The Southeastern Conference released the times of the first three weeks of football games early Monday morning confirming that, once again, head coach Steve Spurrier and his team will open on college football’s first day.
South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier
As previously released, the Gamecocks will open the season at Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN, which marks the sixth time in Spurrier’s eight seasons that the team will play prior to the opening Saturday.
This will also mark the second time in program history that South Carolina has opened the season on the road against Vanderbilt. In 2004, Lou Holtz led the team to a 31-6 win over the Commodores.
The home opener against East Carolina will kickoff at 12:21 p.m. EDT on Saturday, September 8 at Williams-Brice Stadium on the SEC Network. This is the second straight season that the teams have met with the Gamecocks winning a 56-37 decision last season at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
South Carolina is scheduled to play East Carolina again on August 30 in Charlotte in 2014 and then again on the road September 5 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Gamecocks and Pirates are scheduled to meet one final time at a still to be determined date in 2016. That game will be at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The final game time announced on Monday was the September 15 clash against Alabama-Birmingham. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Fox Sports Net at Williams-Brice Stadium. Spurrier has led the Gamecocks against the Blazers once, in 2008, which resulted in a 26-13 home victory. The only other time in program history the two teams have met was in 2003 when Holtz saw his team dismantle UAB 42-10.
The rest of the dates and times should be released throughout the course of the season. South Carolina typically has one Pay-Per-View game each season and, assuming that occurs this year, it will likely be Wofford on November 17.
Official SEC release
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