South Carolina (5-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) at No. 24 Vanderbilt (6-3, 3-2), Saturday, 4:15 p.m. EST (SEC Network)
BetMGM College Football Odds: South Carolina by 3 1/2.
Series record: South Carolina leads 29-4.
What’s at stake?
Vanderbilt is back in the Top 25 after a big road win at Auburn made the Commodores eligible for their first bowl game since the 2018 season. The Commodores have their eyes set on much more as they sit tied in the middle of the Southeastern Conference. The South Carolina Gamecocks can become bowl eligible themselves with a win. They come in having won two straight with the latest a big upset of then-No. 10 Texas A&M.
Key matchup
South Carolina’s defense against a Vanderbilt offense that leads the SEC in playing keepaway averaging a time of possession of 32 minutes, 25 seconds per game. The Commodores also have scored first in seven of nine games this season, winning five of those. That includes consecutive games against Alabama and Kentucky where they never trailed.
Players to watch
South Carolina: QB LaNorris Sellers. He not only threw for a career-high 244 yards with two touchdowns in the rout of Texas A&M. He also ran 15 times for a career-best 106 yards and another TD for a combined 350 total yards offense.
Vanderbilt: QB Diego Pavia. Not only does he lead the Commodores’ offense, his confidence sets the tone for the entire team. Pavia ranks fourth in the SEC with 15 TD passes and has helped score 118 points, which also is fourth-most in the league and 36th nationally. He is third in the SEC with a 151.9 passing efficiency. Pavia also ranks eighth in the SEC and leads all quarterbacks in the league with 563 yards rushing.
Facts & figures
Not only has South Carolina won 15 straight in this series, the Gamecocks have won 22 of the last 24. South Carolina has an 87.9% winning rate that is its best winning percentage among Division I FBS opponents. … Vanderbilt has scored more than 17 points just eight times in the previous 33 games in this series. … The Gamecocks are looking for their third SEC road win this season after winning at Kentucky and Oklahoma. They have not won three SEC road games in a season since 2011. … South Carolina is 1-3 against ranked teams this season and 4-12 against Top 25 teams since the start of the 2021 season. … Vanderbilt’s three losses this season are by a combined 10 points with two against teams ranked in the Top 7 at the time.
