South Carolina football bowl game selection: Gamecocks to Gator Bowl vs. Notre Dame
COLUMBIA — In the second year of the Shane Beamer era, No. 19 South Carolina football will face Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.
The game will be played on Dec. 30 (3:30 p.m., ESPN) in Jacksonville, Florida.
The No. 19 Gamecocks (8-4, 4-4 SEC) have not played in the Gator Bowl since 1987 when they lost 30-13 to LSU. Last season, they beat North Carolina 38-21 in the Duke's Mayo Bowl, and if South Carolina wins this year, Beamer will become the first coach in program history to win a bowl game in each of his first two seasons.
The Gator Bowl is played at TIAA Bank Field, home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. The Gamecocks faced Wake Forest in the inaugural game in 1946, and they have played in the Gator Bowl four times in its 76-year history.
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South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler has yet to make a decision on whether he will declare for the NFL Draft, but the junior told Gamecock Central that he intends to play in the Gator Bowl. Rattler dramatically increased his draft stock late in the season, leading the Gamecocks to back-to-back upsets of then-No. 5 Tennessee and then-No. 8 Clemson. He passed for a combined 798 passing yards and nine total touchdowns over the two victories.
Notre Dame (8-4) has a tie-in with the Gator Bowl, last appearing in a 2003 loss to NC State. The Irish delivered Clemson their only other loss of the season three weeks before South Carolina's upset. First-year head coach Marcus Freeman is looking for the first bowl victory of his career after Notre Dame lost to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl last season following former coach Brian Kelly's abrupt departure for LSU.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina football, Shane Beamer to face Notre Dame in Gator Bowl
