The hype already has started building for South Carolina to have a big season, and the schedule is a big part of that.
Outside of powerful Clemson and Georgia teams, the top squads on the slate —Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Tennessee — all have big questions with new head coaches. Several prognosticators have predicted the Gamecocks will match last year’s nine wins or even get to 10 in the regular season.
But ESPN’s power ranking system doesn’t have the Gamecocks getting much past seven victories.
The network’s FPI projections are out, showing USC making a jump from 34th to 28th in the rankings.