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It's hard to believe it, but we are officially 82 days away from the kickoff to South Carolina's 2024 football season where they will host the Old Dominion Monarchs on August 31st, 2024 at 4:15 pm in Williams-Brice Stadium. While many of you are probably using your summer to kick back, relax around the pool, cook some burgers and spend time with family, I'll be looking at each opponent South Carolina is set to play, and giving you the skinny on what you might expect after a portal period, coaching changes, and more.

So pour yourself a summery drink, kick up your feet, and let's dive into some mid-tier Sun Belt football.

Old Dominion has only been an FBS level team since 2014, and have mostly had middling seasons in the decade since joining. They hit a low point in 2019, when they went 1-11 and then didn't play in 2020 due to Covid, leaving a bitter taste for way too long as the Monarchs hired head coach Ricky Rahne to rebuild the program. He's done a reasonable job thus far, putting together two bowl seasons, including 2023 where the Monarchs lost a heartbreaking 38-35 game to Western Kentucky in the Famous Toastery Bowl. The gave the Monarchs a 6-7 final record, and means they haven't had a winning season since 2016, though they are no doubt getting closer. Five of their seven losses in 2023 were by a touchdown or less, and perhaps 2024 is the year that they start to finish those coin flips out as the victor.

Turnovers seemed to be a major factor for the Monarchs last season. When they didn't turn the ball over, they won games, and when they did, they generally lost them. One of the Monarchs' biggest struggles was along the offensive line, a tale Gamecock fans are all too familiar with. They do return their top OL starter, Santana Saunders, and brought in Zach Barlev in the portal from Illinois, so there are reasons to believe the front could improve a bit in 2024. That said, the Monarchs lost their to RB to the portal from last season, so will need to find a way to fill that gap to get a consistent run game going.

The offensive high point has to center around veteran QB Grant Wilson who threw for over 2000 yards and 17 TDs in 2023 and also has decent mobility and a good sense of when to take off and run. WR Kelby Williams will be one to watch as a downfield threat. His 17.35 yards per catch last season was one of the conference's best. Still, this offense feels set up for the Gamecocks to control the game defensively, assuming they can prevent any big plays from Williams, and contain Wilson in the pocket.

I have two words for you: Jason Henderson. The talented LB will more than likely be playing on Sundays after this season and has accumulated 434 tackles over the last 3 seasons with the Monarchs. You're going to hear his name in August, and you're going to hear it often; he's just one of those guys who is always around the football and he's the clear leader of this Monarchs defense. He also had 19.5 TFL last season, and you can expect that the Monarchs will get most of their pass rush through blitzing their linebackers. The interior of their DL isn't bad, but the DEs rarely created pressure last season.

The secondary took several portal hits this off-season, and the Monarchs will hope to gel their own portal additions in USF transfer Will Jones and Richmond transfer Angelo Rankin to make that defensive backfield work. This seems like an area the Gamecocks should be able to exploit as long as they find ways to give QB LaNorris Sellers some time to let routes fully develop. As fans know, the Gamecocks are trying to gel their own portal smorgasbord together in the WR room, so this matchup will come down to which portal group is more ready on week one.

I think it will be fun to watch what Old Dominion is able to put together in the Sun Belt this year after all of those close losses in 2023, but South Carolina shouldn't have any problem in this home opener. It sets up similarly to the Georgia State game in 2022, but the Monarchs aren't built to grind the clock and shorten the game. It won't surprise me if it takes a quarter or two for the kinks to get worked out, but I expect the Gamecocks to win this one comfortably and get ready for an absolutely essential showdown with Kentucky in week two.

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