Why the Gamecocks won’t use a full allotment of practices before the bowl
The 15 practices for a bowl myth persists across college football.
The NCAA technically doesn’t limit how many practices a team can have before its bowl game. But coaches often speak of the “15 practices.” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp did at a press conference for his team’s Dec. 29 matchup with Virginia in the Belk Bowl.
Not that he would use all of them anyway.
His team will go six times in Columbia and wrap up Saturday. Then comes a holiday break. They’ll practice twice in Charlotte, have a walkthrough and then finish out the season.
Muschamp has long spoken about the benefits of every practice, every rep, but here he backs off for a reason.
“It becomes almost a punishment to play in a bowl game if you practice 15 more practices,” Muschamp said. “At the end of the day, I want it to be a reward for the season we had. Obviously do we need to get the practice time in and practice? Absolutely. We’re going to get in really good work.”
That period usually includes a few practices focused on younger players, letting them get their feet wet. Then comes almost a pre-game week game week to get all the pieces in place.
“The entire gameplan will be done by the time we get here to Charlotte,” Muschamp said. “We’ll brush things up on the 26th and 27th, have a walkthrough the 28th and get ready to play in the game.”
USC’s staff builds it that way to put maximum attention toward recruiting in the lead-up to the early signing period.
College coaches can contact recruits through this Saturday. Sunday is a “quiet period” and on Monday, when South Carolina players hit the field, is the start of a dead period.
Other schools do it differently, including Virginia, which is having it’s younger player practices now. Muschamp’s staff focuses on recruiting and the players only work with the strength staff.
The coach said he thinks there’s another benefit on this front.
“You’ve got to decompress and get away from a long season,” Muschamp said. “That’s good for coaches, that’s good for players, that’s good for everybody.”
Belk Bowl info
Who: South Carolina (7-5) vs. Virginia (7-5)
Where: Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina
When: Noon Dec. 29
TV: ABC
This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 7:55 AM.