South Carolina Gamecocks Set for a Grueling 2025 Schedule

In 2024, the South Carolina Gamecocks had a challenging schedule that featured great teams, several of which were fought on the road. Four of those schools on the Gamecock schedule finished in the top-25. With the SEC flipping conference games between home and away, there will be many familiar faces on the schedule.

Earlier this week, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released their strength of schedule for the 2025 season, powered by their SP+ tool, used to predict a “sustainable and likely” outcome based on a number of different metrics. Overall, the rankings are based on the number of games a top-five caliber team would win against the listed team’s schedule. Connelly put it this way when explaining the list’s value on X, stating,

“Reminder: The SOS rating is the projected win% an average top-5 team could expect against your schedule. OU and Florida [top 2 on the list] will need to be top-5 caliber to go even 9-3.

The Gamecocks were ranked number seven on the list and are coincidentally predicted to win seven games. Their SOS rating is .795, which is right above the Kentucky Wildcats. In a nutshell, this means that a top-five caliber team would win 9.5 games against their schedule. The biggest note from this ranking is that the Gamecocks will have to outperform the seven-game win prediction given by the publication in order to make a playoff push. With Dylan Stewart and LaNorris Sellers emerging into stars, the Gamecocks feel more than equipped to go the distance and be one of the best teams in the nation.