The best thing about this Palmetto State college football prediction tool is it fits comfortably into any tailgate picnic basket.
Unlike pimento cheese, it won’t smell if left open until December.
But picking fixins is easier than picking games with more head coach extremes in the mix than at any time since John Heisman was coaching football and baseball at Clemson.
Of South Carolina’s nine NCAA Division I programs, four have new head coaches: Coastal Carolina, The Citadel, Charleston Southern and Wofford.
Meanwhile, Buddy Pough with a Saturday night showcase opener against Jackson State on ABC, is in his 22nd season. And his last, per this week’s announcement that the Bulldogs’ winningest coach will retire after the 2023 season.
South Carolina’s Shane Beamer has presided over the most exciting, unpredictable, overachieving program in college football the last two years: Seven point-spread upsets, four of them as double-digit underdogs (the other 13 SEC teams combined for just five upset wins as double-digit underdogs).
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is no less than one of the greatest college coaches in any sport so far this century. But he’s coming off a loss to South Carolina and a bowl loss for the first time since 2012.
A quick trip through the college football fever happening from Fort Sumter to Sassafras Mountain:
South Carolina
Gamecock Nation saw Spencer Rattler’s ownership of the offense vault in the last three games of an 8-5 season. Progress continues, reflected in Rattler treating all the offensive linemen to Hall’s Chophouse gift cards earlier this month while accepting blame for a turnover-prone 2022 season.
“Total accountability,” Rattler said. “Trying to do too much.”
This is where Rattler’s previous up and down experience at Oklahoma and help from new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains should come in handy.
“Being a quarterback you’re going to go through the success (and) you have to go through the adversity,” Rattler said. “And you have to take it all.”
Easy wins: Furman (Sept. 9), Jacksonville State (Nov. 4), Vanderbilt (Nov. 11).
Furman is picked to win the Southern Conference. Rich Rodriguez in his first year with the other Gamecocks went 9-2 at Jacksonville State in 2022.
Harder wins: Mississippi State (Sept. 23), Florida (Oct. 14), at Missouri (Oct. 21), Kentucky (Nov. 18).
No reason to panic after a 2-3 start, not the way Beamer’s teams have finished the last two seasons.
Losses: North Carolina (Sept. 2), at Georgia (Sept. 16), at Tennessee (Sept. 30), at Texas A&M (Oct. 28), Clemson (Nov. 25).
Steve Spurrier didn’t have to face Bulldogs and Vols this good.
Barometer game: Right away.
Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye is a great test for a defense in need of impact players to step forward.
Trap game alert: Mississippi State.
Will Rogers is a very good, very underrated college quarterback.
Record: 8-5 including a bowl win in a year in which the Gamecocks don’t improve record-wise but make more strides as a program
Clemson
Why did three-time All-ACC defensive tackle Tyler Davis return for a fifth Clemson season?
Same reason why there’s so much enthusiasm around a loaded defense, Cade Klubnik’s first season as a starting quarterback and Garrett Riley moving from TCU to call plays.
“Why not have a chance to win the natty?” Davis said.
The workable schedule has the two toughest opponents, Florida State and Notre Dame, coming to Death Valley.
Clemson, coming off 10-3 and 11-3 seasons, probably can afford one loss and still make the College Football Playoff for the seventh time in nine years.
Easy wins: Charleston Southern (Sept. 9), Florida Atlantic (Sept. 16), at Syracuse (Sept. 30), Wake Forest (Oct. 7), Georgia Tech (Nov. 11).
Try mixing a visit to Cooperstown into your Syracuse trip. Very nice that time of year.
Harder wins: at Duke (Sept. 4), at Miami (Oct. 21), at N.C. State (Oct. 28), Notre Dame (Nov. 4), North Carolina (Nov. 18), at South Carolina (Nov. 25).
A much tougher second half.
Losses: Florida State (Sept. 23),
But revenge for Clemson in the ACC Championship Game
Barometer game: Game 1 of the split doubleheader with the Seminoles.
Trap game alert: N.C. State is never a trap game, but the Wolfpack has two weeks to prepare for a Clemson team coming off a trip to Miami
Record: 12-2 including an ACC title and a playoff semifinal loss
Coastal Carolina
Having NFL quarterback prospect Grayson McCall back for a shot a fourth Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year award puts the Chanticleers in good position for a fourth consecutive bowl appearance.
But how quickly will Coastal Carolina adapt to Tim Beck and new offensive coordinator Travis Trickett’s offense are the key questions going into a tough schedule that starts at UCLA.
Record: 8-5 including a bowl game
The Citadel
Maurice Drayton has his work cut out: Not a single Citadel player on the two-deep All-Southern Conference preseason teams after a 4-7 season. Solutions include a strong, Citadel grad-heavy coaching staff and the mystery foes must deal with in preparing for a re-tooled offense.
Record-setting season ticket sales show fans believe.
Record: 3-8
Charleston Southern
The Buccaneers’ new world includes new head coach Gabe Giardina, an assistant coach during the Jamey Chadwell glory years, a Sept. 9 game at Clemson and an odd Big South Conference-Ohio Valley Conference merger.
Alas, CSU coming off a 2-8 season was picked to finish ninth among 10 teams in the Big South-OVC preseason poll.
Record: 4-7
S.C. State
The Buddy system includes four FCS playoff appearances and a glorious 2021 Celebration Bowl victory over Coach Prime. But the Bulldogs slipped to 3-8 in 2022 and need a quick mesh between veteran quarterback Corey Fields and Kevin Magouirk, in his first season back in the S.C. State offensive coordinator job he had from 2008-2012.
S.C. State plays host to The Citadel on Sept. 23.
Record: 6-5
Furman
The Paladins are strongest on an offensive line led by redshirt seniors Pearson Toomey and Jacob Johaning and in a secondary featuring cornerback Travis Blackshear and safety Hugh Ryan.
The Southern Conference favorite, Furman went 10-3 in 2022 with a second-round FCS playoff shootout loss to Incarnate Word (41-38).
Record: 10-3 with a pair of playoff games again
Wofford
Shawn Watson as interim head coach led the Terriers to a 3-3 finish to make a 3-8 season taste better. Still a lot of work to do, both in Watson’s pro spread offense and on defense, where Wofford was seventh in the SoCon in scoring defense and total defense.
Record: 4-7
Presbyterian
The 111th football season for the Blue Hose, and another rough road. PC competes in the FCS Pioneer League, the nation’s only non-scholarship football-only conference. A 1-10 record in 2022 left PC dead last at No. 261 in USA Today’s final Sagarin poll of Division I teams.
On the bright side, wide receiver Dominic Kibby had four 100-yard receiving games and looks like second-year head coach Steve Englehart’s top scoring threat.
Record: 2-9
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff
2023 poll numbers
Where South Carolina’s nine NCAA Division I football teams were picked to finish in their respective conference preseason polls:
Clemson (ACC), 1st
South Carolina (SEC), 3rd in SEC East
Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt), 3rd in East Division
The Citadel (Southern), 7th
Charleston Southern (Big South/Ohio Valley), 9th
S.C. State (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference), 3rd
Furman (Southern), 1st
Wofford (Southern), 8th
Presbyterian (Pioneer), 11th