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Ranking The Most Difficult Games On South Carolina's 2023 Schedule

Shane Beamer and South Carolina's Football program have to deal with a difficult 2023 slate, but which games are the toughest.
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For the second offseason in a row, Shane Beamer and his coaching staff are powering through with a ton of momentum due to both the on-field results near the end of the previous season and what they've done on the recruiting trail in the past four months. It's also very likely, that for the second offseason in a row, analysts and pundits will question how the Gamecocks will handle heightened expectations in conjunction with what's deemed by some as the toughest schedule in the country this upcoming Fall.

That question might be more fair this time around due to some of the personnel losses South Carolina dealt with through the transfer portal, graduation and the NFL Draft. With all of this bearing in mind, this is how I rank South Carolina's most difficult games, with 12 being the easiest and 1 being the toughest.

1) at Georgia

2) at Tennessee

3) Clemson

4) at Missouri

5) Kentucky

6) at Texas A&M

7) Mississippi State

8) vs North Carolina (Charlotte, NC)

9) Florida

10) Vanderbilt

11) Jacksonville State

12) Furman

I compiled this ranking based on several different factors; how talented the Gamecocks' opponents are, home-field advantage and also the schedule dynamic for both sides, which dives into where games are specifically slotted on the schedule.

I think there's little to no debate about the top three teams, as Georgia, Clemson and Tennessee are most certainly the most complete programs right now out of all of the Gamecocks' annual opponents. With Missouri, the Gamecocks haven't defeated the Tigers since 2019, and will be coming off of an emotional revenge game opportunity against the Florida Gators, which makes the matchup much tougher than it might look on paper.

The schedule dynamic factor is the main reason for me ranking the North Carolina and Florida matchups as the 5th and 4th easiest games on the schedule respectively. Florida will be a team that won't sneak up on the Gamecocks after the blowout that took place last season, and South Carolina has usually taken full advantage of having extra time to prepare for an opponent in Shane Beamer's tenure. 

That extra prep time I believe will also serve the Gamecocks well against North Carolina, a team in which both staffs are quite familiar with each other after meeting up in the Duke's Mayo Bowl back in 2021.

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