Picture this: Jake Bentley hoisting up the College Football Playoff Trophy with Garnet and Black Confetti. Sounds absurd at first, but trust me, it’s a lot more realistic than you think. After starting off poorly, our mighty Gamecocks have shown me to NEVER GIVE UP. They are now just a few games away from making the National Championship game.
Florida
The upcoming game against Florida will be a much easier win that people think. Florida is playing their worst football of the season, after an embarrassing 21 point loss to unranked Arkansas. On top of this, they will be missing their starting quarterback because he got injured. But the biggest thing is the coaches. Muschamp, before coaching at Auburn, coached at Florida. So he will have insight on Florida’s strategy. I see this as an easy win.
Western Carolina
The next game is against Western Carolina. I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about Western Carolina’s football team, so I googled them and found some key stats. First of all, their record is 2-7. And while it looks bad at first, it turns out that all but two of their losses were by less than 14, which goes to show that they play their opponent hard. With all that said, though, I think our mighty Gamecocks will squeak out the win. Jake Bentley is playing his best football of the season, and I think this Home-Crowd will get us the win. It will be close, but I think our fans will be rocking WIlly B Stadium, and Western Carolina will not be able to overcome the crowd. Another Gamecock win.
Clemson
Here it is. The game against the Clemson Tigers. The game we all have had circled on our calendars since schedules came out. I cannot lie, Clemson is a very good football team. They have an experienced quarterback in Deshaun Watson, as well as a very good defense. And Coach Dabo Swinney has shown he can be one of the better coaches in the country. Clemson is coming off of a victory last year against us as well. So, why is this year going to be different? Because we are better than last year, and they are worse than last year. Our mighty Gamecocks only lost by a single touchdown last year. Also, people may be worried about Clemson’s defense, but we have seen this Gamecock offense score at will against SEC opponents. In a high-scoring affair, I see our mighty Gamecocks beating Clemson by a few scores.
This is where we finally need a bit of luck. We need a few teams in our conference to lose, and a few others to win, but if this happens, we will be declared SEC East champions. Which would likely pin us against Alabama.
Alabama
Yikes. Alabama. Undeniably a great team. But here’s the thing: Jake Bentley is actually from Alabama. He’s played against many of their players throughout high-school. Jake Bentley knows Alabama’s players’ weaknesses. He should have no problem putting up points against them. Where the problem may be is the other side of the ball. I think that in another high-scoring game, we are able to win this game.
Does a 8-4 record typically get you into the Playoff? No. But after we rattle off 5 consecutive wins, including back to back wins over the top two teams in the nation, it wouldn’t make sense to reasonably leave us out of the playoff.
And just like that, our mighty Gamecocks are playing in the College Football Playoff. I can’t predict anything past that, because I don’t know who else will be playing in the Playoff, but I believe that this team will make it there. The path is very clear, and can easily happen.
Here’s a Health, Carolina. Forever to Thee! Go Cocks!
