When it comes to describing South Carolina’s upcoming football schedule, Will Muschamp doesn’t see the big deal. The Gamecock coach is either putting on a brave face heading into what appears to be a slate full of landmines or he’s being brutally honest after experiencing several seasons of coaching in the SEC, you be the judge.

During his North Augusta stop on the latest “Spurs Up Tour,” Muschamp briefly met with the media to discuss the latest with his program exiting the spring. Among the topics to come up was South Carolina’s brutal 2019 schedule. If you missed it, the Gamecocks’ slate was recently voted the nation’s toughest looking ahead to the 2019 season by ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Muschamp did his best to downplay that storyline.

“It’s tough every year,” Muschamp said courtesy of a YouTube video posted by GamecockCentral.com. “Success to us is winning our state and winning the East — that gives you an opportunity to play in the College Football Playoff and that’s what our expectation is in our program. But our schedule is difficult every year. I don’t understand why everyone is making a big deal about it, it’s hard every year.”

There is no such thing as an easy schedule in the SEC but Gamecock fans have to wonder what they did to deserve this slate. Regardless of what Muschamp has to say, it looks pretty brutal to us.

Here is South Carolina’s full 2019 slate, including each opponent’s record in 2018:

  • vs. North Carolina *in Charlotte (2-9) on Aug. 31
  • vs. Charleston Southern (5-6) on Sept. 7
  • vs. Alabama (14-1) on Sept. 14
  • at Missouri (8-5) on Sept. 21
  • vs. Kentucky (10-3) on Sept. 28
  • BYE WEEK Oct. 5
  • at Georgia (11-3) on Oct. 12
  • vs. Florida (10-3) on Oct. 19
  • at Tennessee (5-7) on Oct. 26
  • vs. Vanderbilt (6-7) on Nov. 2
  • vs. Appalachian State (11-2) on Nov. 9
  • at Texas A&M (9-4) on Nov. 16
  • BYE WEEK Nov. 23
  • vs. Clemson (15-0) on Nov. 30