Making sense of South Carolina bowl situation. SEC is overloaded with eligible teams
South Carolina’s regular season ended with a thud.
USC was overrun in Saturday’s 30-0 regular season finale loss to in-state rival Clemson as the Gamecocks dropped to 6-6 on the season.
Now, sights turn toward the postseason and the destination where South Carolina might play its first bowl game since 2018.
SEC bowl tie-ins
The bowl-matching system functions through a process not altogether different from sorority rush. Each bowl-eligible school will present three options it would be in favor of to the Southeastern Conference in the coming days. The bowl games, too, will have their own preference of squads. From there, the SEC works as the conduit to match bowl games and teams.
The league has tie-ins with 10 schools for its 13 bowl-eligible teams in 2021. That 13 figure — every team except Vanderbilt — is an SEC record.
The Sugar Bowl will get its pick of the litter — presumably a 10-2 Ole Miss team — or Alabama, should it not make the College Football Playoff. The Citrus Bowl has the next pick of SEC teams, which would likely fall on Kentucky (9-3).
Next comes the mishmash of squads that could go just about anywhere. The Liberty Bowl, Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Texas Bowl, Outback Bowl, Gator Bowl and Music City Bowl are all options for the middle rung of SEC teams that includes Texas A&M (8-4), Arkansas (8-4), Tennessee (7-5) and Mississippi State (7-5).
Where things get tricky are with the SEC’s five teams that all reside at 6-6. South Carolina falls in this category with Missouri, Auburn, LSU and Florida. A win over Clemson would’ve elevated the Gamecocks above this logjam, but now USC sits smack dab in the middle of it.
In theory, that leaves three games — one of the aforementioned middle-rung games, the Gasparilla Bowl and the Birmingham Bowl — to be filled by five teams.
South Carolina bowl projections
South Carolina would likely slot behind bigger brands like LSU, Auburn and Florida, while geographical preferences could see Missouri land in, say, the Liberty Bowl in Memphis ahead of USC.
The most recent bowl season predictors indicated the Gamecocks could be headed for the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, or to the Birmingham Bowl. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte could also be an option given the short trek from Columbia.
CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm on Sunday projected the Gamecocks to face Virginia in the Dec. 30 Duke’s Mayo Bowl — a rematch of their 2018 game. 247Sports’ Brad Crawford predicts USC will face UAB in the Dec. 28 Birmingham Bowl.
South Carolina was slated to play in the Gasparilla Bowl last season before COVID-19 issues within the program spoiled that chance. Would the bowl folks in Tampa want to run that back?
If the Gamecocks do fall out of the SEC’s tie-ins, an at-large spot in another bowl outside the structure of the league could happen and feels quite possible given the bigger brands at play in that contingent of 6-6 SEC teams. CBS projects Florida to the Cure Bowl in Orlando, for example, a game that’s one of five pool vs. pool matchups.
Is no bowl a possible outcome?
There’s at least the slim possibility South Carolina could be left out of a bowl game entirely, though it almost certainly won’t happen given the SEC’s power around college football. There are 83 teams eligible nationwide for 82 available bowl spots. Let this be a reminder that getting to six wins doesn’t lock in a bowl trip.
South Carolina closed its regular season with a whimper on Saturday. Another month of football remains, though, as bowl season looms.
The Gamecocks won’t get an official notice of their destination until next weekend, but another month together feels like a monumental win for head coach Shane Beamer in his first fall.
This story was originally published November 28, 2021 at 11:35 AM.
