South Carolina-Kentucky football prediction: Down to almost the final straw
Collectively, the South Carolina football team’s situation has moved beyond “must-win.”
Will Muschamp spent part of this week explaining that all games fall into this category. But the Gamecocks had an opener they could ill-afford to lose and a first road trip that also fit the description.
South Carolina lost both, and now the path to a bowl means winning every game where it will be favored, plus upsetting either the No. 10 team in the composite computer rankings at home (Florida) or the No. 22 team on the road (Texas A&M).
Oh, and the team coming up next has won five in a row in the series.
The past four meetings have featured South Carolina’s offense getting shut down by Kentucky defenses that range from strong (last year) to not. This year’s Wildcat defense is ranked 107th in yards-per-play allowed.
That points to South Carolina needing to get the offense in order. After a pair of encouraging days, QB Ryan Hilinski had some issues against Missouri. The team had 30 yards of offense before halftime.
On the other side, this Kentucky offense is on the so-so side and coming off a pair of down games. The hole Benny Snell left is hard to fill, and the Wildcats will be down to their second- or maybe third-string quarterback.
Things are setting up well, USC is favored, but that’s happened before. Each time these teams meet, the Gamecocks offense seems to evaporate. Until they can break that streak, it’s hard to pick that way.
The pick: Kentucky 23, South Carolina 20
