laying in wait for Carolina in that one in Knoxville I would have to believe no I don't care where the games played at I think it's going to be entertaining no matter what because I think the entertainment I do too the Tennessee fans and um what you could see there but yeah I mean it's revenge on the mind on September the 30th and November the 25th I think for sure with those Tennessee and Clemson games except the problem for Clemson is that they have to go to Williams price stadium and uh unfortunately for South Carolina they've got to go to Newland Stadium but the environment will be great I think just based off what happened last season and I don't think Josh heuplin's going to let his team forget about uh that that game of season to go and how it sort of derailed Tennessee's potential hope for a college football playoff spot so yeah the the next three as of June or kind of hard to size up I think you've got Florida was six and seven a year ago of course just obliterated the Gamecocks last year we are not particularly high on Florida this year I would think of Columbia that would be one that that Carolina would be favored in the road trip to Missouri that's a team that played a lot of teams close a year ago and of course gave Carolina fits a year ago that will be very interesting given how Missouri season is or is not going at that point and then Texas A M and another wild card game we just talked about the Aggies a few minutes ago doing a schedule preview for those guys and that's another team that played a tough schedule it's got the coaching turmoil which Jimbo Fisher coming in that's one of those that if it's going well a m is going to be fired up that's a tough game if it starts to go sideways and you get non-cohesion with your roster whatever the word is I'm looking for there you've got a lot of variables in those three games for different reasons yeah you like to call the different tiers I'm going to call it the prove it tier because I think all these three of these teams got something to prove here for Florida Missourian a m um and so yeah I think that's exactly what it comes down to and it makes those games very hard to predict um and not just what five months out four months out um even when the season starts I think it's going to take us freaking out where those teams are at after five or six games before you really know exactly what to expect from that real games for the Gamecocks speaking of Gamecocks you got another Gamecock coming up Jacksonville State the other Gamecocks in the FBS now switching from the FCS where Jacksonville State went nine and two a year ago geography lesson for you guys this is a honorable bonus Jacksonville State is where Blake Alabama very good yeah not not in Florida just gonna let you guys know that's it that's it that was the lesson my goodness we got an A plus on that one anyway the Gamecocks went nine and two a year ago I don't think I'd have to look it up I'm not sure well of course they're not going to be an FCS poll because they're FBS now but they are expected to be one of the lower tier FPS teams this year you look at the power pole we've got running across the bottom of the screen that's where we've averaged five sources we liked that rank the teams one to 133 Jacksonville State is ranked in the bottom five or six nationally according to those now they could pull James Madison uh like James Madison pool last year and be a much tougher foe Than People imagine of course that was a team that beat Virginia Tech early so don't know what to expect but that was a team that went nine and two a year ago Vanderbilt the Gamecocks have dominated the series in terms of the win loss record a lot of those games have been close but I think 2008 was the last time that Vanderbilt beat South Carolina in what is an annual series then you've got a game with Kentucky that one a year ago went in Carolina's favor 24-14 in Lexington this one of course will be played in Columbia and in the game with Clemson and I'll be very interested to see where those two stands A Team stand at their respective points of that season yep I mean again these are where you're trying to find wins right and that's like I said to feel like you're moving forward as a program these are very important games because why they're all at home right and I think that's what it really comes down to is just the way the schedule unfolds to get all of your November games at home I just I can't imagine a better setup um just from that standpoint and and again they all feel winnable right and then I think that's what it you talk about just the the overall record and where South Carolina could be this season all four of these games are ones that that truly feel like that South Carolina can win just based on what they have coming into the season and I think that's very encouraging um just given the tough portion early on in the schedule with those road trips to Tennessee and and Georgia and you know somewhat away from home of course against North Carolina um you know in in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte but just getting these on the back end and being able to kind of build some of that motivation and and sort of consistency perhaps by this point in the season I think will really help uh for South Carolina so I think you're muted we're going to be previewing every single SEC schedule for the coming year or have previewed already best way to catch those hit the Subscribe button hit the like button that helps our analytics and tell a friend anyway lots of content coming baseball football basketball we do it year round here at Southeastern 14. thank you for watching we'll see you again soon with more SEC content