South Carolina named owner of toughest upcoming schedule

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” If the old adage is true, South Carolina football will soon have the chance to prove just how tough they are because things are about to get tough.

On Wednesday, On3 national analyst and longtime college football writer Chris Low published a story ranking the most difficult upcoming schedules across the sport for teams with two losses or fewer. To the surprise of no one who has been paying attention, the Gamecocks ranked at the top.

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Over the remaining seven games of the season, South Carolina plays against five AP top-11 teams before a matchup with Coastal Carolina. As always, the regular season ends with the Palmetto Bowl against the rival Clemson Tigers.

Low’s rankings specifically relate to the next four games of the season. The Gamecocks match up with No. 11 LSU (on the road), No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 8 Alabama, and No. 4 Ole Miss (on the road) over the next four weeks. Then, after another bye week, Carolina will travel to No. 5 Texas A&M. Though the finale against Clemson has lost some luster because of the Tigers’ struggles, Dabo Swinney’s team has enough talent that it earned a preseason No. 4 distinction.

According to Low, “No team in the country has a more treacherous finish to the season than South Carolina.”

Still, if the Gamecocks somehow run that table, they would be an easy inclusion in the College Football Playoff field, according to Low. Even a 9-3 record like last season could be enough to push USC into the field. However, reaching those heights will be no easy feat.

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On3 partner Josh Pate and ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky are just a couple of the prominent national names that have joined with Low in proclaiming the difficulty of the road ahead of the Gamecocks.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer is not shying away from the challenge set before his team. Said the fifth-year headman, “If you don’t want to play that schedule, you chose the wrong school to come to. I mean, that’s just life in this league.” He added, “As a competitor, you love that opportunity to go compete. So, that’s been my message. Go freaking compete, because this is what y’all came here for.”

The Gamecocks’ next opportunity to compete will come on Saturday. USC will travel to Baton Rouge for a night game matchup with the No. 11 LSU Tigers. Kickoff is set for 7:45 p.m. SEC Network will carry the television broadcast, while the ESPN app streams the action on the field.

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