South Carolina adds new opponent for 2026 season opener, completing next year's schedule

South Carolina has its new opponent in place for the 2026 season opener.

The Gamecocks will host Kent State on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, at Williams-Brice Stadium. A kickoff time hasn’t been announced yet, but it will be announced at a later time.

With that, next season’s schedule is now officially complete. South Carolina will also face Towson and Clemson in non-conference games and play a new nine-game SEC schedule.

This game with Kent State will replace the Gamecocks’ previously scheduled opponent, Miami (FL), who they were supposed to face in a home-and-home series starting next year. However, those plans changed when both programs decided to cancel the series in early October.

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South Carolina and Kent State have only met once in football, with their first matchup taking place in 1995. The Gamecocks won handily in a 77-14 win at Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 7 of that year.

The Golden Flashes, who are from the MAC conference, went 5-7 in 2025. Before this year, they had only won one game in the past two seasons, following a 1-11 record in 2023 and a 0-12 record in 2024.

Kent State is led by head coach Mark Carney, who was officially named to the permanent position in late October 2025 after serving as interim head coach since April 2025.

South Carolina will know all the dates for next year’s schedule when the SEC hosts its 2026 schedule reveal show on Thursday night. That will take place on SEC Network at 8 p.m.

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