Published Dec 11, 2020
Tanner: Gamecocks 'absolutely' on board with playing in bowl game
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Collyn Taylor  •  GamecockScoop
Beat Writer
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It’s been a weird year already, but it might get weirder over the next few weeks as bowl invitations get distributed.

There will not only be a handful of .500 teams extended invites, but a lot of teams with losing records headed to the postseason with the Gamecocks’ potentially being on of those.

South Carolina (2-8) has a high likelihood of getting a bowl bid, something Ray Tanner said everyone in the program “absolutely” is on board for.

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“It would be a great opportunity for us to try to get on the right track. We obviously have challenges to go through with testing and the protocol and we’re a little bit thin anyway but the other teams are going through it as well,” Tanner said on SportsTalk Thursday night.

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“As we’re talking tonight, our intentions are to get our players back and be prepared and be ready to go. As long as we don’t have any issues numbers-wise, we would go play in a bowl game.”

The Gamecocks’ bowl scenario is explained in-depth here, but the gist is the SEC has a lot of bowl slots to fill with a potentially a small amount of teams to fill them.

Those numbers could get even tighter if Alabama goes to the College Football Playoff and multiple teams—like Texas A&M or Georgia—earn either a CFP spot or an a at-large berth in a New Year’s Six bowl, games the SEC isn’t scheduled to play in this year.

If those teams play up in the NY6, then it would mean the same number of bowl slots with a smaller pool of teams to choose from.

“It kind of starts with how many of our teams are going to be playing up in the New Year’s Six. If you answer that question, then I would tell you that there’s a possibility that we would be playing as well,” Tanner said. “You can probably feel pretty confident about the SEC moving up, what, 3 or 4 teams? That being said, then the likelihood that we would play in a bowl game is strong.”

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The SEC has nine bowl game tie-ins and a potential 10th depending on which teams the Gasparilla Bowl selects.

Because the NCAA waived bowl eligibility requirements, teams didn’t need to exceed a win threshold to make a bowl game.

Tanner also said even if only three teams made it to New Year’s Six bowls—likely Alabama, Florida and one at-large team—the likelihood of the Gamecocks’ making a bowl is still high, especially now that LSU imposed a one-year bowl ban this season.

“I think probably at least three gives us a viable option. Remember, there’s two more weekends of games. Could be some tiebreaker situations with us and some other teams,” Tanner said. “It remains to be seen. We’re certainly not a lock, but if do we get those teams up, we have a lot of bowl slots we’re affiliated with in the Southeastern Conference.”

So far only two teams have finished their 10-game conference schedule—South Carolina and Kentucky. Four teams—Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas and Florida—are at nine games played with the rest of the conference at eight.

If South Carolina were to play in a bowl game, newly-hired head coach Shane Beamer would not coach in it but would be able to watch his new team practice.