Gameday Guide: South Carolina vs. Tennessee game details, TV info, depth chart
South Carolina will finally begin its 2020 football season in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Gamecocks will play host to the Tennessee Volunteers to open things up this weekend. What you need to know:
What time do the Gamecocks play today?
Who: Tennessee at South Carolina
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, (77,559)
TV: SEC Network (Taylor Zarzour, play-by-play; Matt Stinchcomb, analysis; Alyssa Lang, sideline)
Radio: 107.5 FM (Todd Ellis, play-by-play; Tommy Suggs, analysis; Jamar Nesbit, sideline) ... See all the radio affiliates around the state here.
Satellite radio: Sirius 136/XM 193
Series history: South Carolina trails the all-time series 26-10-2. The Gamecocks saw a three-game winning streak in the series broken with a 41-21 loss last year. Tennessee had won the final three meetings of the Steve Spurrier/Shawn Elliott era.
Weather: Mostly clear after a chance of rain in the middle of the day. Temperature 77 degrees at kickoff, 70 at game’s end.
Final SEC betting odds, schedule for Week 1 football games
- Kentucky at Auburn (-6.5), noon, SEC Network
- Florida (-14) at Ole Miss, noon, ESPN
- Mississippi State at LSU (-16.5), 3:30 pm, CBS
- Georgia (-28) at Arkansas, 4 pm, SEC Network
- Alabama (-29) at Missouri, 7 pm, ESPN
- Tennessee (-4) at South Carolina, 7:30 pm, SEC Network
- Vanderbilt at Texas A&M (-31), 7:30 pm, SEC Network Alternate
Gamecocks vs. Vols: What’s at stake
Losing this puts a lot of extra pressure on the Gamecocks and their path to a season of achieving a .500 or better record. Depending on the metric used, this should be the third- or fourth-easiest game on the schedule, so that’s a big chance to take care of business.
South Carolina’s new offense could use a solid debut to create some confidence outside the building. Tennessee has a formidable defense, but so will Florida and Auburn. A solid showing on offense Saturday will be a little early proof of concept for USC.
The Vols are coming into a season where the hype has built a bit and the 8-5 record of last year won’t be considered good enough. If the Vols want to get to the lofty heights they’re hoping for, they’ll need to win games like this one.
The game will be played in front of a crowd of no more than 20,000 people with plenty of COVID-19 safety protocols in place in the stands and on the sidelines.
The teams, by the numbers (from 2019)
USC | TENN | |
Points/Game | 22.4 | 34.4 |
Opp. Points/Game | 26.1 | 21.9 |
Yds. Rushing/Game | 149.7 | 159.0 |
Opp. Yds Rush/Game | 158.1 | 142.1 |
Yds. Pass/Game | 222.3 | 263.6 |
Opp. Yds. Pass/Game | 235.3 | 193.0 |
Avg. Yds./Game | 371.9 | 422.6 |
Opp. Total Yds/Game | 393.4 | 335.1 |
South Carolina players to watch
1. Quarterback Collin Hill is stepping into the big spot now. The grad transfer from Colorado State came to Columbia aiming to start and will do just that. Now he’s got to deliver improvement for an offense that struggled in all sorts of ways last season. Here’s the first chance..
2. Wide receiver Shi Smith is going to be asked to be more of a focal point of the offense than ever before. He delivered 43 catches for 489 yards last season, but saw his explosiveness dip last season. He’ll be crucial to improving the top-end explosiveness of the offense.
3. Cornerback Israel Mukuamu caught a lot of heat for a couple of plays against Tennessee last season, arguably unfairly. He had four interceptions last season and graded out well in some advanced metrics. This season might well be an NFL tryout, so starting with a chance to blanket some less-experienced receivers could help him on that front.
Tennessee players to watch
1. When the Gamecocks played Tennessee last year, the Vols featured a two-quarterback attack. Redshirt senior Jarrett Guarantano projects to be Tennessee’s starter, given his 25 career starts and 5,062 career passing yards, but quarterback is a deep group for Tennessee, and it’s worth monitoring whether sophomores Brian Maurer or J.T. Shrout see action like they did a year ago. The addition of four-star prospect Harrison Bailey adds extra intrigue.
2. Whoever plays quarterback will have the benefit of playing behind one of the best offensive linemen in the country in senior left guard Trey Smith, who is a common first-round pick in 2021 NFL mock drafts.
3. Linebacker Henry To’o To’o had an outstanding freshman season, earning All-America and SEC All-Freshman honors. He finished second on the team with 72 tackles last season.
South Carolina football depth chart
x-denotes true freshman
Offense
QB: Collin Hill (Ryan Hilinski)
RB: Kevin Harris -- OR -- Deshaun Fenwick
FB: Adam Prentice
WR: Dakereon Joyner (x-Ger-Cari Caldwell)
WR: Xavier Legette (x-Rico Powers)
WR: Shi Smith (x-Luke Doty)
TE: Nick Muse (Keshawn Toney)
TE: Keveon Mullins (Will Register)
LT: Dylan Wonnum (Jazston Turnetine)
LG: Sadarius Hutcherson (Jordan Rhodes)
C: Eric Douglas (Vincent Murphy)
RG: Jovaughn Gwyn (Wyatt Campbell)
RT: Jaylen Nichols -- OR -- Jakai Moore -- OR -- x-Vershon Lee
Defense
DE: Aaron Sterling (x-Tonka Hemingway)
DT: Keir Thomas (Zacch Pickens)
DT: Jabari Ellis (Rick Sandidge)
Buck: Kingsley Enagbare (x-Jordan Burch)
SLB: Brad Johnson (Spencer Eason-Riddle)
MLB: Ernest Jones (Damani Staley)
WLB: Sherrod Greene -- OR -- Damani Staley
CB: Jaycee Horn (John Dixon)
S: Jammie Robinson (Shilo Sanders)
S: RJ Roderick (Jaylin Dickerson)
CB: Israel Mukuamu (Cam Smith)
N: Jammie Robinson (Jaycee Horn)
Dime: Jahmar Brown (R.J. Roderick)
Special Teams
PK: Parker White (x-Mitch Jeter)
P: x-Kai Kroeger (Christian Kinsley)
DS: Matthew Bailey (Nick Muse)
H: x-Kai Kroeger (Christian Kinsley)
PR: Jammie Robinson -- OR -- Jaycee Horn
KR: Shi Smith -- OR -- Xavier Legette -- OR -- Jammie Robinson
The State’s Michael Lananna contributed to this report
This story was originally published September 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
