Vanderbilt might have pushed Notre Dame, but Gamecocks still favored on the road

Recent impressions don’t mean much when it comes to Las Vegas’ lines and South Carolina football this week.

The Gamecocks are coming off a surprise bye week because of Hurricane Florence and a blowout home loss to Georgia. The Vanderbilt team they’ll visit Saturday is 2-1 and gave Notre Dame a tough game in South Bend, Indiana.

South Carolina is still a road favorite.

The Gamecocks opened as a 2 1/2 -point favorite against the Commodores in Nashville. USC covered a 31-point line in its season opener against Coastal but didn’t as an underdog to Georgia.

By the usual logic of lines and home-field advantage, that means USC would be a 5 1/2-point favorite on a neutral field and an 8 1/2-point favorite at home.

USC has won nine in a row against Vandy, the past three by less than 10 points.

The Gamecocks are 5-0 against the spread in their last five road games.

This story was originally published September 16, 2018 at 4:51 PM.