What are realistic expectations for South Carolina in 2015?
South Carolina was supposed to win the SEC East in 2014 and potentially compete for one of the final four spots in the inaugural College Football Playoff.
That didn’t happen.
In fact, it was quite the opposite as the Gamecocks could not overcome their defensive woes and fourth quarter issues, which led to a 6-6 season and disappointment across much of Columbia, S.C.
Head coach Steve Spurrier has announced he’s returning for his 11th season in 2015, but what kind of team will the HBC have next year?
Unfortunately for South Carolina fans, a first glance at next year doesn’t yield much optimism for improvement upon 2014’s mediocre record.
Losing several starters
Not that this year’s starting group for South Carolina was all that incredible, considering the record this season, but they did have experience.
12 of South Carolina’s 24 players on its two-deep roster will be graduating after this season. So that’s a guaranteed 12 spots that’ll need to be filled by younger, inexperienced players and that doesn’t even include the players who aren’t seniors that may leave early for the NFL Draft.
Perhaps the biggest hole that’ll be left open, and at the most important position, is at quarterback.
Dylan Thompson will be leaving and the starting role will be handed to either Perry Orth or Connor Mitch.
The problem is that no one has any idea how these two will perform because they haven’t received hardly any in-game reps. The two combined for just eight passing attempts all season long. To put that into perspective, sophomore wide receiver Pharoh Cooper threw the same amount by himself.
At receiver, a position vitally important to South Carolina’s offense, the Gamecocks lose Damiere Byrd and Nick Jones as well as starting tight end Rory Anderson.
The left side of the offensive line will need some retooling with Corey Robinson and AJ Cann both leaving. Cann will be especially be hard to replace considering he was a preseason first-team All-American.
Defensively, where the Gamecocks struggled the most, you would expect some improvement on that side of the ball since they were forced to start several underclassmen. Often times, players make their biggest improvements between their first and second years.
But with the guaranteed losses of JT Surratt, Sharrod Golightly and Brison Williams, the Gamecocks will be forced to replace starters at every level of the defense and there will undoubtedly be some learning curves to push through within the 2015 defensive unit.
Schedule doesn’t make it any easier
Another factor that could be tough for South Carolina to overcome is its 2015 schedule.
Next year’s schedule features a tough road slate. The Gamecocks won’t have nearly as tough of a season-opener as they’ll start the season off with a neutral-site game against North Carolina, but many of South Carolina’s games away from Columbia will be very tough challenges.
The Gamecocks will have to travel to Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M and Tennessee.
With the exception of Georgia, South Carolina lost to each of those teams this season and it’s hard to imagine the Gamecocks beating those squads on the road, especially since a majority of them have a number of young playmakers.
Six of South Carolina’s first seven games will be against Power 5 conference opponents and the lone non-Power 5 opponent — UCF — is far from a normal cupcake opponent. UCF will be two years removed from a BCS bowl win and a team potentially coming off a 10-win season if it wins its final regular season game and the subsequent bowl game.
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Add in home games against LSU, Florida and Clemson and there won’t be many games where South Carolina is expected to win — at least prior to the season.
South Carolina will feature a number of new faces throughout its roster next season and a tough schedule will make it tough for the Gamecocks to navigate its way to eight or even nine wins.
And unfortunately for the Gamecock faithful, they could be in for another rough season come next September.