South Carolina football cancels ACC series, adds new opponent to schedule
South Carolina is losing another marquee non-conference football series.
On Friday afternoon, the Gamecocks announced that their home-and-home football series with North Carolina — with games set for 2028 and 2029 — has been canceled.
That series was the lone Power 4 home-and-home series still on South Carolina’s schedule. It would have had the Tar Heels come to Williams-Brice Stadium in 2028 and the Gamecocks make a return trip to Chapel Hill in 2029.
This comes in the wake of the SEC and ACC announcing they’re shifting to nine-game conference schedules moving forward, which has triggered South Carolina to proactively cancel a trio of future non-conference series against Power-4 schools not named Clemson: Miami (2026, 2027), Virginia Tech (2034, 2035), NC State (2030, 2031) and now North Carolina.
Because the Gamecocks and Tar Heels mutually agreed to cancel the series, meaning neither school has to pay the $500,000 cancellation fee that was outlined in the original contract, which was signed in November 2020.
South Carolina also announced that it will open the 2028 season at Williams-Brice Stadium against Bowling Green, filling out the 2028 non-conference slate. The Gamecocks still need to add another non-conference opponent for the 2029 and 2030 seasons.
SOUTH CAROLINA FUTURE FOOTBALL SCHEDULES
2026
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Kent State (Sept. 5), vs. Towson (Sept. 12), at Clemson (Nov. 28)
SEC: vs. Georgia, vs. Kentucky, vs. Mississippi State, vs. Texas A&M, vs. Tennessee // at Florida, at Alabama, at Arkansas, at Oklahoma
2027
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Furman, vs. App State, vs. Clemson
SEC: vs. Florida, vs. LSU, vs. Missouri, vs. Texas // at Georgia, at Kentucky, at Ole Miss, at Auburn, at Vanderbilt
2028
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Bowling Green, vs. Wofford, at Clemson
SEC: vs. Georgia, vs. Kentucky, vs. Alabama, vs. Arkansas, vs. Oklahoma // at Florida, at Texas A&M, at Mississippi State, at Tennessee
2029
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. App State, vs. Clemson
SEC: vs. Florida, vs. Ole Miss, vs. Auburn, vs. Vanderbilt // at Georgia, at Kentucky, at LSU, at Missouri, at Texas
2030
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. East Carolina, at Clemson
2031
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Clemson
2032
NON-CONFERENCE: at Clemson
2033
NON-CONFERENCE: at App State, vs. Clemson
2034
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. App State, at Clemson
2035
NON-CONFERENCE: vs. Clemson
This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 2:16 PM with the headline "South Carolina football cancels ACC series, adds new opponent to schedule."
