South Carolina is looking to take the next step this year in Will Muschamp’s third season in Columbia.

After a 5-3 mark in SEC play in 2017, the Gamecocks have generated the most momentum for the program since 2013, when they went 6-2 under Steve Spurrier. They also capped it off with a 26-19 come-from-behind victory against Michigan in the Outback Bowl.

Can they catch Georgia in the East? That’s obviously the goal.

Here are five dream and five disaster scenarios that could play out this season:

Dream scenarios

1. Bryan McClendon makes gains as offensive coordinator. The offense is looking to bounce back to its pre-2015 levels when it averaged 30 points a game. It would help the first-year coordinator to not have to deal with injuries to the offensive line, Deebo Samuel and Rico Dowdle, issues Kurt Roper faced last season.

There are plenty of weapons outside of those two, including Bryan Edwards, OrTre Smith and Shi Smith. What’s more, Hayden Hurst is the only key piece of the offense lost from 2017, and while the offensive line will have new faces, the new players are expected to be an upgrade.

Jake Bentley enters the season with already 20 starts to his credit and will be capable of handling the up-tempo changes and other tweaks McClendon introduces.

2. Running game shows signs of life. Another area of experienced players looking to bounce back from injury issues is the running game, which hasn’t cracked the top 10 SEC rushing offenses since 2015.

Dowdle is trying for the third time to have a healthy season, while he’ll be strengthened with A.J. Turner, Ty’Son Williams and Mon Denson, all of whom have shown flashes. To beat rivals like Georgia and Clemson, the running game should have multiple contributors and the Gamecocks are capable of that.

3. Early upset of Georgia. No other East team has garnered quite the dark horse chatter this offseason as South Carolina, and much of that centers on an early upset of the defending SEC champion in Week 2.

The home team has fared well in this series in recent years, and the thinking goes like this: Georgia’s new faces won’t yet be acclimated by Sept. 8. The upset would set in motion the kind of momentum not seen in Columbia since at least 2013, when the team was 11-2, or from 2010-12, when South Carolina beat Georgia three consecutive times.

South Carolina’s most recent victory over a top-10 team? It beat No. 6 Georgia at home in 2014.

4. T.J. Brunson and Bryson Allen-Williams become All-SEC players. The strongest unit on the defense — and the one with the fewest questions — is at linebacker, led by Brunson and Allen-Williams.

Allen-Williams will fill the leadership void left by Skai Moore. Along with bouncing back from injury that cut short last season, Allen-Williams also sees this year as completing some unfinished against the likes of Kentucky, which has beaten South Carolina four consecutive times.

Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

5. The defensive line exceeds expectations. There are questions and a general lack of confidence along the line, but Javon Kinlaw, a 6-6, 300-pound JUCO transfer showed potential against Michigan, with a forced fumble and recovered fumble, which led to the win. Kinlaw also blocked a field goal attempt against Missouri, and overall had 20 tackles including two for loss.

But he’s a known commodity compared to true freshmen Kingsley Enagbare, Tyreek Johnson and Rick Sandidge, who are already expected to see the field, and in this case, make an impact. The coaching staff has already discussed the possibility, and that doesn’t happen with every true freshman. Enagbare has gained 25 pounds since he signed, The State reported.

Disaster scenarios

1. The unproven secondary will get burned. South Carolina lost three of its top four players in the secondary, and have been forced to put Jamyest Williams at safety instead of cornerback. Yielding big plays in the spring game may be a regrettable memory of the 2018 season. They have one proven safety in Steven Montac, and one dependable cornerback in Rashad Fenton. The other problem came this offseason when former special teams star and would-be defensive back Javon Charleston was arrested following an incident with a former girlfriend and is still suspended.

2. Muschamp returns to Year 3 form last seen at Florida. The skeptics, of course, will point out that Muschamp has been in this position before. His first two Florida seasons were 7-6 and 11-2, though the Gators dropped the Sugar Bowl in that second season. The third season was 4-8 in 2013 and he was fired the next season. This is Muschamp’s second chance to prove he can turn a winning team into a championship contender. Muschamp also beat the drum of a turning point for the program this offseason in the form of upgraded facilities and support from the administration. But given the program has a shallow history of championships — one conference title (1969, ACC) and one SEC East title since 1992 — fighting history appears an uphill battle.

3. Bentley struggles or suffers an injury. Bentley is already facing skepticism across the SEC as falling into the second tier of quarterbacks behind Jarrett Stidham, Drew Lock, Nick Fitzgerald, Jake Fromm and either Alabama candidate. He had the second-most interceptions in the SEC last season, and has struggled at times with his accuracy. Any struggle or injury would have a ripple effect on the rest of the team not only with the loss of Bentley’s production, but also his leadership. Michael Scarnecchia appears to be a capable backup, but there’s also the interesting wrinkle of early enrollee QB Dakereon Joyner, who could be placed in precarious situations earlier than coaches prefer.

4. A favorable schedule backfires. On the surface, South Carolina should be favored in most of its games, reasonable as many as 10, save for Georgia and Clemson. But then again, not many people four years ago would have figured Kentucky to go on a four-game winning streak in the series. The Gamecocks are just 6-4 against Tennessee in the past 10. They’ve split the past six with Florida. Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Florida are all on the road, so any one of those could be a pothole to a dark horse championship season.

5. Fall further behind Clemson and Georgia. It is difficult to swallow that the Gamecocks have increased their win totals by three games each season, but their primary rivals have played in the past three national championship games. Muschamp doesn’t enjoy the repeated questions, and many fans, depending on their location around the state, wouldn’t mind winning just one of those games, and not worry about the rest of the season’s outcome. The program hasn’t been in this position since the early 2000s when Clemson won three straight, including 63-17 in 2003, and Georgia won the SEC Championship in 2002.