Gamecocks and Illini Set for Cheez-It Citrus Bowl Dec. 31

The South Carolina Gamecocks (9-3, 5-3 SEC) will face the Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3, 6-3, Big Ten) in the 79th edition of the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. The game will be played at Camping World Stadium (60,000) in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, with kickoff scheduled for 3 pm ET. 

OVER THE AIRWAVES: The 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl will be televised nationally on ABC. Mark Jones will handle the play-by-play with Roddy Jones providing the color commentary. Quint Kessenich will be the sideline reporter. ESPN Radio will also have a national broadcast. Sean Kelley will call the action with Rene Ingoglia providing the analysis. Marilyn Payne will patrol the sidelines. 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.

GOING BOWLING: The Gamecocks are appearing in their 26th bowl game. They own a 10-15 mark in the previous 25 contests. Carolina has posted a 10-7 mark in its last 17 bowl contests after dropping its first eight bowl games. Most recently, the Gamecocks dropped a 45-38 decision to Notre Dame in the 2022 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It was just the third setback in their last nine bowl appearances. 

GOOD TO BE BACK: South Carolina will be making its fourth trip to a bowl game in Orlando and its first since the end of the 2013 season. The Gamecocks dropped a 20-7 decision to Miami (Ohio) in the Tangerine Bowl, played on Dec. 20, 1975, then won twice in the Capital One Bowl, defeating Nebraska by a 30-13 score on Jan. 2, 2012, and topping Wisconsin on Jan. 1, 2014, by a 34-24 score. 

WHERE THE GAMECOCKS STAND: One of the hottest teams in the country, the Gamecocks won their last six contests, including four over ranked opponents, to finish the regular season with a 9-3 record. The Gamecocks were ranked 15th in the final College Football Playoff Rankings and 14th in both the Associated Press and Coaches poll. 

SIZING UP THE ILLINI: South Carolina and Illinois have never met on the gridiron. However, Illini head coach Bret Bielema is no stranger to the Gamecocks. Bielema faced the Gamecocks twice as the head coach at the University of Arkansas. Carolina got the better of both decisions, winning by a 52-7 count in Fayetteville in 2013, Bielema’s first season with the Hogs, then posting a 48-22 win in Columbia in 2017, Bielema’s final year with the Razorbacks. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer has never faced the Illini.

SUCCESS AGAINST THE BIG TEN: South Carolina has won each of its last four contests against Big Ten teams in bowl games, and six of seven since the turn of the century. The Gamecocks opened the 2000s with back-to-back wins over Ohio State (2001 Outback and 2002 Outback) then, after a loss to Iowa in the 2009 Outback, Carolina has reeled off four-straight victories in bowl games over Big Ten schools, defeating Nebraska (2012 Capital One), Wisconsin (2014 Capital One) and Michigan twice (2013 Outback and 2018 Outback).

OLD FRIEND ALERT: Illinois wide receiver coach Justin Stepp was on Shane Beamer’s staff at South Carolina from 2021-23. He is originally from Pelion, S.C., just outside Columbia.

HOME SWEET HOME: South Carolina All-America punter Kai Kroeger hails from the Land of Lincoln. The All-American Super Senior who has handled the Gamecocks’ punting chores for each of the last five seasons, hails from Lake Forest, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

TROPHY HUNTING: The Gamecocks are looking to capture their fourth trophy of 2024. They collected the Bonham Trophy with a 44-20 win over No. 10/11 Texas A&M, defeated No. 24/21 Missouri, 34-30, to bring the Mayor’s Cup to South Carolina, then took home the Palmetto Bowl trophy after defeating in-state rival Clemson, 17-14. It marked the first time that South Carolina captured all three regular season trophies in the same season.

ANOTHER TOP-25 MATCHUP: South Carolina will be playing its eighth top-25 opponent, according to the Associated Press poll at the time of the game, as Illinois enters the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl ranked No. 21 in the most recent AP poll. The eight games played against ranked opponents is a school record, surpassing the previous mark of seven in the 2010 season. The Gamecocks are 4-3 against AP top-25 teams this season, falling to No. 16 LSU, No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 7 Alabama before defeating No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 24 Missouri and No. 12 Clemson in the second half of the season. 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: South Carolina 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 then, after defeating Wofford, knocked off No. 12 and eventual ACC Champion Clemson to improve to 4-3 against ranked opponents this season. The Gamecocks are 7-12 against AP 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 four-game winning streak. 

THEY REMEMBER NOVEMBER: The Gamecocks went a perfect 5-0 in the month of November. They started the month off with an impressive 44-20 win over No. 10/11 Texas A&M and followed that up with a convincing 28-7 win over No. 24/25 Vanderbilt in Nashville before rallying past No. 24/21 Missouri by a 34-30 count. They routed FCS Wofford in Columbia by a 56-12 score. before winning by a 17-14 count at No. 12 Clemson, their second-straight win in Tiger Town. The Gamecocks have played their best ball in November under Shane Beamer, posting a 13-4 mark in the month over the past four years including wins over six ranked opponents. The recent surge has propelled South Carolina to a No. 14 ranking in the AP poll this week, its highest ranking since September of 2014.

THEY CALL IT A STREAK: The Gamecocks have won six-straight games, the first four of which came against SEC opponents. They own the longest current winning streak in the SEC. They are looking to notch their seventh-straight win, something that hasn’t been done since a 10-game winning streak over the final four games of the 2011 season and continuing through the first six games of the 2012 campaign. the last time they won seven or more games in a row in a single season came in 1984 when they won the first nine game of the season. Only Oregon (14) and Notre Dame (10) have longer current winning streaks among Power 4 and independent schools heading into the postseason.

TO BE THE BEST YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST: The Gamecocks have set the school record for wins over a ranked opponent in a season with four, knocking off the AP’s No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 24 Missouri and No. 12 Clemson over the final five weeks of the season. They had knocked off three ranked teams in a season on six occasions previously. Here are the years, opponents and rankings of those wins:

Year Opponents (Rank)

2000 Georgia (9), Miss. State (25), Ohio St. (19)

2001 Georgia (25), Miss. State (17), Ohio St. (22)

2010 Georgia (22), Alabama (1), Florida (24)

2012 Georgia (5), Clemson (12), Michigan (19)

2013 Missouri (5), Clemson (6), Wisconsin (19)

2022 Kentucky (13), Tennessee (5), Clemson (7)

2024 Texas A&M (10), Vanderbilt (24), Missouri (24), Clemson (12)

IN SEARCH OF NUMBER TEN: The Gamecocks are in search of their 10th win of the season. They have won nine or more games eight times and have won 10 or more games just four times. Carolina posted a school-record 11 wins in three-straight seasons from 2011-13. 

11 wins – 3 times (2011, 2012, 2013)

10 wins – 1 time (1984)

9 wins – 4 times (2001, 2010, 2017, 2024)

ROAD WARRIORS: The Gamecocks won four true road games this season for just the fourth time in school history, also winning four road games in 1968, 1994 and 2006. They logged a trio of impressive SEC road wins, all by at least three touchdowns, posting a 31-6 victory at Kentucky, winning in a 35-9 rout at Oklahoma and knocking off 24th-ranked Vanderbilt 28-7, holding all three of those opponents to under 10 points. They recorded three conference road wins for the first time since 2011 when they won at Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee en route to an 11-2 mark overall and a 6-2 SEC record. 

IT JUST MEANS MORE: The Gamecocks recorded five SEC wins for the first time since 2017 and for just the ninth time since joining the league in 1992.

ALL ABOARD THE SHANE TRAIN: South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer owns a 29-21 in his fourth season at the helm. The 29 wins surpasses Steve Spurrier, Carolina’s all-time winningest coach, for the most wins in his first four years in Columbia. Coach Spurrier posted a 28-22 from 2005-08 and finished with a school record 86 wins.  With 29 victories, Coach Beamer hold sole possession of eighth place on the all-time wins list at South Carolina, one more than Warren Giese and Will Muschamp.

THAT’S MY COACH: Coming off a disappointing 5-7 season in 2023 and picked to finish near the bottom of the expanded 16-team Southeastern Conference, head coach Shane Beamer led the Gamecocks to a 9-3 mark this season, earning SEC Coach of the Year honors by the Associated Press and by USA TODAY. He has been recognized as one of nine coaches across the country as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, is one of five coaches for the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award and is a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award.

PROMOTE FROM WITHIN: The Gamecocks have had one coaching change since the end of the regular season as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains took the head coaching position at Appalachian State University. Head coach Shane Beamer was quick to elevate Senior Offensive Assistant Coach Mike Shula into that coordinator role. Shula, who has been on the staff for a year, was the head coach at his alma mater, Alabama from 2003-06, and served as an offensive coordinator in the NFL for several seasons. He was named the NFL Offensive Coordinator of the Year in 2015 after helping Cam Newton win NFL MVP honors and the Carolina Panthers reached the Super Bowl. Shula was officially named offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach on Dec. 16.

TITLE CHANGE: Head coach Shane Beamer has added the title of Passing Game Coordinator to wide receivers coach Mike Furrey. Furrey has been with the Gamecocks for just one year but made an immediate impression both in the wide receiver room and on the recruiting front.

DEALS AND STEALS: Mike Shula received a three-year contract that will take him through the 2027 season. The other nine on-field assistant coaches had contract extensions approved by the University’s Board of Trustees, with Joe DeCamillis, Shawn Elliott, Torrian Gray and Clayton White extended through 2027 and Marquel Blackwell, Mike Furrey, Sterling Lucas, Travian Robertson and Lonnie Teasley extended through 2026.