Playing non-conference opponents the week before the rivalry was a staple under Steve Spurrier and Will Muschamp, but this is the first instance of it in the Shane Beamer era.

South Carolina football hosts FCS Wofford on Saturday for its senior day, the final tune-up before the rivalry trip to Clemson the following week. It should be a routine afternoon for the Gamecocks, and the same can be said for their rival in the upstate as the Tigers host The Citadel to ramp up their own preparations for Nov. 30.

From 2010 through 2018 the Gamecocks dipped out of SEC play the week before the Clemson game every year, and played FCS opposition on seven occasions. They even used the exact same scheduling model as this season twice, playing Wofford before Clemson in 2012 and 2017.

But under Beamer, the Gamecocks have played a home conference game this week all three years. In 2021 they beat Auburn to get bowl eligible, 2022 was of course the legendary upset win over Tennessee and last season’s penultimate game of the year was a 17-14 victory over Kentucky.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Shane Beamer said. “I guess Clemson is doing the same thing because they play Citadel this week.”

Other SEC teams are taking a similar approach to their week before the rivalry game. Georgia is hosting UMass before playing Georgia Tech, Tennessee will host UTEP before going to Vanderbilt next week and Arkansas has a home game against Louisiana Tech prior to its annual season-ending game against Missouri. And although it is not technically the week before the Iron Bowl this year, Alabama and Auburn played Mercer and Louisiana-Monroe respectively last week for a late-season SEC breather.

There is no exact science on how to organize a schedule, and unsurprisingly the caliber of Clemson has a lot to do with the subsequent rivalry results. The Gamecocks are 4-5 in the rivalry game the week after playing a non-conference game since 2010, and 1-3 the week after an SEC game.

“There’s merit to both of them,” Beamer said. “Obviously we’ve had success with playing a big non-conference game before Clemson, and I guess we’ve won all three games before the Clemson game [in his tenure]. So I don’t know.”

Will it continue in the future? South Carolina is currently scheduled to do it again next season, hosting Coastal Carolina ahead of Clemson.

The 2026 and 2027 schedules both still have one more non-conference opponent to fill, although 2026 already features a September game against FCS Towson, and 2027 does not currently have a season-opener — the first game currently scheduled is week two against Appalachian State. Schedules can change and the potential expansion of the SEC schedule to nine games could impact future non-conference dates, but for now it seems like what used to be a staple on the schedule will make another appearance next year before going away again for the foreseeable future.

“Let me think about it more,” Beamer said with a smile. “I’ll talk to Coach [Ray] Tanner about it.”

************************************************************************

Looking to continue the conversation? Join us on the insider's forum to talk all things South Carolina football.