South Carolina learns kickoff times, TV info for first football games

South Carolina learned a trio of its kickoff times for the 2022 season on Thursday — exactly 100 days before the Gamecocks play their first game.

USC will open the season at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 3 against Georgia State (SEC Network Plus/ESPN+). Head coach Shane Beamer’s squad will then begin Southeastern Conference play at Arkansas at noon Sept 10 (ESPN).

South Carolina’s first SEC home game will be played against defending national champion Georgia at noon Sept. 17 (ESPN).

The Gamecocks are coming off a 7-6 debut season under Beamer, a year capped off with a win over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 31. Beamer became just the second head coach in school history to win a bowl game in his first season at the helm.

Beamer took over as head coach following the 2020 season after the mid-year ousting of Will Muschamp, who has since been elevated to co-defensive coordinator at Georgia.

Georgia State is coached by ex-Gamecocks assistant coach Shawn Elliott and is coming off an 8-5 2021 campaign.

South Carolina hasn’t played Arkansas since the 2017 season, but has won the last three meetings in the series. USC won the most recent iteration of the matchup 13-10 in Columbia and posted a 52-7 win the last time the Gamecocks traveled to Fayetteville in 2013.

South Carolina 2022 football schedule

Sept. 3: vs. Georgia State, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus/ESPN+) Sept. 10: at Arkansas, noon (ESPN) Sept. 17: vs. Georgia, noon (ESPN) Sept. 24: vs. Charlotte Oct. 1: vs. South Carolina State Oct. 8: at Kentucky Oct. 22: vs. Texas A&M Oct. 29: vs. Missouri Nov. 5: at Vanderbilt Nov. 12: at Florida Nov. 19: vs. Tennessee Nov. 26: at Clemson