South Carolina Football: 2017 season preview and prediction

South Carolina football needs to bring something to the fans at Williams-Brice in 2017. The team in Columbia has the talent to bring them something this year.

The last three years in Columbia, S.C., have been more than disappointing. Since 2013, the Gamecocks have not had more than three SEC wins. In that same time span, they have only had one season with over a .500 record. And what probably pains Gamecock fans the most is having to see bitter rival Clemson go to two straight national title games and win it all in 2016.

Out of conference, the Gamecocks are 7-5 in the last three seasons with their best win being against Miami in the Duck Commander Bowl in the 2014 season. Their worst loss during that time being against in-state FCS opponent The Citadel.

This season would be a great time to stop the bleeding for the Gamecocks. South Carolina has been re-tooling for a number of seasons and now it is time to use those weapons. The Gamecocks return a number of players on defense and on offense who have been a bunch of experience.

The 2017 Gamecocks are expected to compete in the SEC East. If the cards fall right, they could represent the East in the SEC Championship Game.

Here’s the 2017 South Carolina season preview along with some final record predictions.

Offense

This is the most stable the offense has been in a while. In fact, this is the first year since the Connor Shaw era that the Gamecocks will have a quarterback return after starting a majority of the games from the previous year.

Jake Bentley showed promise in the games last year and looked to be even better in the spring game. Bentley will be captaining a stable of offensive weapons for the Kurt Roper-Bryan McClendon offense.

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The starting quarterback has lighting in a bottle in junior wide receiver Deebo Samuel. On the outside, he has big jump-ball sophomore receiver Bryan Edwards. If Edwards, plays to his potential he can free up Samuel to move around the field without facing a double team. Also, Bentley has Hayden Hurst and K.C. Crosby at the tight end positions.

In the backfield, Bentley has growing star Rico Dowdle and the other talented running backs behind him. Dowdle had 764 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman in 2016.

Importance of the offensive line

This is the most important key to the success of the Gamecocks’ offensive attack. They return four out of five starting linemen from 2016. The line was not great last year but look for the line to protect their skilled players and improve.

Do not be surprised if right guard Cory Helms or right tackle Zack Bailey make an All-SEC team at the end of the year. The right side of the line seems to be locked down quite well.

Defense

Just like the offense, last year was a re-tooling year for the Gamecock defense. In Travaris Robinson’s first year at the helm, the Gamecock defense was quite flimsy. They gave up over 26 points per game and over 400 yards per game. But if you look back at those games, the defense played too many snaps and were put in bad situation after bad situation.

There was one player from last year Gamecock fans should be happy about, Bryson Allen-Williams. No matter if close game or a game far out of reach, Williams always flying around the field making a play. His motor is relentless and something that is not coachable.

The return of Skai Moore

The Gamecock defense lost the heart of their defense before it even took the field in 2016. Skai Moore went down with an injured back in the offseason and the defense was not the same. Moore, before the injury, was a first or second-round pick easily. He was the leading tackler for the Gamecocks his first three years.

In 2015, his 111 tackles made him the first Gamecock since Jasper Brinkley to record 100-plus tackles in a season. In 2016, D.J. Smith was the leading tackler with 80.

If he can come back and play at his 2015 level, he and Bryson Allen-Williams can make a nasty duo of linebackers in Columbia, S.C.

2017 schedule

The Gamecocks need to start off fast this season and they have the schedule to do so. They have the team capable of winning their first seven games. But they’ll start out 4-0 and then go to Texas A&M and lose a game they should win.

While I’m here making bold predictions, I’ll say they beat Arkansas at home and Tennessee on the road leading up to their bye. That will make them 6-1 heading into the final five weeks of the season.

The latter part of the schedule gets a little tougher. After the bye week, South Carolina will go just 2-3 with lone wins against Vanderbilt and Wofford at home.

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Prediction: 8-4 (5-3 SEC)

The Gamecocks have the squad to pull this off. Many will look at this team as a 5-7 or a 6-6 ball club, but it’s far better than that. They eventually end the season 8-4 despite dropping huge games in the month of November. Since 2014, the Gamecocks are 2-4 in SEC games in the month of November and by the end of 2017, that record will be worse.

This 2017 South Carolina football team needs to give the fans something to cheer about. These Gamecocks need to be a .500 or better team and competitive in conference. Both of those expectations are obtainable.