Position-by-position edge: Tennessee vs. South Carolina
The injury-ravaged Volunteers get some players back following a bye week but are still missing several key starters as they travel to Williams-Brice Stadium. Meanwhile, Will Muschamp hopes he’s found a solution to his quarterback quandary on his third try.
On the surface, this appears to be a lopsided affair. But Gamecocks fans might remember 1992 when South Carolina upset a Tennessee team that had already beaten Florida and Georgia, like this year’s team.
Then, there’s Will Muschamp’s 4-0 record as a head coach against Tennessee.
When Tennessee has the ball
Joshua Dobbs vs. South Carolina pass defense: Dobbs has completed at least 52 percent of his passes in every game but Florida, and in that game he had 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He’s fifth in the league in passing yards per game, fourth in touchdowns, but he leads the SEC in interceptions thrown (9).
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The Gamecocks are second in the league in passing yards allowed per game. The 400 yards surrendered against East Carolina was the only game they’d given up more than 206 before last week when UMass was 20-for-42 for 247 yards and three touchdowns. But the Gamecocks have had an interception in every game but the season opener against Vanderbilt.
EDGE: South Carolina
Jalen Hurd vs. run defense: With Alvin Kamara out with a knee injury, Hurd will get the bulk of the carries, and he’s had his own injury issues this season. Hurd was a Second-Team All-SEC choice entering the season but has averaged just 3.8 yards per carry so far. John Kelly is expected to pick up the slack for Kamara. The sophomore had 89 yards on 13 carries against Texas A&M. The Gamcocks have struggled against the run, especially in SEC play. South Carolina is allowing 243.4 yards in league play, which is 10th in the SEC.
EDGE: Tennessee
Josh Malone/Jauan Jennings vs. pass defense: Kamara’s absence will also be felt in the passing game as only three players have at least 20 catches, and he’s one of them with 22 for 260 yards and 3 touchdowns. Malone has been consistent, but he’s yet to crack 100 yards in a game and hasn’t caught a touchdown in three games, though he had five TDs in the first four. Jennings had big games against Florida and Georgia but averaged just about 10 yards per catch against Texas A&M and Alabama on eight catches. Chris Lammons will be active, looking to add to his team-high 3 interceptions. Jamarcus King will patrol the other side after he briefly missed time last week with a hand injury.
EDGE: South Carolina
When South Carolina has the ball
Jake Bentley/Brandon McIlwain vs. Tennessee pass defense: The first of presumably many tests for freshman Jake Bentley arrives this week as he will look to build on last week’s impressive debut.
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McIlwain is likely to be in the mix with his designed runs, too. Last week was the first time this season the Gamecocks have scored more than two offensive touchdowns. McIlwain started three of the first six games, and while he’s primarily a runner, he could offer wrinkles near the goal line. Tennessee’s pass defense is seventh in the SEC and gives up an average of 212 yards per game.
EDGE: Tennessee
David Williams/A.J. Turner/Rico Dowdle vs run defense: Turner has started most of the games this season, but Williams — who has had his share of time in the coaching staff’s doghouse — made his first start of the season last week and scored 2 TDs, his first time finding the end zone since 2014. Dowdle even got some second-string carries. Turner is battling a knee injury but leads the team with just 300 rushing yards. He didn’t have a carry against UMass. The Vols are near the bottom of the league in rushing defense as they’re giving up 215 yards per game and have surrendered at least two scores in each of their last three games.
EDGE: South Carolina
Hayden Hurst/Bryan Edwards/Deebo Samuel vs pass defense: With 31 catches, Hurst is by far the leading receiver, but he’s yet to find the end zone. In fact, only three South Carolina players have receiving touchdowns, and K.C. Crosby has two of the team’s four total TD catches. Samuel, who has battled hamstring issues, showed some potential last week with 8 catches for 106 yards. But he’s missed three games and doesn’t have a TD catch.
EDGE: Tennessee
Special teams
South Carolina kicker Elliott Fry is seven behind the school record for points after he added four more last week to reach 323. His counterpart, Aaron Medley, has a slightly better percentage this year as the Tennessee kicker has made 6-of-8 field goal attempts. Kamara’s absence is felt on special teams also as he’s third in the SEC in punt returns. On kickoff returns, though, Evan Berry is second in the league and Turner is third, at 28 and 25 yards per return on average, respectively.
EDGE: Push
Lol, Dobbs & Co. are gonna shred that secondary
I really don’t want a close game haha. They needed time to at least regroup themselves, wish it could’ve been against Bama but whatevs. go vols, i’m excited for them!
It’s gonna be a close game for sure
We’re currently 18th in the nation in passing yards per game (the only SEC team ahead of us is UF at 2nd). I expect Butch to give the ball to Jalen Hurd as often as possible, as our run defense is terrible (103rd in the nation in run yards per game). “Dobbs & Co.” will likely have very little to do on Saturday.
I have to agree. I don’t see them having any edge over us on the secondary. Dobbs and Hurd are too much of a threat and they can’t put as many back there as they would like.
By the end of the day today, God willing… Coach Jones and crew will have beat SC again and but MusCHUMP in his place.
Interesting. Coach Jones put Muscjamp in his place alright…
JaMarcus King 👑, and that is Coach MUSCHAMP. “I love seeing all these people disappointed” on this board.
No one passes on them because they run all over them. Sorry but SC does not have the edge in anything.
Two words: Redzone Defense….
still terrible
How many rushing yards did UT put up on us last night? Man, all those edges, and no W….
this is an example of how selective stat keeping can paint a misleading picture. Don’t get me wrong, it could very well be a close game. But notice that everytime the author mentions a bad Tennessee stat, its followed by “the last 3 games”….. what do you think South Carolina’s numbers would look like if there last 3 or 4 were Bama, aTm, uga, fla?Tennessee being dinged up hurts a lot, and any Muschamp defense could turn in some good games, but I just don’t buy that the Gamecock secondary has an edge over Josh Dobbs or the receivers. I also don’t buy that the running game has an edge over Tennessee’s front 7, hurt though it may be. It takes time to build depth, and Tennessee has superior talent there. SC is averaging 3.3 a play and still haven’t faced Tennesee, Florida, Mizzou or Clemson? I wouldn’t be shocked if that number got worse lol. My point is, the stats come from a slate where Tennessee has played their big games, and South Carolina has played the softer half of their schedule. If I went out and found an FCS team that had better stats at certain positions than Alabama, it wouldn’t give them “the edge”….
my thoughts as well
These position by position advantage articles are a farce. They are just used to create an illusion that the two teams are closer, than they actually are.
Couldn’t agree more, one team was better than the other, lol
You do realize that SC has played A&M and UGA in their last 3 games, and those games were close right? Those can’t be considered “soft” games for SC, but tougher games for Tenn. I agree that position by position breakdowns aren’t always accurate, but if SC’s offense can score points this weekend, then Tennessee hasn’t shown anything that would make this game a blowout. Note that is contingent on SC scoring points. If the offense is dry, the vols ride Hurd to a relaxed victory.
This ^!
Tennessee is a Tier 2 team …. They nearly lost to App State and Georgia
This game is a toss up
brought to you by your tier 2 expert, Kentucky fans.
LSU is an elite football program EH?
Then tell me why did LSU try to punk out of the Florida game and cancel and refuse to reschedule until there was an outcry?
Compared to UK, it sure is – when was the last time UK did ANYTHING worthy of note in football? No worries, Basketball season is starting up, where you are still Kings.
You’ve got your facts backwards, my man. It was LSU who offered Florida a free travel to Baton Rouge and it was Florida who turned it down. And it’s unwise to judge a program based on one year of play. To say a football program isn’t elite, one would have to look at the team’s performance over a great number of years. The numbers don’t lie – LSU has held a strong seat as a Powerhouse program.
So, because he supports Kentucky, his opinions about which teams are good are somehow invalid? I seriously doubt he supports Kentucky because he thinks they’re a good team, just as I do not support SC because I believe they are a good team. Clearly the Gamecocks suck, and the Wildcats aren’t much better. But that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of producing valid judgements of other programs.
This is what I hate about the comment sections on this (and pretty much every CFB) site. Each fan supports their chosen team based on their own factors, but I would guess that most of us have chosen our team based on where we went to school, or where we live. If you’re going to call out a Kentucky fan’s opinion of another team simply because they’re a Kentucky fan, then, by your own logic, you ought to treat the opinion of any Alabama fan as essentially the words of god.
Brought to you by your tier 2 expert, South Carolina fans.
CarolinaPhoenix you are obviously new here. You need to do some research on what kind of incompetent material SevenT posts only under Tennessee articles before you go defending him.
This “SevenT” is the guy who makes an Alzheimer’s joke on SDS within 24 hours of our beloved former women’s basketball coach passing away.
His opinions are invalid because he spends 20 hours a day on this site, doing nothing but trolling, and he isn’t very good at it to boot. Ignoring him is probably the best option.
I’m not defending him specifically, I’m defending every fan of teams that aren’t very good, my own included. I am fully aware of how awful my team is, but I’m also a fan of SEC football in general, and I would consider myself at least fairly knowledgeable. All I’m saying is that you can’t bash someone’s opinion purely on the basis of which team they support.
I support South Carolina, not because of any on-field accomplishments, but because it is my alma mater. I would assume that most of you have similar reasons for supporting your chosen team, as does SevenT. If you want to refute his opinion, please do so, but at least do so in a more creative way than “your team sucks, therefore your opinion is invalid”.
As far as Tennessee goes, they’ve played plenty of good teams, but even their wins have been pretty close, even against programs that are pretty awful (looking at you, App State). I was quite impressed with the comeback against TAMU, but in the end TAMU held on.
If you disagree with his assessment of being a tier 2 team, surely you can come up with a better reason why he’s wrong other than just “well you’re a UK fan, so suck it”
@Monkeybread calling SC a tier two team lol, I guess after last night that makes the Vols a tier 3 team. To the Vol fans that have been classy all year I say good game, and best of luck in the future. To all the loser, bed wetting, booger eating, pencil necked geeks, who never played football, that ran their mouths all year, eat a bag of d*cks.
I’m an alum fan too CarolinaPhoenix. I wasn’t telling SevenT his opinion is invalid because his team sucks. i was telling him that if anyone would know what tier 2 means, its a kentucky fan, which is a valid point is it not? Also, if you’ve been here awhile as many of us have, then you know that SevenT hops on every Tennessee article strictly to talk trash, never football. I think my response was appropriate. And when Alabama fans talk trash, I generally keep my mouth shut… what are you gonna say? They’re usually right…. and yea SevenT, since about 2001, LSU has been an elite program. might not be forever, but we are now. What the OM fan said about the FLA stuff. its all been said. keep believing that.
also, why is it SevenT’s opinion for him to say “Tennessee is a tier 2 team”, but if I say “Kentucky is a tier 2 team”, I need to try harder? We said the same thing…. why not ask him to present a better argument? I get what you’re trying to say and all, but in the spirit of trash talk I will persist: you defended him because you’re both SEC bottom dwellers, huddled in the cellar snuggling for warmth. Tennessee has at least seen the light of day through the window and remember what it feels like. Maybe one day you guys can join us on ground level as we all stare into the sun that is Alabama.
Brick by Brick. This is Tennessee’s year!!!