Belk Bowl: South Carolina vs. Virginia fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Saturday, December 29
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
Network: ABC
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
– Get Tickets For This Game
South Carolina (7-5) vs. Virginia (7-5) Game Preview
Why USC Will Win | Why UVa Will Win
Players To Watch | 3 Honest Thoughts, Prediction
Belk Bowl History, Results
Three Reasons Why You Should Watch The Belk Bowl
– Can Virginia keep on pushing after a decent season? The fan base got to have some fun on the way to a 6-2 start, but all ACC title dreams – at least, hopes of getting to the conference championship – quickly went into the trash with losses in three of the last four games, all against ACC teams. This is a good, sound team that came up with a great win over Miami and rocked Duke – that was about it.
– The fact that Virginia is in a good bowl game against a solid SEC team is a big step forward under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, but the program has been a big dud in bowls games for way too long. It lost its last three and four of the last five going back to a 2003 Continental Tire win over Pitt. To take this further, Virginia is 3-8 going back to the win over Georgia in the 1995 Peach. The urgency will be there; there won’t be any dogging it from this team.
– South Carolina had a better season than you might think. The 7-5 record certainly isn’t what the fans wanted, but the five losses were to Georgia (College Football Playoff good), at Kentucky (shockingly good this year), Texas A&M (a close battle with a strong team), at Florida (rough collapse on road to great team), and at Clemson (in the CFP).
However, the narrative of the year will be determined by this game. It’s been a strange season with early blowouts, late blowouts, and a whole slew of good battles in between. If nothing else, the Gamecocks aren’t boring.
