The Ol' Ball Coach is up to his old tricks again. Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks are probably never going to become legitimate National Championship contenders, but in a weak SEC East, the prospects of reaching Atlanta is most certainly a possibility.
2015 SCHEDULE
9/3: vs. North Carolina (at Bank of America Stadium)
9/12: vs. Kentucky
9/19: at Georgia
9/26: vs. UCF
10/3: at Missouri
10/10: vs. LSU
10/17: vs. Vanderbilt
10/31: at Texas A&M
11/7: at Tennessee
11/14: vs. Florida
11/21: vs. The Citadel
11/28: vs. Clemson
Seven home games against four road games and a neutral site game isn't bad for Spurrier and the Gamecocks this year, especially considering the fact that there isn't a truly impossible game on the docket.
Oh sure, South Carolina will be an underdog to Georgia for sure, and it will be a dog probably four or five times this season at best, but there won't be a game in which it is a double digit dog past September 19 out in Athens.
SEASON WIN TOTAL
The number to beat for South Carolina this year is just seven, a number which almost feels a little low for how well the Gamecocks have played in recent years. Still, it's worth mentioning that there are a ton of tossup games on this docket, and that's always a scary proposition when you're betting on a team to win eight of its 12 games in the regular season.
OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK
The South Carolina quarterback battle is very likely to rage on all season long. Connor Mitch and Perry Orth are both suspect options at best. Mitch seems to have the slight lead at this point on the job, but we wonder whether Spurrier would be willing to blow the redshirt of four-star recruit Lorenzo Nunez under center.
Nunez isn't your typical Spurrier quarterback, as he runs like the wind and doesn't have a polished arm, but at least he can make things happen.
The good news is that whoever is under center will have seven returning starters from last year's team, including tailback Brandon Wilds and a very decorated wide out in Pharoh Cooper.
DEFENSIVE OUTLOOK
The Gamecocks didn't have any All-SEC players on defense last year, but they do bring back eight starters from that unit.
Then there's the bad news. The SEC isn't the most offensive-minded conference in America, yet South Carolina allowed a stunning 432.7 yards and 30.4 points per game, ranking No. 94 and No. 91 in the nation respectively.
Al Harris and Chris Lammons figure to start at the two corner spots as sophomores, which could create a lot of problems again in Columbia.
SEASON PREDICTION
It wouldn't be a huge shock if anyone won the SEC East, but the Gamecocks aren't good enough to beat any of the big boys in Atlanta. The only reason this team is 100 to 1 to win it all is because it resides in the SEC, where it just feels like a rite of passage to be 100 to 1 or better to win it all unless your name is Kentucky or Vanderbilt.
Nunez is the best hope that this team has to really take a massive step forward, because we just don't believe in either Mitch or Orth. True freshmen just don't have massive impacts at the quarterback position though, and we have a tough time believing that Nunez, no matter how good he really is, can be one of the best even eight quarterbacks in the SEC.
South Carolina will go bowling this year, but that's about all that we would count upon.
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