Gamecocks' 2021 football schedule released
South Carolina has its schedule officially set for Shane Beamer's first season in Columbia.
The SEC officially announced its league schedule Wednesday afternoon with the Gamecocks having to play four teams that finished ranked in the final AP Poll this season: Clemson at No. 3, Texas A&M at No. 4, Georgia at No. 7 and Florida coming in at No. 13.
The COVID-impacted season doesn't change anything in terms of the 2021 schedule, so the Gamecocks get their typical SEC home and away games and West rotational games.
The two West opponents will be Auburn at home and Texas A&M on the road.
They'll have SEC East home games against Florida, Kentucky and Vanderbilt with road tilts at Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee.
The Gamecocks open SEC play on the road at Georgia, their first trip to Athens since beating the Bulldogs in double overtime there.
Shane Beamer's SEC home opener comes the following week when the Gamecocks host Kentucky. The Gamecocks will play eight straight games before a bye week Oct. 30 in Week 9.
The Gamecocks already have their non-conference slate set up with Eastern Illinois coming to Williams-Brice on Sept. 4 to open the season and the Shane Beamer era. It's the first matchup between the two schools.
They'll also travel to East Carolina the following week, Sept. 11, with SEC play starting the following week. It'll be the 19th matchup between the two schools, first since 2016 and the first in Greenville since 1997.
Troy comes to Williams-Brice on Oct. 2 for the first matchup between these two programs since 2010. The Gamecocks are a perfect 3-0 against the Trojans.
After a year hiatus, the annual rivalry game against Clemson is scheduled to be played at Williams-Brice on Nov. 27.
All times are still to be determined.
The Gamecocks are tentatively scheduled to start spring practice March 20 with a spring game scheduled for April 24.
Full 2021 schedule
Week 1 (Sept. 4): vs. Eastern Illinois
Week 2 (Sept. 11): at East Carolina
Week 3 (Sept. 18): at Georgia
Week 4 (Sept. 25): Kentucky
Week 5 (Oct. 2): vs. Troy
Week 6 (Oct. 9): at Tennessee
Week 7 (Oct. 16): Vanderbilt
Week 8 (Oct. 23): at Texas A&M
Week 9 (Oct. 30): Bye week
Week 10 (Nov. 6): Florida
Week 11 (Nov. 13): at Missouri
Week 12 (Nov. 20): Auburn
Week 13 (Nov. 27): vs. Clemson
