Gamecocks Host Wofford in Final Home Game Saturday

The No. 19/19 South Carolina Gamecocks (7-3, 5-3 SEC) wrap up their 2024 home schedule when they host the FCS Wofford Terriers (5-6, 3-5 SoCon) out of the Southern Conference on Saturday, Nov. 23. The game is slated for a 4 pm kick from Williams-Brice Stadium (77,559) in Columbia. The South Carolina seniors will be recognized on the field prior to their final game at Williams-Brice Stadium. The halftime show will be the annual “Salute the Troops” extravaganza.

OVER THE AIRWAVES: This week’s contest will be streamed on ESPN+/SECN+. Jay Alter will handle the play-by-play with Rocky Boiman providing the color commentary. Ashley Stroehlein will be the sideline reporter. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features a pair of Gamecock Great quarterbacks in play-by-play voice Todd Ellis (33rd season) and analyst Tommy Suggs (52nd season). Chet Tucker is back for his second year as the sideline reporter.

SENIOR SALUTE: The Gamecocks will be recognizing their seniors prior to the start of the game. South Carolina boasts 36 fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-year seniors on its roster. Not all 36 players are expected to participate in the pregame ceremony, as several have eligibility remaining. Among FBS teams, only Eastern Michigan (39) had more seniors on its roster when the season began.

SEASON SNAPSHOT: The Gamecocks are 7-3 overall and 5-3 in SEC play. All three of South Carolina’s losses have come to ranked opponents with two of setbacks not decided until the game’s final play. They opened the campaign with a hard-fought 23-19 win over Old Dominion, then dominated Kentucky in the SEC opener, winning by a 31-6 count in Lexington. The Gamecocks were unable to hold onto a 17-0 first half lead in a heartbreaking 36-33 setback to No. 16/17 LSU, then bounced back with a convincing 50-7 rout of Akron to improve to 3-1. The Gamecocks dropped their next two contests to highly-ranked opponents, coming up on the short end of a 27-3 decision to No. 12/11 Ole Miss in Columbia, then suffering another gut wrenching defeat in a 27-25 loss at No. 7/7 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. They have responded with four-straight conference wins, first a convincing 35-9 dismantling of Oklahoma in Norman then, after an off week, scoring the game’s final 27 points in a 44-20 win over No. 10/11 Texas A&M. They pounded No. 24/25 Vanderbilt 28-7 in Nashville to become bowl eligible for the third time in four years under head coach Shane Beamer, then recorded their third-straight win over a ranked opponent in as many weeks with a heart-stopping 34-30 win over No. 24/21 Missouri last Saturday.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: South Carolina has knocked off three ranked opponents in the consecutive weeks for the first time in school history, defeating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20, No. 24 Vanderbilt 28-7 and No. 24 Missouri 34-30 to improve to 3-3 against ranked opponents this season. The Gamecocks are 6-12 against A.P. ranked opponents in the Shane Beamer Era, also logging wins against No. 13 Kentucky, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 7 Clemson, all in the 2022 season. The Gamecocks had lost eight-straight games to ranked opponents before going on the current three-game winning streak. South Carolina and Arkansas are the only teams in the nation that have faced six opponents ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of game this season. The recent surge has propelled South Carolina to a No. 19 ranking in both the AP and Coaches’ polls this week, its highest ranking since 2014.

GAMECOCKS VS. TERRIERS: This is the 25th meeting between these two Palmetto-state schools. Carolina has won the last 17 contests to take a 20-4 lead in the all-time series. The teams have met just five times, all in Columbia, since the 1957 season, with the Gamecocks winning by a 38-14 count in 2001, 27-20 in 2006, 23-13 in 2008, 24-7 in 2012 and most recently by a 31-10 score in 2017. Wofford’s last win over South Carolina came over 100 years ago, on Nov. 17, 1917, by a 20-0 score, which also marks Carolina’s last trip to Spartanburg. The Terriers other three wins came either before or at the turn of the 20th century – 1895, 1896 and 1901, with their last win in Columbia coming by a 6-4 count in 1896.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: The Gamecocks’ defense held Wofford to just 227 total yards and forced three turnovers which led to 14 points in a 31-10 victory on Nov. 18, 2017, in Columbia. Jake Bentley led the Gamecock offense by completing 22-of-28 passes for 194 yards and a score and tallied a pair of rushing touchdowns. A.J. Turner rushed 11 times for 69 yards and a TD and went over the 1,000-yard mark for his career. Bryan Edwards logged eight receptions. Skai Moore tied the school record with his 14th career interception. Dante Sawyer logged his fifth forced fumble of the season, tops in the SEC and one shy of the school record. The victory marked the 600th win in South Carolina Football history.

DON’T BLAME THE DEFENSE: The losing team in this series generally can’t blame its defense on the setback, because its offensive performance was abysmal. In the 24 previous contests, the losing team has scored as many as 20 points just once (a 27-20 South Carolina win in the 2006 game), while being blanked a dozen times. The losing team has been held to a touchdown or less in 18 of the previous 24 games.

IN-STATE FCS FOES: Since the regular season was expanded to 12 games in 2006, Carolina has hosted an in-state FCS opponent 14 times. They are 13-1 in those games, with wins coming against Wofford (2006, 2008, 2012, 2017), South Carolina State (2007, 2009, 2022), Furman (2010, 2014, 2023), The Citadel (2011), Coastal Carolina (2013) and Charleston Southern (2019). The only loss during that stretch came against The Citadel in 2015.

YOU’RE NOT WORTHY: The Gamecocks are 44-15 in their last 59 non-conference games, a .746 winning clip, with eight of the 15 losses in that stretch coming against Clemson. The Gamecocks are 2-0 in non-conference play this season following a season-opening win over Old Dominion and a win over Akron. They’ll finish the regular season next week with a non-conference game at Clemson.

PROTECT THIS HOUSE: South Carolina has won 40 of its last 47 home games (.851) against non-conference foes. The Gamecocks have won seven of their last eight non-conference home games.

THE POWER OF FOUR: Since the turn of the century, the Gamecocks have a 56-4 mark (.933) against teams not currently in a Power-4 conference. The only four losses in that stretch came to UConn in the 2010 Papajohns.com Bowl, to The Citadel in 2015, to USF in the 2016 Birmingham Bowl and to Appalachian State in 2019. It should be noted that UConn was in the Big East, which was a BCS automatic qualifier during the 2009 season.