The South Carolina Gamecocks (9-3, 5-3 SEC) will face the Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3, 6-3 Big Ten) in the 79th edition of the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. The game will be played on Tuesday, December 31, 2024 at Camping World Stadium (60,000 spectators) in Orlando, Florida. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET.

ABOUT THE AIRWAVES: The 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl will be televised nationally on ABC. Mark Jones will provide play-by-play while Roddy Jones provides color commentary. Quint Kessenich will be the sideline reporter. ESPN Radio will also have a national broadcast. Sean Kelley will make the decision, Rene Ingoglia will provide the analysis. Marilyn Payne will patrol the sidelines. The Gamecock Sports Radio Network features two Gamecock Great quarterbacks in play-by-play voice Todd Ellis (Season 33) and analyst Tommy Suggs (Season 52). Chet Tucker returns for the second time as a sideline reporter.

GO BOWLING: The Gamecocks are appearing in their 26th bowl game. They have a 10-15 mark in their last 25 contests. Carolina has posted a 10-7 mark in its last 17 bowl contests after losing its first eight bowl games. Most recently, the Gamecocks lost a 45-38 decision to Notre Dame in the 2022 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It was just the third setback in the last nine bowl appearances.

Nice to be back: South Carolina is traveling to Orlando for a bowl game for the fourth time and for the first time since the end of the 2013 season. The Gamecocks lost a 20-7 decision to Miami (Ohio) in the Tangerine Bowl on December 20, 1975, then won twice in the Capital One Bowl and defeated Nebraska 30-13 on January 2, 2012. and topped Wisconsin by a score of 34-24 on January 1, 2014.

WHERE THE GAMECOCKS ARE: One of the hottest teams in the country, the Gamecocks won their last six contests, including four major league opponents, and finished the regular season with a record of 9-3. The Gamecocks were ranked 15th in the final College Football Playoff rankings and 14th in both the Associated Press and Coaches poll.

SIZE OF THE ILLINI: South Carolina and Illinois have never met on the gridiron. However, Illini head coach Bret Bielema is no stranger to the Gamecocks. As head coach at the University of Arkansas, Bielema faced the Gamecocks twice. Carolina prevailed in both decisions, winning 52-7 in Fayetteville in 2013, Bielema’s first season with the Hogs. In 2017, Bielema’s final year with the Razorbacks, she scored a 48-22 win in Columbia. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer has never played against the Illini.

SUCCESSFUL AGAINST THE BIG TEN: South Carolina has won each of its last four contests against Big Ten teams in bowl games, and six of seven since the turn of the century. The Gamecocks opened the 2000s with back-to-back wins over Ohio State (Outback 2001 and Outback 2002). After a loss to Iowa in Outback in 2009, Carolina then rattled off four straight wins in bowl games over Big Ten schools. They defeated Nebraska (Capital One 2012), Wisconsin (Capital One 2014) and Michigan twice (Outback 2013 and 2018). outback).

OLD FRIEND ALERT: Illinois wide receivers coach Justin Stepp was on Shane Beamer’s team at South Carolina from 2021 to 2023. He is originally from Pelion, SC, just outside of Columbia.

HOME SWEET HOME: All-America player from South Carolina Kai Kröger comes from the Land of Lincoln. The All-American Super Senior, who has handled punting duties for the Gamecocks each of the past five seasons, is a native of Lake Forest, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

TROPHY HUNT: The Gamecocks are looking to win their fourth trophy in 2024. They captured the Bonham Trophy with a 44-20 victory over No. 10/11 Texas A&M, defeated No. 24/21 Missouri 34-30 and captured the Mayor’s Cup South Carolina then won the Palmetto Bowl trophy after it defeated its in-state rival, Clemson, 17-14. It was the first time South Carolina won all three regular season trophies in the same season.

ANOTHER TOP 25 MATCHUP: According to the Associated Press poll at the time of the game, South Carolina will face its eighth top-25 opponent as Illinois enters the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl ranked No. 21 in the latest AP poll. The eight games played against ranked opponents is a school record and exceeds the previous mark of seven in the 2010 season. The Gamecocks are 4-3 against AP Top 25 teams this season, falling to No. 16 LSU, No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 7 Alabama before defeating No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 24 Missouri, etc. No. 12 Clemson in the second half of the season.

ANOTHER BITES THE DUST: South Carolina beat three ranked opponents in consecutive weeks for the first time in school history, defeating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20, No. 24 Vanderbilt 28-7 and No. 24 Missouri 34-30. After defeating Wofford, No. 12 and eventual ACC champion Clemson went on to improve to 4-3 against ranked opponents this season. The Gamecocks are 7-12 against AP ranked opponents in the Shane Beamer era and also have wins over No. 13 Kentucky, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 7 Clemson, all in the 2022 season. The Gamecocks have had eight games in Lost series against ranked opponents before starting their current four-game winning streak.

YOU REMEMBER NOVEMBER: The Gamecocks went a perfect 5-0 in November. They began the month with an impressive 44-20 win over No. 10/11 Texas A&M and followed that with a convincing 28-7 win over No. 24/25 Vanderbilt in Nashville before taking on No. 24/21 Missouri passed a score of 34-30. They defeated FCS Wofford in Columbia by a score of 56-12. before beating No. 12 Clemson 17-14, their second straight win in Tiger Town. The Gamecocks have played their best ball in November under Shane Beamer, posting a record of 13-4 over the last four years this month, including wins over six ranked opponents. The recent increase pushed South Carolina to No. 14 in this week’s AP poll, its highest ranking since September 2014.

THEY CALL IT A STREAK: The Gamecocks have won six straight games, the first four of which were against SEC opponents. They currently have the longest winning streak in the SEC. They are looking to record their seventh straight win, something they have not achieved since a 10-game winning streak in the last four games of the 2011 season and the first six games of the 2012 season. The last time they won seven or more games in a row in a single season was 1984, when they won the first nine games of the season. Only Oregon (14) and Notre Dame (10) have longer winning streaks among Power 4 and private schools heading into the postseason.

TO BE THE BEST, YOU MUST BEAT THE BEST: The Gamecocks have set the school record for wins over a ranked opponent in a season with four wins, displacing No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 24 Missouri and No. 12 Clemson of the AP in the last five weeks of the season. They had previously defeated three ranked teams in a season six times. Here are the years, opponents and rankings of those wins:

Annual opponent (rank)

2000 Georgia (9), Miss. State (25), Ohio St. (19)

2001 Georgia (25), Miss. State (17), Ohio St. (22)

2010 Georgia (22), Alabama (1), Florida (24)

2012 Georgia (5), Clemson (12), Michigan (19)

2013 Missouri (5), Clemson (6), Wisconsin (19)

2022 Kentucky (13), Tennessee (5), Clemson (7)

2024 Texas A&M (10), Vanderbilt (24), Missouri (24), Clemson (12)

LOOKING FOR NUMBER TEN: The Gamecocks are looking for their 10th win of the season. They have won nine or more games eight times and ten or more games only four times. Carolina posted a school-record 11 wins in three straight seasons from 2011 to 2013.

11 wins – 3 times (2011, 2012, 2013)

10 wins – 1 time (1984)

9 wins – 4 times (2001, 2010, 2017, 2024)

STREET WARRIOR: The Gamecocks won four true road games this season for the fourth time in school history and also won four road games in 1968, 1994 and 2006. They recorded three impressive SEC road victories, all by at least three touchdowns and a score of 31 – 6 win at Kentucky, a 35-9 win at Oklahoma and a 28-7 win over No. 24 Vanderbilt, All three points he held opponents to under 10 points. They posted three road conference victories for the first time since 2011, when they won at Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee, for an overall record of 11-2 and an SEC record of 6-2.

IT JUST MEANS MORE: The Gamecocks recorded five SEC wins for the first time since 2017 and the ninth time since joining the league in 1992.

ALL ABOARD THE SHANE TRAIN: South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer owns a 29-21 record in his fourth season at the helm. With 29 wins, Steve Spurrier, Carolina’s all-time winningest coach, surpasses the most wins in his first four years in Columbia. Coach Spurrier posted a 28-22 record during the 2005-2008 season and finished the season with a school record 86 wins. With 29 wins, Coach Beamer ranks eighth on South Carolina’s all-time wins list, one more than Warren Giese and Will Muschamp.

THIS IS MY COACH: Head coach coming off a disappointing 5-7 season in 2023, opting to finish near the bottom of the expanded 16-team Southeastern Conference Shane Beamer Led the Gamecocks to a 9-3 mark this season and was named SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and USA TODAY. He was one of nine coaches nationwide named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, is one of five coaches for the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award, and is a semifinalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award .

Promote from within: The Gamecocks have had a coaching change at offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach since the end of the regular season Dowell Loggains took the head coaching position at Appalachian State University. Head coach Shane Beamer quickly named him senior offensive assistant coach Mike Shula take on this coordinator role. Shula, a one-year member of the team, was the head coach at his alma mater, Alabama, from 2003 to 2006 and served as offensive coordinator in the NFL for several seasons. He was named NFL Offensive Coordinator of the Year in 2015 after helping Cam Newton win NFL MVP awards and the Carolina Panthers reach the Super Bowl. Shula was officially named offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach on December 16th.

TITLE CHANGE: Head coach Shane Beamer has added the title of Passing Game Coordinator to the wide receivers coach Mike Furrey. Furrey has only been with the Gamecocks for a year, but made an immediate impact in both the wide receiver room and on the recruiting front.

OFFERS AND STEELS: Mike Shula received a three-year contract that will run him through the 2027 season. The contract extensions of the other nine on-field assistant coaches were approved by the university’s Board of Trustees Joe DeCamillis, Shawn Elliott, Torrian Gray And Clayton White extended until 2027 and Marquel Blackwell, Mike Furrey, Sterling Lucas, Travian Robertson And Lonnie Teasley extended until 2026.