The bye week is over, and South Carolina is staring down the stretch of an imperative stretch of games to end the season.

The Gamecocks (4-4, 1-4 SEC) have four games left, needing to split them in order to get to a bowl game in the first year under Shane Beamer.

A bowl game is a good benchmark in the inaugural season under this coaching staff and, if reached, would mean at least tripling last season's win total and at minimum tying the Gamecocks' SEC wins from last season.

But ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) doesn't give the rosiest outlook for South Carolina the rest of the way, predicting the Gamecocks to finish 1-3 down the stretch and end at 5-7 in Beamer's first season.

The Gamecocks' best chance for a win comes in two weeks with a trip out to Missouri with the FPI giving them a 40.4 percent chance to beat the Tigers.

The next best chance to win comes against Auburn, with South Carolina given a 15.5 percent chance in that game.

South Carolina's given a 15 percent chance to beat Florida this weekend at Williams-Brice (7:30 p.m., SEC Network) and a 13.4 percent chance to beat Clemson in the annual rivalry game, this year in Columbia.

As it stands eight games into the season the FPI ranks South Carolina as the No. 82 team in the country with wins over FCS Eastern Illinois, FPI No. 86 East Carolina, FPI No. 88 Troy and No. 121 Vanderbilt.

Their losses have come to No. 1 Georgia, No. 34 Kentucky, No. 27 Tennessee and No. 13 Texas A&M.

South Carolina's offense ranks No. 120 out of 130 FBS teams with a defense at No. 43 and a special teams ranked No. 67.

Of the remaining games, Florida is the highest-ranked at eighth followed by Clemson at 10, Auburn at 12 and Missouri at 81.

South Carolina just needs two more wins to reach bowl eligibility in year one under Beamer.

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