Vanderbilt at South Carolina Line
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
This Saturday the No. 10 South Carolina Gamecocks will host the Vanderbilt Commodores in SEC play. South Carolina improved to 3-0 with a thrilling 24-21 win over Navy, while the Commodores also moved to 3-0 with a 30-7 win over Ole Miss. While no one is surprised the Gamecocks are a perfect 3-0, the Commodores 3-0 start is a huge surprise considering they had won just four games combined in the last two seasons. The Commodores actually played very well against South Carolina last season, losing by just two scores at home (7-21).
Taking a look at the week 4 odds, oddsmakers currently have the Gamecocks favored by 16-points with the total set at 49 points.
Vanderbilt:
I expected the Commodores to be more competitive in 2011 with 19 returning starters and the addition of head coach James Franklin, but I didn’t expect them to be 3-0. While they have played a couple of big name teams in Connecticut and Ole Miss, both of those programs are not nearly as good as they were a season ago.
While Vanderbilt comes in averaging 33.0 ppg on the season, they haven’t exactly been a huge threat offensively this season. They put up 45 points in the opener against Elon, but managed to score just four offensive touchdowns in their two wins over Connecticut and Ole Miss. They are 111th in passing offense at 141 yards per game and 46th in rushing at 177 yards per game.
Starting quarterback Larry Smith has completed just 53.5% of his passes with only three touchdowns to two interceptions. Most of the offense has came from running backs Zac Stacy and Jerron Seymour, who have combined for 407 yards and three scores. Last year they managed 108 yards rushing against the Gamecocks, but 48 of those game from Smith.
Defensively the Commodores have been very sharp in 2011. They are holding opposing teams to just 14 points per game and have already scored three defensive touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns came on interceptions returned by corner Trey Wilson. I wouldn’t read too much into Vanderbilt holding South Carolina to 21 points last year, as the Gamecocks played without star running back Marcus Lattimore.
South Carolina:
The Gamecocks come in off two hard fought 3-point wins over Georgia and Navy. South Carolina needed a big fourth quarter in each of those games, but those are the types of wins that can really get a team going early in the season.
Offensively South Carolina has looked pretty solid to start the season. They put up 436 yards of total offense against a good Georgia defense and added another 458 yards of total offense last week against Navy.
The majority of the offense has came from Lattimore and the ground game. The sophomore back rushed for 246 yards and three touchdowns against the Midshipmen, giving him 534 yards and seven touchdowns on the season. Last year Vanderbilt allowed backup Brian Maddux to rush for 146 yards and touchdown.
Starting quarterback Stephen Garcia has thrown for 456 yards, but has just two touchdowns to three interceptions. Not exactly the start the Gamecocks were expecting after Garcia threw for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns a season ago. Garcia’s struggles have limited the production of star wide out Alshon Jeffery, who has just 12 catches for 212 yards and touchdown. Jeffery had 88 catches for 1,517 yards and nine scores a season ago.
The Gamecocks defense hasn’t exactly been all that impressive so far this season. They are giving up 33.3 ppg and have been torched on the ground for 189.7 yards a game. I wouldn’t be surprised if the defense doesn’t come out and play a much better game against the Commodores this week. They held Vanderbilt to just 250 yards of total offense last year.
Betting Trends:
The UNDER is 3-0-1 in the last 4 meetings.
The road team is 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 meetings.
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