OPINION: South Carolina's Potential Path To The SEC Regular Season Title
Knowing how South Carolina Gamecock fans are, you might not even want to acknowledge the conversation we will have in today’s opinion piece, but it’s time. After getting off to an 8-2 start in SEC play, Lamont Paris and his team have positioned themselves right in the middle of the SEC Regular Season Title picture with just eight conference games remaining on the schedule.
So what does the Gamecocks’ potential path to their first regular-season conference title since the 1996-97 season look like? Let’s start by looking at South Carolina’s remaining conference games.
South Carolina’s Remaining Schedule
Vs. Vanderbilt
@ Auburn
Vs. LSU
@ Texas A&M
Vs. Florida
Vs. Tennessee
@ Mississippi State
Looking at this schedule, I see one game where you could potentially chalk up a loss for the Gamecocks (Auburn), along with four other games where Carolina might not be favored, but they’re winnable nonetheless (Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Mississippi State). Of course, Lamont’s squad isn’t the only team in contention for the regular season title, as one team is currently perched at the top, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Here’s how their schedule shakes out.
Alabama’s Remaining Schedule (0.5 Games Ahead Of South Carolina | Own Tiebreaker Over Gamecocks)
@ Auburn (Play later tonight)
@ LSU
Vs. Texas A&M
Vs. Florida
@ Kentucky
@ Ole Miss
Vs. Tennessee
@ Florida
Vs. Arkansas
I feel strongly that the Tigers will get the Tide when they play later tonight, and Nate Oats’ squad could drop their second-to-last home game against Tennessee, who beat Alabama by 20 back in January. Looking at the Tide’s slate, the Gamecocks need both hypothetical results to ring true to remain in the hunt.
Two other SEC foes are situated right behind Carolina in the standings and shouldn’t be excluded from this conversation: Auburn and Tennessee. Here are the remaining schedules for those two teams.
Auburn’s Remaining Schedule (0.5 games behind South Carolina)
Vs. Alabama (Tonight)
@ Florida
Vs. South Carolina
Vs. Kentucky
@ Georgia
@ Tennessee
Vs. Mississippi State
@ Missouri
Vs. Georgia
While really good, the Tigers have been very fortunate in terms of who they’ve played on the road to this point in the season. While I think they’ll knock off the Tide this evening, I believe they will suffer a bit of an emotional hangover and lose a shootout to the Gators on Saturday and that Tennessee will defend their home court on Feb. 28th. Mississippi State could also pose some problems with their half-court play-style.
Now, let’s look at the final contender remaining in this race: the Volunteers from Tennessee.
Tennessee’s Remaining Schedule (0.5 games behind South Carolina | Gamecocks currently own tiebreaker)
Vs. LSU
@ Texas A&M
@ Arkansas
Vs. Vanderbilt
@ Missouri
Vs. Texas A&M
Vs. Auburn
@ Alabama
@ South Carolina
Vs. Kentucky
Tennessee’ll have a relatively easy next two and a half weeks before facing an absolute gauntlet of a four-game stretch to end the regular season. For the Gamecocks, they’ll need the Volunteers to lose one, maybe even two or three games to remain ahead of them depending on how things shake out.
Looking at the whole picture, this title race begins and ends with Alabama, starting with what happens tonight against Auburn. If the Tide loses, South Carolina will have the door crack open a little wider for them. However, should Bama win, South Carolina will practically have to run the table and receive some help from other teams who face Alabama before the regular season concludes.
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