2016 South Carolina Gamecocks Football Team

The Gamecocks played their home games at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina and competed in the East Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gamecocks first-year head coach was Will Muschamp, with Kurt Roper as offensive coordinator and Travaris Robinson as defensive coordinator. They finished the season 6–7, 3–5 in SEC play to finish in fifth place in the East Division. They were invited to the Birmingham Bowl where they lost to South Florida in overtime.

2016 South Carolina Gamecocks football
Birmingham Bowl, L 39–46 OT vs. South Florida
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	East Division
Record	6–7 (3–5 SEC)
Head coach	Will Muschamp (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Kurt Roper (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bryan McClendon (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Travaris Robinson (1st season)
Base defense	Multiple 4–3
Home stadium	Williams-Brice Stadium
Seasons ← 2015 2017 →

South Carolina announced its 2016 football schedule on October 29, 2015. The 2016 schedule consisted of seven home and five away games in the regular season. The Gamecocks hosted SEC foes Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas A&M, and traveled to Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt.

For the tenth year, the Gamecocks opened their season on a Thursday. The team hosted three out of four of its non–conference games which were against Clemson (from the ACC), East Carolina (from the American), Massachusetts (from the MAC), and Western Carolina (from the Southern Conference).

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	8:00 p.m.	at Vanderbilt	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN	W 13–10	30,304
September 10	7:00 p.m.	at Mississippi State	Davis Wade Stadium Starkville, MS (SEC Nation)	ESPN2	L 14–27	57,763
September 17	4:00 p.m.	East Carolina*	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	SECN	W 20–15	80,384
September 24	7:30 p.m.	at Kentucky	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY	SECN	L 10–17	51,702
October 1	4:00 p.m.	No. 9 Texas A&M	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	SECN	L 13–24	78,245
October 9[a]	2:30 p.m.	Georgia	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC (rivalry)	SECN	L 14–28	77,221
October 22	12:00 p.m.	Massachusetts*	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	SECN	W 34–28	73,428
October 29	7:15 p.m.	No. 18 Tennessee	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 24–21	78,696
November 5	4:00 p.m.	Missouri	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC (Mayor's Cup)	SECN	W 31–21	73,817
November 12	12:00 p.m.	at No. 22 Florida	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (SEC Nation)	CBS	L 7–20	89,614
November 19	4:00 p.m.	Western Carolina*	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	SECN	W 44–31	76,650
November 26	7:30 p.m.	at No. 4 Clemson*	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (Palmetto Bowl)	ESPN	L 7–56	81,542
December 29	2:00 p.m.	vs. No. 25 South Florida*	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Birmingham Bowl)	ESPN	L 39–46 OT	31,229
*Non-conference game  Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

^{^[a]} The game between South Carolina and Georgia on October 8, 2016, was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew, and was rescheduled the following day on October 9, 2016.
Schedule Source: