South Carolina got the weekend off, but that didn’t mean the bye week came and went without consequences.
While the Gamecocks sat at 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the SEC, the chaos around college football and the conference kept reshaping the view of what’s left for USC. Florida’s upset of Texas made South Carolina’s 38-19 win over the Gators look even sharper.
At the same time, Mississippi State and Alabama - two SEC teams the Gamecocks have already lost to - both took losses of their own. For Carolina, the resume picture didn’t change much.
What did change was the outlook for the final stretch. With six games left, South Carolina’s path can now be lined up from the most manageable to the most difficult.
The easiest one on the board is the Nov. 14 trip to Arkansas. The Razorbacks are 3-4 and 1-3 in SEC play, and while they’re no longer the conference’s bottom feeder after beating Vanderbilt, there isn’t much evidence they’ve become a problem.
Arkansas still has the lowest-scoring offense in the league at 21 points per game, and its defense has already allowed 25 touchdowns, which ranks second-worst in the SEC. The Hogs have the same number of SEC wins as South Carolina, but there’s little reason to think they’re the stronger team, even at home.
Right behind them is Texas A&M, which visits Columbia on Nov. 7.
The Aggies have been a mess offensively, checking in with the fourth-worst offense in the SEC at 357 yards per game. Senior quarterback Marcel Reed has slipped in almost every major category, completing just over 55% of his passes and tossing six interceptions already.
Texas A&M has also already dropped games to Kentucky, LSU and Missouri, and after reaching the College Football Playoff a year ago, it’s now staring at the possibility of missing a bowl game. South Carolina has also had some success in this matchup since Mike Elko took over in 2024, including a win over the 10th-ranked Aggies in 2024 and a game last year that the Gamecocks probably should have won after blowing a 30-3 halftime lead.
If USC can handle Oklahoma on Halloween, there should be plenty of optimism heading into November.
The Halloween trip to Oklahoma lands next on the list. There was some belief the Sooners had turned a corner after beating No.
1 Texas, but Saturday undercut that idea when Texas and Oklahoma both lost at home, to Florida and Kentucky, respectively. Oklahoma’s offense has been hard to watch.
It owns the worst rushing attack in the SEC at 95.50 yards per game, converts barely one-third of its third downs and gives away possessions too often. Quarterback John Mateer has thrown seven interceptions, and the Sooners have lost six fumbles.
Their turnover margin, at -1.33 per game, tied for 134th in the nation. The one thing keeping Oklahoma afloat is Brent Venables’ defense, which has the best passing defense in the SEC at 151.33 yards allowed and forces opponents into third-down stops at a rate of about 26%.
Still, if South Carolina avoids self-inflicted mistakes, it has a real chance to leave Norman with a win, just as it did in 2024.
Then comes Clemson on Nov. 28, a game that should make the Gamecocks feel better just by virtue of where it’s being played. The home team hasn’t won the Palmetto Bowl since 2018.
Clemson also hasn’t inspired much confidence this season, getting outscored by a combined 69 points in its two games against ranked opponents, a 51-10 loss to No. 18 LSU and a 41-13 loss to No.
1 Miami. Still, this is Clemson, and rivalry games don’t always obey the form guide.
The last four meetings have been split 2-2, and each side has found ways to make things interesting no matter how the seasons looked beforehand. South Carolina may be the favorite in Death Valley, but this matchup is never simple.
Tennessee comes next on Oct. 24, and this is the kind of opponent that can change the whole tone of a month. The Volunteers just beat Alabama, and the cleanest path for South Carolina would be for Tennessee to get caught up in the aftermath and come out flat at Williams-Brice.
But the Volunteers are built differently from the version South Carolina upset in 2022. That team lived on shootouts.
This one wants to line up, control the clock and punish you at the line of scrimmage. Tennessee benched quarterback Faizon Brandon for George MacIntyre two weeks ago, but the real story in the Alabama win was the trenches: 41 rushing attempts for 150 yards on offense, and just over 2 yards per carry allowed on defense.
That’s a much tougher proposition for the Gamecocks.
And at the top of the difficulty list sits Georgia, which comes to Columbia on Nov. 21.
Yes, the Bulldogs lost to unranked Auburn on Saturday, and yes, that result showed they’re not invincible. But Auburn also needed a 3-0 turnover edge, a late Gunner Stockton fumble, and help from an uncharacteristic late-hit penalty to pull it off.
Even with that collapse, Georgia still looks like the SEC’s best team, and beating it would require South Carolina’s cleanest, sharpest performance of the season. That kind of upset is possible in college football.
It just isn’t the likeliest thing on the Gamecocks’ remaining schedule.
In Other News...
Dabo Swinney Zeroed In On Clemsons Biggest Passing Problem
Through six games, Clemsons passing offense has been a source of frustration, and Dabo Swinney did not try to dress it up as anything else this week. He pointed to missed opportunities and uneven execution, including dropped touchdown passes and a freshman quarterback still learning on the fly, as the kind of issues that have kept the Tigers from getting more out of the aerial game.
Swinney also stressed that the group has work left to do as Clemson turns to Virginia Tech, even after reaching a recent team goal. The bigger question now is whether the passing game can sharpen up quickly enough to match the rest of the teams progress, because the margin for error only gets thinner from here. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Gets Another Prime-Time ACC Test At Florida State
Clemsons next road assignment now comes with a prime-time spotlight, as the ACC has set the Tigers trip to Florida State for Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. on the ACC Network. It is the kind of late-season stage Clemson has grown used to, and it arrives with the Tigers sitting at 4-2 and still in position to strengthen their standing in the league if they take care of Virginia Tech at home first.
Florida State, meanwhile, will be waiting after a bye week and trying to steady a season that has slipped to 3-4. Doak Campbell Stadium has a way of making November-caliber games feel bigger than the records attached to them, and this one already carries the look of an ACC measuring-stick night for Clemson as it tries to keep its conference path in front of it. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Gets A Personal ACC Test Under The Lights
Clemsons next ACC test arrives in prime time, with Virginia Tech set for a Oct. 24 visit to Memorial Stadium in a 7 p.m. kickoff on ESPN. The Hokies come in at 5-2 under first-year coach James Franklin, while Dabo Swinneys Tigers are 4-2 and looking to keep their place in the league race in front of a home crowd under the lights.
There is also a familiar name across the field in Virginia Tech quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, the Penn State transfer who helped beat Clemson in the 2025 Pinstripe Bowl. Clemson has taken the last seven meetings in the series, but this matchup carries a little extra edge because of Grunkemeyers recent history against the Tigers and the chance for Swinneys team to answer it in a setting built for a statement game. [Read more 🡒]