Muschamp sees a problem with scheduling game during bye week
With South Carolina down a game after canceling this weekend's game with Marshall, the process of adding a 12th regular season game is already underway.
Right now there are a few options but head coach Will Muschamp said he's not crazy about taking away the team's Oct. 20 bye week.
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"The problem with that, with me, is we’re going to play 10 straight games and I don’t think that’s healthy for my football team," he said on his weekly call-in show. "I have to think about the student athlete first and that’s something we’ll certainly consider.”
Right now the Gamecocks have that option and the choice to schedule a team Dec. 1, the same day of the SEC Championship game.
If the Gamecocks aren't playing in that, they could schedule another team that had a game canceled and isn't playing that day either.
But Muschamp isn't thinking that far ahead because he knows the Gamecocks are still in the hunt for the SEC East title.
“We’re planning on being there," he said about the SEC title game.
Also see: Which Gamecocks graded out the best through the first two games?
The Gamecocks canceled Saturday's game with Marshall because of Hurricane Florence barreling up the East Coast with it projected to hit Columbia at some point this weekend.
After entering the week with the full intention to play the game, after the hurricane's path ultimately shifted south toward South Carolina, the Gamecocks and Herd agreed to cancel the game Wednesday.
That would also prevent Marshall from having to travel through Virginia and North Carolina to-and-from the game, which are two areas expected to get hit the hardest by the looming storm.
“You never really know how bad these things are going to be but you can’t make a decision on game day on whether or not we’re going to play,” Muschamp said. “Marshall had to travel and they were a little worried about travel getting in and out. Our state troopers are all going to be on the coast aiding people with the storm, so there’s a lot of things that go into this.”
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