The South Carolina football team will play 12 games this season.

Athletics director Ray Tanner hopes to have the opponent picked out by Nov. 5. There appear to be several options, though he’s also acknowledged that three teams are candidates.

Marshall, the team South Carolina was scheduled to play in September before Hurricane Florence, would be the ideal candidate, though Conference USA title game implications could make that difficult for Tanner to pull off, before his targeted date.

A look at the college football games that have been cancelled this season: South Carolina vs. Marshall# | Southern Miss vs. Appalachian State# | Nebraska* vs. Akron | UCF# vs. North Carolina | East Carolina* vs. Virginia Tech# |West Virginia# vs. N.C. State*

Symbols: * (already scheduled makeup), # (contending for league title game)

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Marshall (5-2, 3-1 USA) returns from an open week with a trip to Hattiesburg on Saturday to play Southern Miss, before returning to Huntington for games against Charlotte and UTSA. The Thundering Herd’s season finale is against Conference USA East division leader FIU. Southern Miss, another potential option for South Carolina, sports a 2-2 record against Conference USA opponents, which is fourth among teams from the West division.

Appalachian State (5-2, 3-1 Sun Belt) lost a critical East division showdown on Thursday night to Georgia Southern, which leaves the Mountaineers in third-place in the East and has the Eagles (4-0 Sun Belt) sitting in first.

Akron (4-3, 2-2 MAC) is in search of a replacement for the Sept. 1 game at Nebraska that was called off because of weather. Nebraska, of course, just played its makeup game against Bethune-Cookman. The Zips are fourth in the MAC’s East division, behind Buffalo and Miami, both of whom own the head-to-head tie-breaker.

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UCF, of course, is in the driver’s seat to play in the American Athletic Conference title game, but dates with Temple, Navy, Cincinnati and USF make for a tough remaining schedule.

North Carolina’s lone win this season came against Pittsburgh, to open ACC play. The Tar Heels lost the two before that and the four since. South Carolina, of course, opens the 2019 season in Charlotte. Virginia Tech is still in play for the ACC Coastal crown and West Virginia is chasing a Big 12 title game spot.

East Carolina and N.C. State have already set a meeting for Dec. 1.

South Carolina football returns to action on Saturday at Ole Miss. Kickoff is set for 12 o’clock (11 local). SEC Network will provide television coverage of the game between the Gamecocks and Rebels. The two programs haven’t met since 2009.