ESPN: Bowl-eligible season for South Carolina football in 2016
ESPN’s first Football Power Index for 2016 projects a 6-6 season for South Carolina.
The record would mean bowl eligibility in the first year under coach Will Muschamp. The Gamecocks were bowl-eligible every season under Steve Spurrier until their 3-9 mark last year.
ESPN’s FPI projects LSU and Tennessee as the strongest teams in the SEC this season, with both teams cracking the 10-win mark and reaching the conference championship game.
LSU is No. 1 in the overall FPI ranking, “a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance going forward for the rest of the season.” USC ranks No. 39, which equates to a fourth-place finish in the SEC East.
South Carolina’s schedule strength ranks No. 30 in the country. The team opens the season with three of the first four games on the road against SEC teams (Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Kentucky).
ESPN's Preseason FPI predicts the 2016 SEC East champs will be ... @Vol_Football. pic.twitter.com/O2qNs0vCsT
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) April 13, 2016
Will #LSU emerge as the SEC West champions in 2016?ESPN's FPI thinks so.... and it's not even close. pic.twitter.com/qZL9YNUJip
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) April 12, 2016
FPI projections: The SEC teams
Win-loss projections for the 14 SEC teams, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.
LSU | 10.5-2.1 |
Tennessee | 10.2-2.4 |
Georgia | 8.9-3.4 |
Alabama | 8.8-3.3 |
Ole Miss | 8.1-4.0 |
Florida | 7.4-4.7 |
Miss. St | 7.3-4.7 |
Texas A&M | 7.3-4.7 |
Auburn | 6.6-5.4 |
Arkansas | 6.5-5.5 |
South Carolina | 6.2-5.8 |
Missouri | 5.5-6.5 |
Kentucky | 5.0-7.0 |
Vanderbilt | 4.6-7.4 |
South Carolina 2016 football schedule
Sept. 1 | at Vanderbilt |
Sept. 10 | at Mississippi State |
Sept. 17 | vs. East Carolina |
Sept. 24 | at Kentucky |
Oct. 1 | vs. Texas A&M |
Oct. 8 | vs. Georgia |
Oct. 22 | vs. Massachusetts |
Oct. 29 | vs. Tennessee |
Nov. 5 | vs. Missouri |
Nov. 12 | at Florida |
Nov. 19 | vs. Western Carolina |
Nov. 26 | at Clemson |
This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 10:51 AM with the headline "ESPN: Bowl-eligible season for South Carolina football in 2016."