South Carolina Football: Tennessee Volunteers preview

On Saturday, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and his Gamecock squad will hit the road for the second away game of their SEC schedule. Carolina will be Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers, a team bent on revenge for what happened to them last year in Columbia.

For those who have somehow forgotten, a 1-loss Tennessee program was in position to make the College Football Playoff in 2022, but the South Carolina football team had other ideas. A 63-38 beatdown commenced in Williams-Brice Stadium, and the Vols’ Playoff chances were dashed.

This year, the winner of the game has a very good chance to finish in the top half of the SEC East, while the loser will struggle to finish better than 5th or 6th in the division.

Tennessee enters the game as the favorite, sitting between an 11-point and 13-point favorite depending on the betting outlet.

Both Tennessee and South Carolina are in the third year of a new coach as Josh Heupel and Shane Beamer both have improved their respective programs after Jeremy Pruitt and Will Muschamp were fired at the end of the 2020 college football season. The two teams are considered “on the rise” in the SEC but do not look quite ready to compete with Georgia in the East in 2023.

South Carolina football’s biggest advantage heading into the contest likely is at quarterback. Joe Milton is a supremely talented passer and a plus-athlete at the position, but his struggles with accuracy (and, potentially, a knee injury) put him at a lower spot in the SEC quarterback hierarchy. Spencer Rattler, in contrast, has been one of the best signal-callers in the country.

Star Gamecock receiver Juice Wells will still be out this weekend, but the emergence of Xavier Legette as the country’s leading receiver has been a revelation for the USC offense. His massive performance against Mississippi State helped Spencer Rattler become the SEC’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week for last week.

Rattler and Legette will need to be very good on Saturday for Beamer’s group to stay in the game against Tennessee. Tennessee has had a stout run defense this season (albeit against a lighter schedule), and the Gamecocks have not run the ball with much success. The passing game will be key for offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains’ unit.

On the flip side, Tennessee is now the top rushing attack in the SEC (Mississippi State was last week before a poor showing against a resurgence South Carolina football defensive front). If Tennessee runs for their season average of 231 yards, the game might not be close.

The Gamecocks’ defensive front must play close to as well as they did a week ago when they held the Bulldogs from Starkville to under 50 yards on the ground and Boogie Huntley was named the SEC’s Defensive Lineman of the Week.

Clearly, the keys to the game will be the Carolina air attack vs. the Tennessee pass defense and the Tennessee ground game vs. the South Carolina rushing defense. The two lines, offensive and defensive, will determine how these keys to the game will go.

Will the Gamecock offensive line give Rattler enough time against the Volunteers’ SEC-leading pass rush? Will the defensive line get any push up front to slow down Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small from running the ball down their throat? Those two questions might be the biggest determiner of success this weekend.

However, a surprising trend has been present for the Gamecocks in 2023 that could impact the game: the country’s best special teams unit from 2022 has been remarkably average.

Preseason Ray Guy Award favorite Kai Kroeger has been inconsistent at punter, kicker Mitch Jeter missed his first kick ever, and the “fake game” on punts and field goals has been far less successful this season. Tennessee also has an “elite punt returner” in Dee Williams according to USC special teams coordinator Pete Lembo.

Another storyline to watch heading into the weekend is the health of Joe Milton. The Tennessee quarterback got a little banged up last week against Texas-San Antonio and was photographed at a local medical facility this week where he was getting additional treatment/testing on his knee. If Milton is limited, he could be less of a factor in the run game and less able to escape pressure.

A sold-out Neyland Stadium will be motivated by revenge and something UT fans are calling “dark mode” (it’s just black jerseys). The environment should be electric, and fans of both teams could be in for a very entertaining game.

The Gamecocks and Vols will kick off at 7:30 on the SECNetwork and ESPN App.