In less than 12 hours, South Carolina will have its 2020 football schedule.
The SEC is announcing every team's Week 1 opponent at 3 p.m. on the Paul Finebaum Show before the full schedule announcement at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.
So, in an effort to have some fun before the official announcement, we decided to look at what the Gamecocks' dream schedule would look like.
Will it be perfect? No. But it's fun to look at what could be before the official announcement comes.
Sept. 26: vs. Missouri
This kicks the season off with a bang at home in a very winnable game for South Carolina. When a team is breaking in an entirely new offense, it's important to have winnable games early to try and work out the inevitable kinks that come with it.
Missouri isn't a slouch by any means, but it's a team that's going to be going through some growing pains itself with Eli Drinkwitz taking over this offseason. It's not a for sure win on the schedule but gives the Gamecocks a home game and a good early test of the new offense.
Also see: 2022 linebacker talks South Carolina interest
Oct. 3: at Ole Miss
South Carolina's additional road game for the year gets knocked out of the way early. The Gamecocks hit the road to Oxford for the second game there in three years against a very different Rebels team than it faced in 2018.
Ole Miss is coming off a 4-8 season and is under new management with new head coach Lane Kiffin. Like Missouri, there are bound to be growing pains for a team that finished last in the SEC West last season. It would be a good chance after the opener to build offensively and, while it's not guaranteed, notch a win.
Oct. 10: vs. Auburn
This seems like the most anticipated game for South Carolina fans, getting to watch a team the Gamecocks haven't played since 2014. Auburn is coming off a solid season where the Tigers went 9-4 and beat Alabama but do lose a little bit from last year's team.
The offensive line loses the bulk of its starts plus the Tigers lose a lot of production defensively. The Gamecocks would benefit from getting Auburn early, plus it's a very fun early-season game for fans to get excited about.
Oct. 17: Bye Week
Again, full disclosure: the author of this is getting married this day and would like the bye week to remain the same. He's still getting married that day but would like to have the invitees who also cover college sports have the ability to attend.
Oct. 24: at Florida
The Gators might be the toughest match up in the East this season for South Carolina, and a benefit would be getting Mullen's team off of a bye week.
Florida might be the best team in the division this season and getting an extra week to prepare would be a benefit for South Carolina.
Oct. 31: vs. Tennessee
The Gamecocks and Tennessee have made it a sort of tradition to play the week of Halloween, and this year Halloween luckily falls on a Saturday. Tennessee is coming off an 8-5 season that saw a bowl game win against Indiana and will be another tougher test for South Carolina.
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Nov. 7: at Vanderbilt
To be honest, Vanderbilt has struggled to get out of the bottom of the SEC for a while and this year might not be different. The Gamecocks have dominated the series and getting them sandwiched between the gauntlet that is Tennessee, Florida and Georgia would be a welcomed sight.
Nov. 14: vs. Georgia
It doesn't seem right having the Gamecocks and Bulldogs playing this late, but having six games to tweak and get settled into a team might be beneficial for South Carolina, which will need time to figure out its offense.
The Bulldogs are expecting to be a top 10 team again and, regardless of when that game is, it's going to be a tough match up.
Nov. 21: at Kentucky
Kentucky isn't a slouch either and is expected to be better after going 7-5 last season plus a bowl win, but it would be somewhat of a break between Georgia and LSU.
Nov. 28: at LSU
Is there really a good time to put the defending national champions? Putting LSU early could give the Gamecocks a better shot at winning since the Tigers are replacing plenty off last year's title-winning team, but early would mean a lot of road games early in the season.
Also see: The latest on the season
It's not optimal to play the Tigers late, giving them more time to figure out roles on the team, but whenever the game is played it's going to be hard.
Dec. 5: Texas A&M
If the last week of the season is still used for in-conference rivalries, it leaves South Carolina as sort of the odd man out. The Gamecocks' two biggest SEC rivals—Georgia and Florida—would likely play each other that week and it leaves South Carolina having to find an opponent for the final week.
Texas A&M doesn't have a typical rival in the SEC now and it would make sense to just have the two permanent opponents play that week.
