When the 2024 Citrus Bowl, featuring the #15 South Carolina Gamecocks vs the #20 Illinois Fighting Illini kicks off on Tuesday, it will be a bowl game where both sides will be near full strength. Lots of stars in both offensive backfields will be taking part, as this is a game with very few major opt-outs.
Although it is worth noting that both sides will be without their best overall individual player (WR Pat Bryant for Illinois, DE Kyle Kennard for South Carolina).
Citrus Bowl FYIs
#15 South Carolina Gamecocks vs #20 Illinois Fighting Illini
Kickoff: Tue. Dec. 31, 3pm EST (Fun fact: this will be the first Citrus Bowl not on Jan. 1 of Jan 2 since 2016.
Spread: South Carolina -9.5, Money Line -360, U/O 47.5, ESPN Analytics South Carolina 72.4%
Illini Football Material: History Nuggets & Tidbits Coaching History Part 1 Coaching History Part 2 Coaching History Part 3
Citrus Bowl Opt-Outs Illini Football 2022 vs 2024 Citrus Bowl News and Notes/Nuggets and Tidbits
Bret Bielema’s Bold Bling
Still, having just one major opt-out each (well actually two for South Carolina, with Rocket, their feature back, taking a pass on this one) in this day and age, is quite the accomplishment.
Overall, it is not too bad a situation, all things considered.
South Carolina Gamecocks (9-3, 6-3) Preview
The Gamecocks are led by their electric, dual threat, freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
The Florence, SC native has thrown for 2,274 yards on 63% completion, and 17 touchdowns, to go against just interceptions. He’s also run for 655 yards on a 4.2 yards per carry average.
Sellers has come up huge in big games, leading USC to a massive 44-20 win over Texas A&M when the Aggies were ranked #10 in the nation.
They also beat a then-ranked #23 Mizzou team and won the Palmetto Bowl at #12 and ACC champion/CFP participant Clemson.
At every level, it’s always interesting to see how first year quarterbacks perform on the biggest stages. An analogy can be drawn to Denver Broncos rookie signal caller Bo Nix.
Brian Dawkins, one of the best safeties to play the game in the modern era, summarized it perfectly.
“It’s going to be even tougher because you have a rookie quarterback and I know he played throughout the year, he’s growing, but the playoffs are a different beast,” Dawkins said of the former Oregon Ducks and Auburn Tigers signal caller, in an exclusive with RG. “The stakes are more magnified in the postseason.”
Don’t expect any jitters from Sellers here, as he’s shown plenty of poise in huge games throughout the season already. Other key players to watch are C Vershon Lee and DT Alex Huntley.
The big news on this side, however, is that Mike Shula, yes, the son of the winningest NFL coach of all-time, and the former Alabama head coach (and also Offensive Coordinator for a few different NFL teams) is the new OC.
He’ll be calling plays from the sidelines in this one, as the previous Off. Coordinator, Dowell Loggains, left to become the head coach at Appalachian State.
And as you can see from the graphic embedded above, which headlines this section, Shane Beamer’s men were only marginally/slightly projected to be here. Most people thought Alabama was going to be here, in place of USC, or they had been some traction for Ole Miss too.
But at the end of the day, the bowl projection people were pretty much wrong.
Fun fact: South Carolina is one of a select group of schools that can boast both a #1 overall NFL Draft pick, Jadeveon Clowney in 2014 and a Heisman Trophy winner, George Rogers in 1980.
Illinois Fighting Illini (9-3, 6-3) Preview
Fun Fact: Bret Bielema’s first bowl game as a head coach was the Citrus Bowl, when he led his 2006 Wisconsin team to a 17-14 win on Jan. 1, 2007.
The team he beat was the only other school (beyond Wisconsin) that he’s been a head coach at- Arkansas.
Another storyline here is homecoming- 17 Illini players (the most of any Big Ten school) hail from Florida, about a dozen of which are starters.
The Illini have played in the Citrus Bowl once before, in conclusion of the 1989 season, when RB Howard Griffith and QB Jeff George (the first overall pick in the next NFL Draft) led the Illini to a 31-21 victory over Virginia on New Year’s Day 1990.
Illinois, overall, is a very complete and balanced team. They are led by their star quarterback, Luke Altmyer, who has already announced that he’s returning to the team for 2025. He’s gutsy, and plays the game with major cajones, or as others might say “chutzpah.”
The MVP of the team, he leads a pass-first offense that will need to heavily lean on Zakhari Franklin in this game, now that Bryant is out.
The running back by committee approach has worked well too though, ever since since the Illini had to make a major adjustment to their overall approach on offense, once Kaden Feagin went down for the season with injury.
Defensively, the Illini are led by star DBs Miles Scott and Xavier “X Gonna Take It From Ya” Scott. Also, a bit of Illini Citrus Bowl news broke last night.
Illinois will debut new helmets in this one, with the cursive script that we’ve seen on the basketball jerseys.
Fresh. Clean. Illinois.
For the first time in program history we will sport the Illinois script. #Illini // #HTTO // #famILLy pic.twitter.com/xSGNLh7ciy
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) December 28, 2024
We’ve also seen it on the walls at Memorial Stadium, so we knew it was coming to Illini football at some point.
Prediction South Carolina 28, Illini 17
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.