South Carolina Football: Ranking each game on the Entertainment Scale

South Carolina Football’s No. 3 Most Entertaining Game of 2023:
Tennessee Volunteers

It’s safe to say the Vols are looking for revenge after what could be called the greatest performance in Gamecock history, the 63-38 victory in Williams-Brice over then 5th-ranked Tennessee. Star QB Hendon Hooker, who unfortunately tore his ACL in the loss, was drafted by the Lions this offseason. That paved the way for Bazooka Joe Milton to get the starting job this upcoming season. The Josh Heupel offense finished first in the nation in PPG last season with 46.1, but losing the aforementioned Hooker and offensive coordinator Alex Golesh will mean repeating that title will be a difficult task. Leading receiver Jalin Hyatt is also gone, but the next three leaders in receiving yards all return, so Milton won’t have to deal with carrying too much of the load himself. Unrelated, but after over 200 violations found by the NCAA, the Vols lucked out by not getting any type of postseason ban.

That being said, Milton doesn’t really fit into the Hendon Hooker mold, as Hooker was very accurate and fit the Heupel scheme to a tee. Milton has a cannon for an arm, but tends to sail throws and isn’t the most precise tosser of the ball. There’s a reason Milton has lost every QB competition he’s been a part of in college. Perhaps he’s made strides in the offseason with fixing his accuracy issues but every viral clip of Milton throwing the ball is just Milton throwing it as far as he can instead of clips from practice or against any type of defense.

The Vols’ running backs are solid this year, as both Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small return. It would go against the offensive philosophy of Josh Heupel to focus more on the running game than through the air, but the tandem of good backs combined with the Milton question is enough to suggest a bit of an offensive tweak.

Defensively, however, the Vols were gashed by Rattler last season in the secondary, and there aren’t significant reasons to suggest they’ve improved drastically since then. On the front seven, sack leader Byron Young is gone, but leading tackler Aaron Beasley (the only Vol with 60+ tackles) returns. Ultimately, this game being in Knoxville is huge for the Vols, just as it was last season for the South Carolina football team. This should be a high-scoring affair. Maybe not as much as last year, but still two good offenses against defenses that maybe aren’t the best.