National predictions for South Carolina-Vanderbilt
South Carolina and Vanderbilt will meet on the gridiron this weekend for one of the best games of the weekend (not too many were thinking that would be a possibility this preseason!). The Gamecocks are coming off of back-to-back thrashings of Oklahoma and 10th-ranked Texas A&M, and the Commodores are already bowl-eligible and confident after beating the Auburn Tigers.
Shane Beamer's team enters the contest unranked but viewed by many as the biggest snub from the College Football Playoff top 25, AP poll, and USA Today coaches poll. Clark Lea's 'Dores sit in the No. 24 spot in the AP and No. 25 according to the coaches.
Opinions on Saturday's showdown are somewhat mixed. However, there seems to be a national agreement that South Carolina should win.
According to ESPN's FPI matchup predictor, the Gamecocks have a 58.7% chance of victory. The outlet also considers USC to be a 4.5-point favorite in the road contest.
On3's Jesse Simonton picked South Carolina to win but Vanderbilt to cover the 4.5 points in a close game.
The College GameDay Podcast trio of Rece Davis, Pete Thamel, and "Stanford Steve" Coughlin all picked Carolina. However, Stanford Steve (after taking a shot at the Gamecock fanbase), picked Vandy to cover the spread. Davis hedged his bet a bit, though, by saying he didn't feel convicted about his South Carolina pick.
Sports Illustrated's College Football HQ projects a good day for the Gamecocks. According to SI's SP+ prediction model, Carolina will win and cover this weekend in a higher-scoring affair. The "tempo-and-opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency" gives USC a 68% chance of emerging victorious on Saturday.
College Football Network's Will Helms (who also is the resident "Analytics Guy" at GamecockCentral), picked Shane Beamer's team to win. Helms also picked the 'Cocks to cover, "maybe even easily."
Fox Sports' AI pick (yes, that is artificial intelligence) went in favor of South Carolina.
On the local newspaper end of things, prognostications went about as one might expect. The State and The Greenville News both sided with the Gamecocks as Jordan Kaye and Lulu Kesin (in respective order to their publications) picked a South Carolina victory. Kesin's 31-27 prediction is a Vanderbilt cover by most outlets, but some have the spread at 3.5, which would mean a USC cover. The Tennessean went with the Commodores as writer Aria Gerson predicted a 17-14 win for the home team.
A win for South Carolina moves the Gamecocks into bowl eligibility and keeps alive their hopes for a special season. As a program, Carolina only has 15 eight-win seasons and seven nine-win campaigns. That number drops to four when considering seasons with double-digit victories. If the Gamecocks continue to win, the 2024 version of South Carolina football can enter that realm.
