Seven home games and a stretch of eight-straight SEC contests highlight the 2020 University of South Carolina football schedule that was released Wednesday.
The Gamecocks will open the 2020 campaign with 3 consecutive home games. The season kicks off on Sept. 5 with a non-conference game against in-state rival Coastal Carolina. The Gamecocks have won each of the two previous meetings with the Chanticleers.
Another non-conference game is set for the following week, Sept. 12, as East Carolina makes its way to Columbia. The Gamecocks have won 14 of the previous 19 meetings with the Pirates, including the last 4 in a row.
By facing Coastal Carolina and East Carolina in the season's first two weeks, South Carolina will be opening the season with back-to-back non-conference games for the first time since they kicked off the 2003 campaign with back-to-back home wins over Louisiana-Lafayette and Virginia.
The SEC portion of the schedule gets underway on Sept. 19 when the Missouri Tigers come to Williams-Brice Stadium. That contest will mark the first of 8 consecutive conference games, including 4 straight against SEC Eastern Division rivals for the Gamecocks. 
South Carolina has won each of the last 3 games in the battle for the Mayor's Cup to take a 5-4 advantage in the all-time series with the Tigers.
The Gamecocks' first road test of the 2020 campaign will come in Lexington, Ky., the home of the Kentucky Wildcats, on Sept. 26. Carolina holds a 17-12-1 lead in the all-time series over the flagship institution of the Bluegrass state.
A second straight road game awaits the Gamecocks, as they will travel to Gainesville to face the Florida Gators on Oct. 3. That will mark the earliest date that South Carolina and Florida have met on the gridiron, with the current earliest date coming on Oct. 10 during the 1936 season. 
Five of the Gamecocks' 9 wins in the series have come in the last 9 seasons.
The first half of the season wraps up on Oct. 10 when the Tennessee Volunteers visit Columbia. The Gamecocks have won 3 straight and 6 of the last 9 meetings with the Vols, and have posted wins in 5 of the last 6 tilts at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Following the lone open week of the 2020 slate, the second half of the season gets started with a home game against Texas A&M on Oct. 24, Carolina's permanent opponent from the SEC's Western Division.
The Gamecocks are back on the road on Oct. 31, spending Halloween in Nashville against the Vanderbilt Commodores. It marks the latest meeting between the two Eastern Division rivals since the 1995 season. Carolina has won each of the last 10 meetings and owns a commanding 24-4 advantage in the all-time series.
In a game that traditionally has been played early the season, South Carolina and Georgia will meet in Columbia on Nov. 7, in what will be the second-latest date in a series that spans over 70 games, surpassed only by the 1939 battle that occurred on Nov. 18.
The SEC slate wraps up on Nov. 14 when the Gamecocks travel to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers in Death Valley.
The Gamecocks' final 2 games of the 2020 season are non-conference battles against in-state rivals. South Carolina will try to extend its winning streak over Wofford to 18-straight games when they host the Terriers on Nov. 21, then the Gamecocks will wrap up the regular season at Clemson on Nov. 28.

SOUTH CAROLINA 2020 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 5 COASTAL CAROLINA
Sept. 12 EAST CAROLINA
Sept. 19 MISSOURI*
Sept. 26 at Kentucky*
Oct. 3 at Florida*
Oct. 10 TENNESSEE*
Oct. 17 Open Date
Oct. 24 TEXAS A&M*
Oct. 31 at Vanderbilt*
Nov. 7 GEORGIA*
Nov. 14 at LSU*
Nov. 21 WOFFORD
Nov. 28 at Clemson