Where ESPN thinks South Carolina will go bowling this winter

South Carolina football is No. 13 in both the AP poll and the coaches poll this preseason. If that ranking was to translate to the eventual College Football Playoff poll, the Gamecocks would be one of the first teams on the outside looking in this December. However, Shane Beamer’s team likely would find itself in a quality bowl game.

On Friday, ESPN analysts Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura released their projections for this bowl season. Neither had Carolina in the CFP field, but both Schlabach and Bonagura included USC as part of bowl season.

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Here are the duo’s predictions for the Gamecocks.

According to Schlabach, South Carolina will take on the Indiana Hoosiers in the Reliaquest Bowl. The Tampa-based bowl contest was formerly known as the Outback Bowl, and the Gamecocks are very familiar with the game.

USC played in the Outback Bowl five different times, winning four contests against Michigan and Ohio State, twice each. The team’s last trip to Tampa came with a win over the Wolverines following the 2017 season. The last three ReliaQuest Bowl champions have entered the contest with seven or eight wins.

Bonagura has South Carolina competing against Louisville in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Several iterations of the bowl game have existed, and the Gamecocks have played in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and in the Belk Bowl.

USC won a border battle over the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2021 Mayo Bowl but lost in one of the program’s worst postseason performances ever against the Virginia Cavaliers in 2018. The previous three Mayo Bowl champs also entered the game with seven or eight wins. However, it is considered a step down from the ReliaQuest.

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A trip to Tampa for the ReliaQuest Bowl would come on New Year’s Eve. The December 31st contest will begin at Noon on ESPN.

The Duke’s Mayo Bowl will also air on ESPN. It will occur on January 2nd.

However, before bowl season can begin, South Carolina has 12 regular-season games to play. That road will start on Sunday, August 31st. The Gamecocks will take on the Virginia Tech Hokies in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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