2019 SEC Season Preview: South Carolina Gamecocks

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Over the course of the next several weeks, the SoBros Network crew will be going team-by-team through the SEC, previewing the upcoming American tackle football season. Up next, the 2019 South Carolina preview!

2019 South Carolina Preview 

Will Muschamp is coming into his fourth year as the head man in Columbia with some good and bad. Let’s start with the good. He’s got Jake Bentley, who is one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the SEC. It’s senior year for Jake, and there’s no doubt he’ll be coming in looking to improve on last year’s stats. The Gamecocks also should have a pretty solid offensive line in front of Jake, which is always important especially in this conference. On the defensive side, they have talent at all three levels and the belief is that the depth will be better this year. 

Now for the bad news. The schedule is absolutely scathing, there are question marks at wide receiver, running back, and the returning linebacking corps was atrocious at times last year. Rico Dowdle can be a real playmaker at running back, but he’s been banged up a lot. Now before we dive into this schedule, let’s talk about THE stat. Muschamp is 1-11 against ranked teams at South Carolina. Now, he will have plenty of opportunities to improve that stat this year as he could end up playing upwards of five highly ranked teams. I’m just not sure if that falls in the good or bad news bin because of the track record. 

2019 Gamecocks Schedule 

8/31 vs. North Carolina (in Charlotte)- The Tar Heels were awful last year and didn’t bring a lot of talent back. This is a wacky rivalry, but I expect Bentley and the bois to start the year off with a win. 

9/7 vs. Charleston Southern- Barring some craziness in Week 1, the Gamecocks should find themselves at 2-0. 

9/14 vs. Alabama- I’m expecting a pissed off Crimson Tide team after how things ended last year. With the question marks on the SC defense, watch out for Bama to roll big time. 

9/21 @ Missouri- Kelly Bryant is expected to step in and make for a rather smooth transition from Drew Lock. Missouri brings back a lot from an eight-win team, though one of their losses was in Columbia last year. This one could be a fun back and forth with the offenses, but I’ll take the home team. 

9/28 vs. Kentucky- No Benny Snell and I’m not sold on the UK passing attack or secondary. Give me SC and Jake Bentley in this one. 

10/12 @ Georgia- This will be another opportunity for Muschamp to improve that record against ranked opponents, but I just don’t see it happening. UGA doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, y’all. 

10/19 vs. Florida- Rough back-to-back here. The Gators look to be bringing in another nasty defense this year. This was close last year in Gainesville and could be close again depending on what the SC offense can do. That said I’ll take the Gators. 

10/26 @ Tennessee- For every bit as bad as his record is against ranked teams, Muschamp’s record against UT is good. The man knows how to break Vol hearts and could very well do it again this season. This feels like a real toss up, but based on my appreciation for Jeremy Pruitt and the Vols being at home I’ll take UT. 

11/2 vs. Vanderbilt- Vandy brings back a lot of talent on offense, but SC should get this dub. Depending on how a couple of games have gone, Muschamp may be in serious need of a win here. 

11/9 vs. Appalachian St.- This feels like a game App St could very well win. The Mountaineers are bringing back a ton of fire power, so watch out sweetheart! That said, I’m gonna pick SC mainly because they’re really gonna need this game if they want any kind of bowl game push. 

11/16 @ Texas A&M- I expect Jimbo Fisher to have the Aggies ready for a big year in 2019. Both teams should get some kind of something going on offense so it may come down to the defenses. I’ll ride with the Aggies. 

11/30 vs. Clemson- Jake Bentley tore the Tigers defense up last year and still lost by three touchdowns. It’s Clemson. It’s Trevor Lawrence. It’s another loss against a ranked team for Muschamp. 

Prediction

I have so many questions about this team that I won’t have answered until we get the season underway. With almost guaranteed losses against Bama, UGA, and Clemson, it’s safe to say that just getting to six wins could be a trek this season. The UT and App St games could be super important to this team becoming bowl eligible. I think they cap out at five or six wins. 

OTHER 2019 SEC SEASON PREVIEWS

Alabama Crimson Tide
Florida Gators
Georgia Bulldogs
LSU Tigers

John Mosley is the independent wrestling correspondent of the SoBros Network. He graduated from ETSU with a degree in Radio, TV and Film along with a minor in Film Studies. Since graduating he’s done pretty much nothing but watch, film, edit or commentate for local wrestling promotions and is the current color commentator for Resolute Wrestling. #Preds #Titans #DefendOrVacateConor Follow on Twitter: @SoBroMose.

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