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South Carolina Fighting Gamecocks The much-maligned Will Muschamp had a solid debut in his return to the head coaching ranks, guiding an incredibly young and talent-deprived roster to a 6-6 finish in the regular season. Although we dropped an overtime heartbreaker to South Florida in the bowl game, attaining postseason eligibility was by itself impressive under the circumstances. That being said, our schedule is quite a bit tougher this year, and we're still very much in rebuild mode when it comes to talent and depth. This could easily be the type of season where the team itself keeps improving, but the record doesn't reflect it. vs. N.C. State (in Charlotte), L: This is a pretty brutal season opener for us, since this is the most complete, experienced team State has fielded in quite a while. I'm gonna have to go with a loss here, although N.C. State and USC are spiritual siblings and there's always a chance the Pack fucks this up. at Missouri, W: Mostly calling this a win because we beat them last year and I don't find anything about them particularly intimidating. It is on the road, however, so it's probably more of a toss-up. vs. Kentucky, W: We've lost to UK three years in a loving row for some unfathomable reason. For the sake of my sanity, this cannot continue. vs. LaTech, W: Four games into the season and we finally get a cupcake. at Texas A&M, L: Much like we will never beat Auburn, we will also never beat A&M. vs. Arkansas, W: Gonna be completely honest here and say that I don't know much about Arkansas anymore since we lost them as our permanent rival. But hey, they're back on the schedule again! The last time we played, we were an actual good football team and ground them into a fine paste, but obviously things are different these days. I'm gonna go with a W just because it's at home, I guess. at Tennessee, toss-up leaning L: This is a weird one. We beat them last year when we probably shouldn't have; they beat us the year before that when they probably shouldn't have. We've historically played like a bunch of clowns in Neyland, though. vs. Vanderbilt, W: As usual, this game will cause far more grief than it should, but as usual, it will likely be a win. at Georgia, L: Our defensive line is still the Achilles heel of this team and there's just no way Chubb & Co. don't run for a million yards again. vs. Florida, L: This is probably a loss because we looked really bad and disjointed against them in the Swamp last year, but I do think this is our best chance at an "upset." vs. Wofford, W: Oh good, an in-state FCS team that runs the triple option. The last time we played one of those went really well. vs. Clemson, L: Better luck next year, or maybe the year after that. It's gonna be a bit before we have a roster that can hang again, as much as that sucks. Overall prediction: At best, we go 6-6 and get another bowl bid; at worst, we go 5-7 and everyone freaks out thinking we're back to being terrible. But as I mentioned, I really think this could be a season that sees a lot of improvement as far as the players are concerned; the schedule is just not as forgiving as 2016's. I'm preemptively preparing myself for the inevitable onslaught of hot takes.
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Jul 25, 2017 18:39
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MourningView posted:La Tech is good Yeah, they're certainly not a true cupcake. It's just crazy how long it's been taking us to get to our first non-P5/"warmup" game the past few seasons. Everyone's always bitching about boring, low stakes games in the first few weeks and we're always opening against an ACC team and immediately following up with conference games.
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Jul 25, 2017 19:56
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