South Carolina’s latest bowl buzz keeps pointing west.
Three national outlets now have the Gamecocks headed to Las Vegas for a New Year’s Eve matchup, a sign that their late-season surge is changing the conversation. South Carolina is coming off a win over Oklahoma, its third straight SEC victory, and the projections are starting to reflect that momentum.
CBS Sports has South Carolina in the Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon on Dec. 31. Brad Crawford moved the Gamecocks there after previously slotting them in the Gator Bowl.
“There’s plenty of South Carolina fans who would make the trip out West to watch a team that has caught fire since an 0-3 start to the SEC slate.” Crawford wrote. “Saturday’s drubbing at Oklahoma was the Gamecocks’ third-straight win under Shane Beamer, who has coached himself off the hot seat and could be the highest-ranked three-loss team in Tuesday’s first CFP reveal.”
Sports Illustrated also sends South Carolina to Las Vegas, this time against Arizona on Dec. 31. On3 follows the same general path, projecting the Gamecocks against Southern Cal in the Las Vegas Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
ESPN’s projections are a little different. Kyle Bonagura keeps South Carolina in the IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl, matching the Gamecocks with Miami (Ohio) on Dec.
- Mark Schlabach has them in the Music City Bowl, where they’d face Wisconsin on Dec.
Athlon Sports also lands South Carolina in Nashville, but with Nebraska on the other sideline on Dec. 30.
Athlon had previously pegged USC for the Liberty Bowl before shifting to the Music City Bowl. The two teams have met four times, with the most recent meeting coming in the 2012 Capital One Bowl in Orlando.
Clemson’s picture is much less settled.
The Tigers, fresh off a win over Florida State, show up in projections stretching from Puerto Rico to Maryland to California. ESPN alone has Clemson in two different bowls: Bonagura projects the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Penn State on Dec. 26, while Schlabach sends the Tigers to the Sun Bowl against Oregon State on Dec. 30.
Bonagura’s pick would put Clemson in Charlotte for a second straight year against Penn State. The Nittany Lions beat the Tigers 22-10 in last year’s Pinstripe Bowl. Schlabach’s projection would send Clemson to Texas for a first-ever meeting with Oregon State in a bowl the Tigers have never played.
CBS Sports takes Clemson to the San Juan Bowl in Puerto Rico for the inaugural game there, with Marshall as the opponent on Dec. 16. The two teams have met once before, when Marshall won 13-10 in 1999.
Athlon Sports has Clemson in the Sun Bowl against Arizona on Dec. 31, while On3 projects the Tigers to the Military Bowl against UTSA on Dec. 28. That would send Clemson to Maryland for the first time, facing a Roadrunners team led by one of the hottest coaching candidates in Jeff Traylor.
Sports Illustrated gives Clemson another West Coast trip, projecting the Tigers in the Holiday Bowl against Southern Cal on Dec. 28. Clemson already played at Cal earlier this season.
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Syracuse has quietly built some momentum of its own, winning its last two games, and the Orange also have a key piece back in place with starting quarterback Steve Angeli returning from injury. For Clemson, that makes this more than just another November trip north, especially with the kind of setting and timing that can make conference games feel a lot tighter than the records might indicate. [Read more 🡒]