By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The SEC East has an odds-on favorite to take the crown for the third straight year in the Georgia Bulldogs, but one team that looks to rival the Dawgs comes up third in the SEC preseason media poll in the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Head Coach Shane Beamer begins year three at the helm in Columbia looking to build on the 8-5 record a year ago.

After the Gamecocks totaled 6 wins in 2019 & 2020 combined to end Will Muschamp’s tenure, “Beamer-ball” has brought in a seven win and an eight-win campaign.

The 2022 season embodied the old adage “Play your best ball at the end of the season”.  The Gamecocks round out the year winning three of their last four games including demolishing #5 Tennessee 63-38 (albeit a Vols team without QB Hendon Hooker) and knocking off the in-state rival and then #7 Clemson 31-30.

A huge reason for the resurgence of the Gamecocks squad in the back half of 2022 was transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler from Oklahoma. Rattler finished the season with 438 yards and 6 passing scores against Tennessee and threw for 360 yards against Clemson.

The offense for South Carolina seems to have picked up where it left off to finish last season with Rattler along with 5 other starters back on the offensive side of the ball that helped South Carolina average 44 points per game in their last 3 regular season games (all against top 25 opponents).

Defense has been a struggle for Beamer’s club the past few years and gave up an average of over 400 yards per game last year. The rush defense is going to have to step up after opponents netted almost five yards per rush in 2022.

The schedule is not favorable for Beamer’s bunch with Phil Steele rating the Gamecock’s 2023 schedule as the 2^nd toughest schedule in FBS football (only behind Florida).

The season gets kicked off with the battle of the Carolinas on September 2^nd in Charlotte against the Tar Heels.

After a week 2 matchup with the FCS Furman Paladins, the Gamecocks hit the meat of the schedule in week three when they head between the hedges in Athens, Ga.

The first month of the season is no joke with that week three matchup at Georgia, then after a home game against Mississippi State, the Tennessee Volunteers will welcome South Carolina into Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

After the trip to Knoxville, South Carolina will get a much-needed bye week to start October. Then it’s a homecoming matchup with Florida at Williams-Brice Stadium, before back-to-back weeks on the road at Missouri and Texas A&M.

The saving grace of the schedule for South Carolina comes in November where the final four regular season games are in Columbia starting with the first ever Gamecocks vs Gamecocks meeting with Jacksonville State coming to Williams-Brice.

Meetings with Vandy and Kentucky will sandwich the four-game home stretch before finishing off the regular season against Dabo Swinney and Clemson.

If South Carolina is going to have a successful 2023 season they will have to go about it a different way than 2022.

Last season began 5-2 and the national polls had the Gamecocks ranked for the first time since 2018, but I don’t see that happening in 2023.

I do expect Rattler to have a huge year leading the Gamecock offense, and to give Georgia more of a run than the 48-7 routing that the Dawgs handed the Gamecocks last year, but the schedule is brutal.

This team can take a huge step forward on the field and still end up with less wins than the 8-win 2022, but South Carolina will be in that 7-9 win range. The difference between the 7 and 9 depends solely on the defense.