Easiest SEC permanent opponent draws - 11: South Carolina
Speaking of the Gamecocks, they have the 11th-easiest schedule on this ranking. Carolina has long had the misfortune of sitting between Florida, Georgia, and Clemson while being the worst-recruiting of the three for long stretches— and now, they’ll return to playing each of these teams every single year.
They do get the relief of playing against Kentucky, but the only problem is that they’ve had a lot of trouble beating the Wildcats regularly since Steve Spurrier left town. Will Muschamp was notoriously plagued by this game, and while Shane Beamer has been better— he’ll be looking for yet another win against them this weekend, as it happens— it’s not as automatic as the game against Vanderbilt was for quite some time.
With Florida in their current state, Gamecock fans will want to make that more of a 50/50 rivalry than it has been. The Swamp has been a house of horrors for Carolina, but they’ve been decent at taking care of business against UF up in Williams Brice.
That said, this will be no picnic at all. Georgia is a team that Carolina has been able to upset from time to time, but with the way Kirby has them rolling, I don’t think that will happen with any regularity. This could be a really tough stretch going forward for South Carolina.