ESPN’s SP+ projects the final score of Mississippi State at South Carolina
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The 2026 SEC season will begin in earnest this weekend, as after Alabama and Kentucky got the conference schedule started off last weekend, 5 games between league foes populate Saturday’s slate.
And in Columbia, South Carolina, a pair of darkhorse teams led by dynamic quarterbacks will hope to start their SEC seasons off on the right foot.
Mississippi State and South Carolina, both of which own 2-0 records through the early portion of the campaign, will meet at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and the stakes are (almost) just as high as any other matchup.
Both Shane Beamer and Jeff Lebby are amidst pivotal seasons in their tenure, and each head coach likely circled this as a must-win swing game to accomplish his preseason goals.
With the Gamecock faithful gearing up for a day of “Sandstorm,” ESPN’s Bill Connelly releases his SP+ predictions weekly, and the algorithm believes that the home side will come out on top by a score of 31-22.
SP+ sees LaNorris Seller out-dueling Kamario Taylor is a matchup of the league’s most explosive dual-threat quarterbacks, although the single-digit margin suggests the metric could see it going either way.
The Gamecocks and Bulldogs will kick off at 4:15 p.m. ET, with the game being broadcast by the SEC Network.
Parker is currently the sports editor for Gulf Coast Media in Foley, Alabama. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
