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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) - The University of South Carolina football team will open its 2013 Southeastern Conference schedule at Georgia next fall.

That game returns to its more traditional second week of the season, on Saturday, September 7.  South Carolina opened the conference schedule at Vanderbilt this season.

 The Gamecocks’ 2013 SEC home opener will be played against the Commodores on September 14.

The SEC announced its 14-team conference game schedule for the 2013 season on Thursday.

The eight-game conference schedule is made up of of six games played inside the division and two games against teams from the opposite division. The cross-divisional common opponents that were previously announced by the conference will not take place until 2014.

The Kentucky Wildcats are set to visit Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday, October 5. That game will be followed by three-straight SEC road games when the Gamecocks travel to Arkansas (Oct. 12), Tennessee (Oct. 19) and Missouri (Oct. 26) to finish out the month of October.

The final two SEC contests will be played at home against Mississippi State on November 2, before wrapping up the conference slate against Florida on Saturday, November 16.

The 2013 schedule is considered a "bridge" schedule and not based on any other previous or future scheduling formats. The SEC athletics directors will convene in spring 2013 to begin formulating schedules for the 2014 season and beyond.

"As we began working on the 2013 football schedule, it became apparent that the conference would need another year of the ‘bridge’ schedule to make everything work," said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. "I appreciate the SEC transition team and our athletics directors, who came together to put this schedule in place. We look forward to starting with our new scheduling rotation in 2014."

The 2013 schedule has 14 playing weekends which provides for two open dates for each institution. The 2013 SEC Championship Game will be played on Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

The Gamecocks will announce their remaining four non-conference games when that portion of the schedule is finalized.