Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team is 7-3 (and 5-3 in conference play). The Gamecocks have won four games in a row and have finished their SEC slate with a winning record for the first time since 2017.

Carolina’s most recent win—a wild ride that concluded with a Rocket Sanders touchdown and subsequent celebration that registered as an earthquake on seismographs—saw the Gamecocks finally defeat the Missouri Tigers after losing five straight Mayor’s Cup games in a row.

Thanks to the win streak, including three straight ranked wins, the national perception around South Carolina is improving.

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ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura released their updated bowl season projections on Sunday. Like last week, both analysts picked the Reliquest Bowl (formerly called the Outback Bowl) as the Gamecocks’ winter destination. However, the colleagues traded their predicted USC opponents. Previously, Schlabach thought the Gamecocks would play Illinois, while Bonagura foresaw a meeting with the Iowa Hawkeyes. In this week’s update, Schlabach went with Iowa, while Bonagura picked Illinois. South Carolina and Illinois have never played, but the Gamecocks have played Iowa once previously.

CBS analyst Jerry Palm, who was late to acknowledge South Carolina as a bowl team, now projects USC to play against the Louisville Cardinals in the Gator Bowl. Carolina’s most recent trip to the Gator Bowl came in a 2022 loss to Notre Dame. The Gamecocks also fell three times in the Gator Bowl in the 1980s. Despite being old Metro Conference rivals in basketball, South Carolina and Louisville have never met on the gridiron.

Steve Lassan of The Athletic projected the Gamecocks to the Reliquest Bowl. The Tampa-based postseason contest has hosted USC five times previously. In Lassan’s view, the 2024 South Carolina football squad will match up with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Reliaquest Bowl. Though Carolina is 4-1 in previous Reliaquest/Outback Bowls, the program’s one loss in the game came to Iowa. The loss following the 2008 season was the only time the Gamecocks and Hawkeyes have played.

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network also thinks South Carolina will end up in Tampa playing the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Reliaquest Bowl.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Wofford football game]

Now with seven wins and likely at least one more remaining, South Carolina football fans expect their favorite team to play in a nice bowl. In fact, if a lot of things break the Gamecocks’ way, the College Football Playoff could come calling. The chances are small, but following the team’s recent strong play, those chances are improving.

Next up for South Carolina is an in-state battle against the FCS Wofford Terriers. The Terriers will make the drive down I-26 to Columbia for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff. ESPN+ and SEC Network+ will stream the game as it is not available on traditional television.