UAB vs. South Carolina Gasparilla Bowl Canceled Amid Gamecocks' COVID-19 Spike

The 2-8 South Carolina Gamecocks will not play in a bowl game this year.

According to Nick Bromberg of Yahoo Sports, South Carolina informed the Gasparilla Bowl it will not be able to play Saturday's game against UAB because of positive COVID-19 tests within the program.

"The team was excited to learn Sunday that it would play in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa on Saturday," South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said. "However, between members of the coaching staff and student-athletes, COVID and contact tracing has taken a toll too high for us to overcome. I have notified the bowl and the SEC office that we are not able to play in the game on Saturday."

That South Carolina was in a bowl game at all with a 2-8 record is a testament to the unusual circumstances of the 2020 season.

The typical requirement of a .500-or-better record to qualify for a bowl game was waived this season because of the uncertainty about how many games would be played and limits on conference-only scheduling during the pandemic.

That cleared the way for bowls to invite teams with lackluster records from power conferences such as the SEC, including ones like South Carolina that fired head coach Will Muschamp during a poor season.

While South Carolina will have a chance to bounce back next year against an SEC schedule, this is a difficult setback for UAB. The Blazers won the Conference USA title with a victory over Marshall on Friday and earned an opportunity to play on a national stage against an SEC opponent as a result.

Instead, it is left in something of a purgatory and may be done playing until the 2021 campaign even though it was South Carolina with the positive COVID-19 tests.

Bromberg noted it could still serve as a replacement team down the road in the bowl schedule as needed, much like Army was when Tennessee could no longer play in the Liberty Bowl against West Virginia.