South Carolina at Mississippi State Line
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The 15th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks are set to host the Mississippi State Bulldogs in SEC action this Saturday. The Gamecocks bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 54-3 beating of Kentucky last week. South Carolina improved to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. The Bulldogs were able to bring home a 21-3 win at UAB last week, but are just 3-3 overall and 0-3 in conference play. South Carolina has won five straight in the series, but this is the first meeting between the schools since 2007.
Taking a look at the week 7 spreads, oddsmakers currently have South Carolina favored by 3-points over Mississippi State with the total set at 47.5 points.
South Carolina Gamecocks:
The Gamecocks 54-3 win over Kentucky was the kind of performance I have been waiting to see from this team all season. South Carolina dominated from start to finish, after really struggling to put away teams in the early portion of the schedule. The Gamecocks are tied with Georgia on top the SEC East, but hold the edge with a 45-42 win over Georgia earlier this season. There upcoming game against Mississippi State begins a very difficult stretch of the season, as they have to go on the road to face Tennessee and Arkansas and then host Florida in their following three games.
After watching starting quarterback Stephen Garcia struggle to take care of the football in the first five games of the season, head coach Steve Spurrier turned to sophomore Connor Shaw to start against Kentucky. Shaw was better than expected in his first start of the season, completing 26 of 39 attempts for 311 yards and four touchdowns.
Star running back Marcus Lattimore rushed for 102 yards on 22 carries for his fourth 100+ yard performance of the year. Lattimore has 779 yards and nine touchdowns on the season. With the way Lattimore is running the football, this offense could really get going if Shaw is able to continue to play at the same level as he did against Kentucky.
Shaw’s breakout performance helped wide out Alshon Jeffery put together his best game of the season. Jeffery’s six catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns were all season-highs.
While the offensive numbers were impressive last week, Kentucky has a very poor defense. This week the Gamecocks will go up against a Mississippi State defense that is holding opponents to just 20.2 ppg and 349 yards of total offense. The Bulldogs biggest weakness has been stopping the run, as the come in giving up 159.0 yards a game on the ground.
Mississippi State Bulldogs:
It has been a disappointing start for Mississippi State, as they came into the season expecting to surprise a lot of teams in the SEC. While they have yet to win a conference game, this is still a very talented football team. The game that really sticks out is a 6-19 loss at home against LSU. They are the only team to hold LSU under 35 points and the only team to finish within 13 points of beating the top-ranked Tigers in 2011. This is a team that is very hungry to prove they are better than what their record shows, and I expect them to play extremely hard against the Gamecocks this Saturday.
The Bulldogs have done most of their damage offensively behind senior running back Vick Ballard, who has 531 yards and five touchdowns. Mississippi State comes in averaging 188.3 ypg on the ground, but have combined for just 108 rushing yards in their last two conference losses against LSU and Georgia.
Starting quarterback Chris Relf is second on the team with 230 rushing yards, but has really struggled throwing the football. Relf has just 860 passing yards with just four touchdowns to five interceptions. Sophomore backup Tyler Russell came in for Relf against UAB and completed 11 of 13 for 166 yards and three touchdowns. It will be interesting to see if head coach Dan Mullen doesn’t go with the youngster against Georgia this Saturday.
Either way the Bulldogs figure to have their hands full against a very talented South Carolina defense. The Gamecocks come in allowing just 274 yards of total offense a game. They have been outstanding against the pass, giving up just 128.5 ypg, but have had their troubles against the run. They allowed 274 rushing yards in a close win over Navy and 246 yards on the ground in their loss to Auburn.
Betting Trends:
South Carolina is 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games following a SU win of more than 20 points.
Mississippi State is 12-5-1 ATS in their last 18 games as an underdog of 0.5-3.0.
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