Gamecocks open as underdogs for Saturday’s home game vs UK Wildcats
This week’s opening odds aren’t in South Carolina’s favor, at least not to start the week.
The Gamecocks opened as a 6-point underdog in their upcoming matchup against SEC East foe Kentucky, according to the VegasInsider’s opening line. South Carolina will host the Wildcats in Williams-Brice Stadium at 7 p.m. this Saturday. By late afternoon Sunday, that line was bet down to 4 points in favor of Kentucky — but it was back at 5.5 points on Monday morning.
South Carolina (2-1, 0-1 SEC) covered the 31.5-point spread in its SEC opener against Georgia, losing by 27 points in Athens, 40-13. It was the steepest spread in the history of the Bulldogs-Gamecocks matchup and the first loss for head coach Shane Beamer.
Kentucky (3-0, 1-0 SEC) comes into Columbia after escaping with a 28-23 win against FCS UT-Chattanooga last week. The Wildcats defeated Missouri, 35-28, in their first conference test on Sept. 11.
Through the first three weeks, Kentucky features the SEC’s leading rusher, running back Chris Rodriguez (377 yards on 59 carries), as well as its leading receiver in Wan’Dale Robinson (337 yards on 18 catches).
South Carolina holds the all-time record over Kentucky 18-13, but the Gamecocks have dropped six of the seven most recent games. Last year’s contest was South Carolina’s final game of 2020, and the Gamecocks were routed 41-18 in Lexington. The Gamecocks won, 24-7, the last time they hosted Kentucky in 2019.
The South Carolina-Kentucky matchup will be televised on ESPN2. SEC Network’s gameday show, SEC Nation, will broadcast live from Columbia Saturday morning ahead of the game.
This story was originally published September 19, 2021 at 2:14 PM.
