Kentucky game will be 'huge to determine' the rest of the season
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL
When South Carolina came into Missouri this past weekend, it entered with a chance to get back to .500 and earn a much-needed win with still two thirds of a grueling schedule left to go.
The Gamecocks left with a 34-14 loss, the third defeat in four games, and a major dent in their postseason chances.
Now, they have to regroup quickly before playing Kentucky Saturday a game, which will go a long way in determining if the Gamecocks make a bowl this season.
“It’s huge to determine the outcome of the rest of our season,” Bryan Edwards. “I’m going to be ready to play. I expect everybody else ready to play, ready to come out hungry and fighting. There ain’t no quit in this team, there ain’t no quit in me.”
Also see: Inside the Gamecocks' snap counts Saturday
The term must-win is thrown around a little too much in sports, but Saturday’s game against the Wildcats feels about as close as you can get to it.
With a win, the Gamecocks enter the bye week at 2-3 and need four wins in their last seven games to make a bowl.
A loss means a sixth straight to Kentucky and the team limping to the bye losers of three straight games and needing to go 5-2 down the stretch with games against Georgia, Clemson, Florida and Texas A&M still on the schedule.
“Get back to work and work harder than we’ve worked in the past. Obviously it’s not working for us so we have to do something different.”
Also see: Insider notes from Sunday's baseball scrimmage
ESPN did not include South Carolina in its latest bowl projections, and the organization’s FPI rankings project the Gamecocks finishing with 4.4 wins this season.
The FPI—which measures team strength—has the Gamecocks as the No. 30 team in the country.
The good news is South Carolina has a over 50 percent chance to win four of its remaining eight games: Vanderbilt (80), Appalachian State (77.5), Kentucky (60.8) and at Tennessee (56.5).
The bad news is if the Gamecocks win all four of those, it’d still put them at five wins; they’d need to upset at least one other team on their schedule, which would be No. 3 Georgia, No. 9 Florida, No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 1 Clemson.
Also see: How Gamecock commits are doing in high school ball this season
The highest chance FPI gives the Gamecocks in those fours games is the home game against Florida, a 28.5 percent chance. According to FPI’s formula, they have a 17.8 percent chance to beat the Aggies, 10.1 at home to Clemson and 9.2 on the road at Georgia.
That impending schedule just adds more stakes to Saturday’s game against Kentucky, especially after dropping Saturday’s game against the Tigers.
“Lets get back to work. That’s all we can do. Let’s get back to work and try to find a way to get a win,” Will Muschamp said postgame. “We’ll have a great crowd at Williams-Brice on Saturday night in our stadium. I know our fans will be there and excited about it and we’ll be there too. We need to get back to work, find some answers on what we can do to play more consistently as a team. We haven’t been very consistent in anything.”
The Gamecocks kick off against Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network Saturday night.
