Florida at South Carolina Line

Written by Steve Janus

The South Carolina Gamecocks will try and keep their hopes of winning a second straight SEC East title alive when they face the Florida Gators this Saturday. The Gamecocks 28-44 loss at Arkansas dropped them to 5-2 in the SEC, leaving them a half-game behind Georgia (5-1). The Gators snapped a four-game losing streak with a 26-21 win at home over Vanderbilt, but will have to beat South Carolina to avoid finishing 3-5 in conference play. South Carolina ended a four game skid against the Gators with a 36-14 at Florida last season.

Taking a look at the week 11 college football spreads, oddsmakers currently have South Carolina favored by 3.5-points over Florida with the total set at 39.5 points.

Florida:

It has been a disappointing season in Gainesville. Florida’s three conference wins have come against Tennessee, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt, who combined are 2-14 inside the SEC. Florida was completely dominated by Alabama and LSU, but they did play both Auburn and Georgia to very close games.

Florida jumped out to a 17-0 halftime lead over Vanderbilt last week, but didn’t put the Commodores away until late in the fourth quarter when Jeff Demps scored on a 52 yard run with just over 2 minutes to go. Demps finished the game with 158 yards and two touchdowns. Demps had a 72 yard catch in the loss to Georgia, but had managed just 16 rushing yards on 13 attempts in his previous three games.

Senior quarterback John Brantley went 16 of 24 for 173 yards in the win, but was knocked out of the game late with a shoulder injury to his throwing arm. However, Brantley is expected to play this week against South Carolina.

The Gators 26-point outburst was the most pints they have scored in a game since putting up 48 on Kentucky back in late September. Even though the Gamecocks allowed 44 points in their last game against Arkansas, South Carolina comes into this game 9th in the country in total defense, allowing just under 285 yards a game.

South Carolina:

Despite a season-ending knee injury to star running back Marcus Lattimore and starting quarterback Stephen Garcia getting kicked off the team for substance abuse, South Carolina still has a shot at playing in the SEC Championship Game. First things first, they have to find a way to win at home over Florida, but they also need Georgia to either lose at home against Kentucky or Auburn.

Their chances of beating the Gators looked slim after last week’s game against Arkansas. Starting quarterback Connor Shaw was knocked out of the game with a concussion late in the fourth quarter, but he is expected to suit up and take the field against Florida this week. Without Shaw you have to wonder where the offense would come from. South Carolina finished with just 207 yards of total offense in the loss to Arkansas. Shaw accounted for most of it, throwing for 128 yards and rushing for a team-high 24 yards and two touchdowns.

New starting running back Brandon Wilds scored the Gamecocks only other offensive touchdown, but finished with just 21 yards on 10 attempts. It was a real disappointing performance from Wilds, who had rushed for 137 in the previous game against Tennessee.

South Carolina had scored just 28 points in their previous two games against Mississippi State and Tennessee, and all signs point to another sluggish offensive game against the Gators. Despite Florida’s poor record, they are 14th in total defense, allowing just 123.8 ypg on the ground and only 182.8 through the air.

Betting Trends:

Florida is just 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.

South Carolina is just 1-5 ATS vs. a team with a winning record.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in college football. The expert handicapper is 15-5 over his last 20 college selections.

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