The season starts tonight. There are 10 games scheduled this evening, when historically Thursday Night had ONE game. Seems the NCAA, like President Obama, is spreading the wealth.
Selecting just one is difficult on account of the number of games available. Nevertheless, this column will analyze and predict the outcome of the most intriguing matchup on the fourth business day of the week.
This week’s discussion revolves around the SEC. The SEC will be all over national television this season between ESPN and CBS. Most likely this will not be the last SEC game discussed here.
The Vanderbilt Commodores play the South Carolina Gamecocks at 7 ET on ESPN in Vanderbilt Stadium in the Game of the Night. The stadium should be packed since the students will be on campus, it is the first home SEC game of the year, and Steve Spurrier along with his ninth ranked program are in town.
Vanderbilt scored 27 points per game last season and its defense gave up 22. The offense is lead by senior quarterback Jordan Rogers. The offense should, in terms of scoring, be comparable to last season. Since it is the first game of the season and they are facing a fast, athletic South Carolina defense led by defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, Vanderbilt will score fewer points than the 27 it averaged last season. The Commodores will score MORE than the 3 points they scored against the Gamecocks in 2011, however
South Carolina scored 30 points per and gave up 18 points per contest in 2011. With Connor Shaw running the show at quarterback, Marcus Lattimore returning to tout the ball and Steve Spurrier calling the plays, the Gamecock offense will score at least 30 points in this one.
Potentially,South Carolina has the best offense in the SEC this season. Vanderbilt has a solid defense, but it will have to focus on defending the running game, which should lead to open passes from Shaw to Ace Sanders, Bruce Ellington or one of the stable of freshman receivers Spurrier recruited last winter.
It will be a low scoring first half. However, Spurrier will open up the offense when the defense is forced to key in on Lattimore in the second half with some of his vintage play calling.
South Carolina beats Vanderbilt 30-16.