Bowl projections: USC football holding steady, but Clemson is trending down

Chapel Fowler
·3 min read

In the preseason, the Clemson and South Carolina football teams didn’t have much in common when it came to 2023 bowl projections.

Four weeks into the season, that’s no longer the case.

The Tigers and the Gamecocks are both trending toward mid-level bowl games for their respective conferences, according to the most recent projections from national media outlets after Clemson lost to No. 4 Florida State on Saturday and USC beat Mississippi State.

Clemson (2-2, 0-2 ACC) has its best bowl projection from ESPN and CBS Sports, which predict that coach Dabo Swinney’s team will play Texas A&M in the Dec. 29 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. (That was South Carolina’s bowl designation last season.)

The Tigers — who started as the preseason No. 9 team but now sit at 0-2 in ACC play for the first time since 2010 — are also being projected to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl (USC’s 2021 designation), the Sun Bowl and the ReliaQuest Bowl.

South Carolina, meanwhile, has four projections to play in the Dec. 23 Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama, with ESPN, CBS Sports and the Action Network offering a fun mixture of potential opponents from the Big 12, Pac-12 and the American Athletic.

The Gamecocks (2-2, 1-1 SEC), who beat Mississippi State at home Saturday for their first SEC win of 2023, also got a projection for the Dec. 23 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas. Coach Shane Beamer is seeking a third straight bowl appearance with South Carolina.

USC’s projections through four weeks are pretty in line with preseason predictions, which pegged the Gamecocks for spots in the ReliaQuest Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl, Texas Bowl and Liberty Bowl (generally regarded as mid- or lower-tier SEC bowl assignments).

But Clemson’s projections are a stark contrast from preseason predictions.

National media outlets weren’t sold on the Tigers as a College Football Playoff lock, but outlets including CBS Sports and The Action Network had Clemson playing in a New Year’s Six Bowl such as the Orange Bowl (its 2022 placement), the Sugar Bowl or the Peach Bowl.

Both teams are on the road this weekend, as South Carolina travels to No. 21 Tennessee and Clemson travels to Syracuse. The Gamecocks are a 11.5-point road underdog vs. Volunteers (7:30 p.m., SEC Network), and the Tigers are a 6.5-point road favorite vs. the Orange (noon, ABC).

Here’s a full list of Clemson and USC bowl projections entering Week 5

Clemson Week 5 bowl projections

South Carolina Week 5 bowl projections

  • Dec. 23 Armed Forces Bowl vs. TCU in Fort Worth (Brad Crawford, 247Sports)

  • Dec. 23 Birmingham Bowl vs. Oklahoma State (Brett McMurphy, Action Network)

  • Birmingham Bowl vs. West Virginia (Jerry Palm, CBS Sports)

  • Birmingham Bowl vs. Cal (Kyle Bonagura, ESPN)

  • Birmingham Bowl vs. Tulane (Mark Schlabach, ESPN)