What Will Muschamp said about South Carolina’s bowl situation
South Carolina football is close to knowing its landing spot for the 2018 bowl season, and the news should go public by Sunday night.
The Gamecocks are limited to a small set of potential games at this point, and representatives from the TaxSlayer Bowl went far enough as coming out and saying they’d spoken to USC athletic director Ray Tanner.
On his weekly call-in show Wednesday night, Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp was asked about the looming question of where USC will end up.
“Coach Tanner is working through all that,” Muschamp said. “What people don’t realize is nowadays, so much of that is going through the SEC office. We don’t have control, and really honestly, the bowl game doesn’t have control. It’s kind of slotted as far as that’s concerned.”
A trip to Jacksonville would be the program’s first since 1987.
Other options include the Belk, Music City, Liberty and Texas Bowls. USC has already been to Nashville this year, and the Liberty or Texas Bowls would mean a lot of travel.
The Belk Bowl means playing in Charlotte three years in a row, but that might not be enough to keep South Carolina away from the short trip.
“So many things go into it,” Muschamp said. “Whether it’s head-to-head matchup, your conference record is important. Obviously if you’ve been to a place the year before, maybe they’ll have to bring somebody else to town or a school doesn’t want to go. So they slot it that way depending on what the league office sees and what they think is best for our league and what the best matchup is.”
The coach said the schools can put in lists with the SEC about where they’d like to go. He and Tanner spoke about it, and he called all the options “outstanding.”
In a radio interview earlier Wednesday, Tanner said,”We would like to get in a situation where our fans could travel.”
Muschamp is 1-1 in bowls thus far in his USC tenure. His first team fought its way into the bowl picture but couldn’t complete a comeback against UCF in Birmingham. Last season, the Gamecocks upset a Michigan team favored by a touchdown to reach nine wins. in Tampa.
Asked his preference this year, the coach had a simple one.
“A team that we’re going to beat,” Muschamp said.
SOUTH CAROLINA BOWL PROJECTIONS
▪ ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura — Liberty Bowl (Memphis) vs. Baylor, Dec. 31
▪ ESPN’s Mitch Sherman — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Pitt, Dec. 29
▪ Sports Illustrated — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Duke, Dec. 29
▪ CBS Sports — Liberty Bowl (Memphis) vs. TCU, Dec. 31
▪ SB Nation — Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) vs. Michigan State, Dec. 31
▪ 247Sports — Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) vs. Purdue, Dec. 31
▪ College Football News — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. North Carolina State, Dec. 29
▪ Sporting News — Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) vs. Northwestern, Dec. 31
▪ Saturday Down South — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. North Carolina State, Dec. 29
▪ Bleacher Report — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Pittsburgh, Dec. 29
▪ NBC Sports — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Georgia Tech, Dec. 29
▪ The Athletic — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Virginia, Dec. 29
▪ USA Today — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Virginia, Dec. 29
▪ Athlon Sports — Music City Bowl (Nashville) vs. Michigan State, Dec. 28
▪ Stadium — Belk Bowl (Charlotte) vs. Virginia, Dec. 29
This story was originally published November 29, 2018 at 8:55 AM.
