3 reasons South Carolina Football will beat UNC in Duke’s Mayo Bowl

1. It is all about the motivation

How motivated a team is to be playing in a bowl game, especially a lower tier one usually factors into the outcome. The arrow points heavily in South Carolina’s direction for this metric.

The Gamecocks were not supposed to be here. Most preseason predictions pegged them near or at the bottom of the SEC East. My own prediction had them just missing the cut with five wins.

Yet coach Shane Beamer got his team to the all-important six-win mark in his first season in Columbia. The Gamecocks scored upset victories over Florida and Auburn. With quarterback Spencer Rattler transferring in, the future looks even brighter now. What better way to end a surprising season by defeating their cross-state rival.

North Carolina, on the other hand, is likely to not care as much. This season was supposed to be much more than 6-6. The Tar Heels were looking for an ACC Championship and a NY6 bowl berth. Now their reward is a two-hour drive away from campus in the same state.

South Carolina will be looking to end the season on a great note. North Carolina is just looking to end the season at this point. This is the biggest reason why the Gamecocks will win.