South Carolina Football Schedule 2016: 5 Keys For The Gamecocks

The 2016 South Carolina Gamecock football schedule starts out weird, has a beautiful midseason home stretch, and closes up nasty.

2016 South Carolina Gamecocks Football Schedule

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MORE: Early SEC Football Rankings For 2016

2016 South Carolina Gamecocks

Sept. 1 at Vanderbilt
Sept. 10 at Miss State
Sept. 17 East Carolina
Sept. 24 at Kentucky
Oct. 1 Texas A&M
Oct. 8 Georgia
Oct. 15 OPEN DATE
Oct. 22 Massachusetts
Oct. 29 Tennessee
Nov. 5 Missouri
Nov. 12 at Florida
Nov. 19 Western Carolina
Nov. 26 at Clemson

Non-Conference Games East Carolina, Massachusetts, Western Carolina, at Clemson

Games vs. the West at Mississippi State, Texas A&M

5 Keys to the Schedule

– The Will Muschamp era starts out at Vanderbilt against a team with a good defense that’ll be looking to make a big statement of its own. Follow that up with a road game at Mississippi State, and with a trip to Kentucky for the next SEC game two weeks later, and the Gamecocks will be tested right out of the gate.

– So where’s the SEC payoff? It’s in an absolutely beautiful midseason run with five straight home games – four SEC, one against UMass – and with a week off in the middle meaning USC is at home from October 1 until November 12.

– The permanent West date against Texas A&M is now looking like a positive, and going to Mississippi State isn’t all that bad. There’s no Alabama, there’s no LSU, and there’s no Ole Miss. There’s no complaining about the interdivisional games.

– The first three non-conference games against East Carolina, UMass and Western Carolina are fine as long as there isn’t a gack against the Pirates, but the payback comes at the end. Going to Clemson is now a lot nastier than it used to be.

– WATCH OUT FOR … Georgia. If South Carolina can turn things back around in a hurry, this is the game that could get things to take off. With Tennessee and Missouri at home, there’s a chance to build up the conference record before the conference finale against Florida. Beat the Bulldogs, and it could be a fun year.

2017 Non-Conference Games NC State (in Charlotte), Louisiana Tech, Wofford, Clemson