What an FCS game can tell you about the progress of Will Muschamp’s Gamecocks program

Good college football teams make bowls.

This is a simple truth. For most good teams, it’s hardly enough. But it’s a baseline, and at the moment, it’s something small that means a certain thing for South Carolina football, both in the sense of accomplishment and in the need for more.

“It’s an expectation here,” Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said. “That’s something I expect every year. We set our expectations high. We set our expectations high. We want to be playing in Atlanta. We haven’t met that expectation. You fall short of that, you fall short of your goals. That’s where we are. That’s how we’re going to think and how we’re going to talk and how we’re going to act.”

The Gamecocks came into Saturday’s game with FCS Chattanooga banged up and might’ve left more banged up. They played a walk-on who’d never had a snap nearly the whole game at safety. They held out several starters and saw a few more tweak things.

And yet they came in, took care of business in a 49-9 win and secured South Carolina’s third bowl trip in Will Muschamp’s third season.

This might not seem like much, smothering an FCS team, but it’s not really something the Gamecocks have done in recent seasons. Muchamp’s first squad had enough defensive breakdowns to let Western Carolina hang around. His second saw a lead shrink to four in the second half against Wofford (not to mention the debacle against The Citadel under an interim staff).

This version of South Carolina could’ve easily let the Mocs do a little something. They did a bit early but only had three points to show for it, and the Gamecocks just kept coming.

South Carolina was in such good position, it started playing the freshmen, the ones who will still redshirt, by the second quarter.

The bowl trip comes with the fact Muschamp tied Steve Spurrier for most wins in his first three seasons in Columbia. It’s different to be sure. This year came with a lot of promise, and the rise of Kentucky, solid first seasons from other new SEC coaches and a pair of close losses will mar this season to a degree (barring an upset next week in the Upstate).

There’s a measure of a program that comes with consistency. It establishes a step from which a team can make another jump. The rapid ascent many predicted at the start of the year would’ve been better, but the fact there wasn’t a big fall despite a mess of adversity also counts for something.

The Gamecocks now face long odds as they prepare for a chance to shock just about everyone. A win next week would change everything, but it would also be a magnificently tall ask.

Then again, so was the dream of going to Atlanta.

But before that Clemson orange backdrop falls, the Gamecocks did things good programs do — secure a bowl trip, smush an FCS teams and build a base for perhaps something more.

“For me, it’s setting the standard,” linebacker T.J. Brunson said. “Every year, you’re supposed to go to a bowl game. That’s what it feels like. Regardless of whichever one it is. Making bowl eligibility, it’s just some that a lot of team just don’t really get a chance to do. I’m thankful for the coaching staff and all the players who put their all in to get us bowl eligible every year.”