Oklahoma and LSU in, Georgia and Florida out: USC learns new 2024 football schedule

South Carolina’s 2024 SEC football opponents are set.

The Southeastern Conference announced the Gamecocks’ revamped schedule, along with the rest of the league, on Wednesday night as part of a special on the SEC Network.

South Carolina will notably now play at Oklahoma and LSU — and not Georgia or Florida — a shift from what had previously been announced for the 2024 season. A road trip to Alabama remains on the Gamecocks’ schedule.

USC has played Georgia and Florida every season since joining the SEC in 1992. South Carolina has never played Oklahoma in the history of either program.

The Gamecocks’ schedule now looks like this:

▪ Conference opponents: (dates are TBD) home vs. Ole Miss, LSU, Missouri and Texas A&M; away vs. Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt

▪ Non-conference opponents: home vs. Old Dominion (8/31), Akron (9/21) and Wofford (11/23); away vs. Clemson (11/30).

The SEC had to redo its 2024 schedule following the additions of Texas and Oklahoma as conference members a year earlier than initially planned. Times and dates for the games will be revealed at a later date, most likely in late September.

Commissioner Greg Sankey and the SEC had litigated moving to a more permanent eight- or nine-game conference schedule that would include one or three permanent opponents, respectively. However, the SEC decided on the one-year plan announced on Wednesday night in order to allow for more time to come to a final solution on a scheduling model.

One key component of the 2024 schedule that’s expected to extend beyond just that season will be the elimination of divisions. South Carolina and Arkansas’ joint entrances into the league in 1992 created the need for such structure from then-commissioner Roy Kramer, but those have been scrapped as the SEC moves to 16 teams.

“We have a combination of the expectation of fairness and balance,” Sankey said in May at the SEC spring meetings of how the league would build the 2024 schedule. “Obviously, if you look at any number of retrospective analyses, you look at win-loss record — we’ve been asked to make the competitive disparity and strength of schedule more narrow than it is.

“If you can achieve like a perfect ballot, that’d be great. But you can’t make an undefeated team playing another undefeated team. You can’t make last year’s Georgia (team) play itself. So, we’re going to honor our traditional rivalries, traditional games ... “

Most interesting SEC games for South Carolina

How about that trip to Norman?

Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer will head to his old stomping grounds for the first ever matchup between South Carolina and Oklahoma. This one figures to have story lines galore. Among them:

▪ Beamer heads back to Norman, where he spent three years as an assistant coach under Lincoln Riley.

▪ South Carolina likely gets a shot at former Clemson defensive coordinator and current OU head coach Brent Venables.

▪ Spencer Rattler could get a shot at his old school (OK, Rattler probably won’t be back in Columbia in 2024, but it’s a fun thought).

The home game against Ole Miss and the trip to Alabama also bring some intrigue. The last time the Gamecocks and Rebels played, Lane Kiffin threw a clipboard and Will Muschamp was fired shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, South Carolina hasn’t been to Tuscaloosa since 2009 — a matchup between Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban. That’s a long overdue trip.

Biggest surprises on the Gamecocks football schedule

Sankey said at spring meetings the SEC planned to use a mix of competitive balance and traditional rivalry matchups to construct the 2024 schedule.

Well, so much for keeping traditional matchups alive.

South Carolina not having Georgia AND Florida on the schedule feels like a big surprise. The Bulldogs have evolved into the Gamecocks’ one true rival within the conference (Clemson, naturally, takes the cake here), while the Gators and Gamecocks have played plenty of wild ones over the years. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say it’s shocking neither is on the slate.

That same logic applies to keeping Texas A&M and, to a lesser degree, Missouri on the schedule. As great as the Bonham Trophy is as a physical specimen (I’m only half-kidding, it’s an awesome trophy and has a crazy story), it’s hard to see why the Gamecocks and Aggies desperately needed to play again in a series Texas A&M had won the first eight renditions of before last year.