Breiner’s South Carolina-Louisiana Tech prediction: Bounce-back time

Well, that last one didn’t go quite as expected.

South Carolina’s football team is looking to rebound from a loss to Kentucky filled with missed chances. Louisiana Tech endured the ups and downs of the start of a Group of Five schedule and then knocked off a two-time defending conference champion in Western Kentucky.

But the Hilltoppers might not be at their usual level, and the Bulldogs’ offense to this point looks a bit below its standard highly productive ceiling.

That could be J’Mar Smith just finding his footing, and he has the speed and arm to cause issues in Skip Holtz’s offense.

The Gamecocks are trying to rediscover their running game and adapt to life after Deebo Samuel. It seemed their offense was working toward something more coherent and consistent after the Missouri game, but instead that group had a range of lapses and run-blocking problems in the loss.

The La. Tech defense wasn’t great a year ago, decent to good the two before that, and boasts a top-rated defensive end in Jaylon Ferguson. That could cause a few issues if the Gamecocks offense continues to play like it did last Saturday.

Between that than the Bulldogs offense, it could be a little closer than some would prefer.

Prediction: South Carolina 33, Louisiana Tech 24

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Breiner’s South Carolina-Louisiana Tech prediction: Bounce-back time."