Following the loss to Clemson, and with this week’s game against Akron, it appears South Carolina is slated for a 7-5 finish.
That puts the Gamecocks above the Birmingham and Independence bowls, but also outside of the Texas and Music City bowls, which appear to be in line for better SEC West teams. Same for the Outback Bowl, where South Carolina played last year, and also will likely prefer an SEC West team.
There appears to be three main bowl destinations for South Carolina, which will head to the postseason for the third consecutive year under Will Muschamp:
3. Belk Bowl, Dec. 29, Charlotte
The interesting proximity of the the Charlotte bowl is that it’s close enough to sell plenty of tickets. However, there are plenty of Gamecocks fans who are within a short drive, most under two hours, so that doesn’t lend itself to sales of a lot of hotel rooms. Though this would be the first time for South Carolina in this bowl, the Gamecocks have played multiple games in Charlotte in recent years, and it will open the 2019 season at Bank of America Stadium against North Carolina.
While South Carolina played Miami in 2014, the Gamecocks have largely played a Big Ten opponent in most of their recent bowl matchups. An ACC opponent would be a welcome change. This also has a history of being a high-scoring bowl, with the winner in each of the past six meetings scoring at least 30 points, and three times they scored at least 48.
This likely has the worst weather potential of any of the top three possible destinations, as rain, possibly freezing rain, is very possible, and the 40s is most likely. For perspective, the weather three years ago was “unseasonably warm” with highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s.
2. Gator Bowl, Dec. 31, Jacksonville, Fla.
There’s just something about a Florida bowl that sounds better than the other options.
The Gator Bowl is an older bowl, and simply has more history with SEC teams at the stadium, and in Jacksonville in general. Bowl games enjoy promoting any storylines they can, and with South Carolina’s history of playing in this game in 1987, as an independent with a loss to LSU, that would be a built-in talking point for the week. The program also made appearances in the game in 1984 and 1980, also losses, to Oklahoma State and Pitt.
Being on New Year’s Eve, this game also has the added entertainment of a Cole Swindell post-game concert and a fireworks show.
With temperatures expected to be in the 60s, this has by far the best chance for warm weather.
Got some bowl intel tonight: Gator Bowl in play for South Carolina. #Gamecocks haven't played in Gator since 1987 and Jacksonville finds them intriguing (at 7-5). I also think fans would prefer that trip over Memphis + Charlotte + Nashville.
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) November 18, 2018
1. Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31, Memphis
There is some history here as South Carolina beat Houston in Memphis in 2006, 44-36, and 56,103 were in attendance that year, which is a solid turnout given that it was Dec. 29, and not a classic destination for either program. The game was remembered for Blake Mitchell slinging passes to Kenny McKinley and Sidney Rice.
Given the Big 12-SEC connection, and if South Carolina lands this, it’ll be pegged as a scoring bonanza, especially after QB Jake Bentley’s performance against Clemson. The over-under could be more than 70 points.
This might have the best tourist options, between The Peabody Hotel, Elvis Presley’s Graceland, the National Civil Rights Museum, the Memphis Zoo and Beale Street, which is in the historic music and entertainment district. Not to mention Sun Studio, also known as “The Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ roll” in the 1950s. There’s also relatively new museums The Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame.
Among the top barbecue restaurants are The Rendezvous, Central BBQ, The Bar-B-Q Shop, Tops BBQ, Corky’s and Payne’s BBQ. Most have a top-shelf variety of ribs, pulled pork or BBQ nachos.
The weather here is likely to be a mixed bag as it could be sunny and in the 60s, but also be a drizzling rain in the 40s with sleet mixed in.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
