Birmingham Bowl: South Carolina vs. USF Predictions

In SEC Football by Blake Lovell

Share

Location: Legion Field in Birmingham, AL

Date and Time: December 29, 2 PM ET (ESPN)

Full disclosure: I picked South Carolina to win four games this season. And I wasn’t the only one.

After all, this was a team that was entering the season with one of the youngest rosters in the country. It also had a new head coach that failed to find lasting success in his last stop as a lead man in the SEC.

But Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks did it. They proved a lot of people wrong in winning six games, which included an impressive victory over Tennessee back in October.

And now South Carolina gets its reward for making a bowl game: a 10-win South Florida team that features the seventh best scoring offense in the nation.

Quite the reward, huh?

Star quarterback Quinton Flowers did it all for the Bulls this season in throwing for 2,551 yards and rushing for 1,425 yards. Total touchdowns? 31.

Those numbers helped South Florida pile up 43.6 points per game this season, with the team’s only two losses coming against a nine-win Florida State squad and AAC champion Temple. Everyone else simply couldn’t stop Flowers and company.

And that explosive offense is sure to make things challenging for Muschamp’s defense. Although the Gamecocks only allowed 24.8 PPG this year, their 56-7 loss against rival Clemson in the regular season finale showed the difficulties of stopping a do-it-all quarterback.

While Flowers isn’t Deshaun Watson, he presents similar challenges. The good news is that Muschamp is a defensive specialist and has a month to get his team ready for what’s to come.

Of course, there’s another element at play in this game: will Taggart even be there to coach the Bulls?

With rumor swirling that he is among the favorites to land the Oregon job, it’s entirely possible that South Florida could be without the guy that’s fueled them to a wildly successful season.

If that’s the case, there’s no way of knowing what the team’s mindset will be heading into Birmingham.

Even with the uncertain future of Taggart, one person who will be there is Flowers. And that’s enough to give the Bulls an advantage.

It’s easy to like the direction of the South Carolina program after a surprising year one under Muschamp, but Flowers will be too disruptive in leading South Florida to a victory.

Update (12/7): Taggart has indeed landed the Oregon job. My predicted score stays the same.

Birmingham Bowl Prediction: USF 38, South Carolina 27

Other Bowl Predictions