Gamecocks favored for the first time this season ... and by double digits
.jpg "South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp, left, is congratulated by Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason after an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. South Carolina won 37-14. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)")
South Carolina’s football team won’t be favored often this season, but this is one of those weeks.
The Gamecocks opened as 11-point favorites against Vanderbilt, according to VegasInsider, as USC hits the road for a second week in a row. Carolina was an underdog against Florida and against Tennessee.
Will Muschamp’s team covered last week, even as the line fell from an opening 22 points to just 15 ... or 14 1/2 in some spots, ahead of the 38-24 loss. The week before, a three-point spread grew to 4 1/2 against Tennessee, and South Carolina kicked a late and somewhat controversial field goal to get within four in the final minutes.
The Gamecocks (0-2, 2-0 ATS) have beaten the Commodores every year since 2008. The Commodores have only won four games in the series overall (25-4), with those coming in 2007-08 and 1998-99, when Brad Scott and Lou Holtz went 1-20 across two seasons in Columbia.
The Commodores (0-2, 1-1 ATS) have been a little feisty at points this season, coming off a 3-9 season a year ago. They pulled Texas A&M into a 17-12 mud fight and were within a few scores of LSU into the second half.
Kickoff is at noon Saturday in Nashville on the SEC Network.
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Gamecocks favored for the first time this season ... and by double digits."
