By the time it goes through walk through in front of 80,000 fans on the hot and humid Saturday afternoon in Williams-Brice Stadium, South Carolina shouldn’t need a brick-rattling pep talk.

All Will Muschamp would need to do is reach back to 2014 for a game that also kicked off at 3:30 p.m. on CBS when the Gamecocks, narrowly ranked in the Top 25, took on a Top 10 Georgia team. Without  Jadeveon Clowney on defense, after he left the previous season, and facing a Georgia team with Heisman Trophy frontrunner Todd Gurley, South Carolina withstood a 15-point fourth quarter comeback and knocked off the Bulldogs, 38-35.

There are more than a few similarities this week when the teams renew the series, the 71st meeting in a rivalry that the Gamecocks have won three of the past four at home.

For a program that has won more than 8 games just seven times in 124 years, a win this week would be a shot in the arm for an immediate schedule that includes Marshall, at Vanderbilt, at Kentucky and home games with Missouri and Texas A&M before the bye week.

The “Chicken Curse” usually crowed at 8 wins, especially before 2010. Some wondered if Steve Spurrier changed the culture for good from 2010-13, but then the Gamecocks slid back to a 16-22 mark the next three seasons. Even with a win over Michigan last bowl season, the Gamecocks are just 9-13 in bowl games. As a program, they are somewhat comfortably over .500 — 29 or 31 games, depending on your source — and Spurrier is the one who got them there. He’s the only coach in program history who won more than 45 games AND had a winning record. He finished 37 games above .500.

Stacking wins is unusual, but so are signature victories over highly ranked teams. A win would mean South Carolina’s first over a Top 5 opponent since Missouri in 2013 on the road in double overtime.

But this season has the ingredients to tell a different story.

The offensive line has received compliments and confidence from Muschamp as it entered the season with six experienced players and some 80 starts between them. Muschamp even noted Tuesday how the interior linemen, Zack Bailey, Donell Stanley and Sadarius Hutcherson were especially effective against Coastal Carolina.

“All three guys did a fantastic job on Rico (Dowdle’s) touchdown before the half on the screen,” he said. “Donell and Sadarius both made nice blocks down the field. All of those guys are athletic and have continued to improve in their time here at South Carolina.”

Those linemen will get a test Saturday against Georgia’s strong defensive line, which is something the coaching staff factored in when it decided to deploy a more up-tempo offense this season. Muschamp explained Tuesday that the faster you play, the harder it is for a defensive lineman to get back in position and get squared up to face a running back.

“I think it’s so hard offensively, right now, unless you are just elite from an ability standpoint to create explosive plays,” Muschamp said. “In order to create some explosive plays in the passing game especially, you need to be able to run the ball and stay balanced to create one-on-ones down the field. There’s no question that was a big part of it.”

The upgraded offense is one thing, but the more optimistic individual additions come in the returns of players who missed significant portions of last season: WR Deebo Samuel (broken leg), RB Rico Dowdle (broken leg) and “Sam” linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams. While Samuel and Dowdle combined for more than 200 all-purpose yards last week, Allen-Williams returned from a season-ending shoulder injury, and made five tackles, including three for a loss.

They’re facing a No. 3-ranked rival at home that’s coming off a near-national championship when it lost several all-time players. Its influx of blue chip freshmen and sophomores are just dipping their toe in the water of a hostile SEC road game. Even the most loyal Georgia fans are pointing to 2019 and 2020 as the seasons that are set up for national championship hardware.

For South Carolina, the elements are there. The stage is set. Muschamp has been a part of a national championship and multiple conference championship teams. They all have one thing in common.

“They came out of the gates fast,” he said at SEC Media Days. “That’s what we need to do right now.”