5 final thoughts, score prediction for South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt game
No. 11 South Carolina opens SEC play on Saturday night against Vanderbilt.
The Gamecocks and Commodores — both holding a 2-0 record — will kick off inside Williams-Brice Stadium at 7:45 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
Those are the facts. Here are some thoughts:
1. This game feels big ... and that’s a good thing
Kudos to Vanderbilt.
The Commodores have poured gasoline onto flaming dryer lint. Since when has South Carolina-Vanderbilt ever felt this big? Heck, since when has it ever had stakes? Like real stakes? Since when have Gamecock fans ever felt even a ounce of nervousness before lowly Vandy came into Williams-Brice?
The Gamecocks have won 16 straight over the Commodores. Though you are forgiven if you’ve listened to Vandy’s players this week and thought that streak was reversed.
The Vandy chatter began in the summer, when Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia said on a podcast he had the South Carolina game circled. Then earlier this week, Vanderbilt OT Bryce Henderson told the media, “We know that we can beat them and we’re gonna go in there and do it.”
On Wednesday, comedian Theo Von and streamer IShowSpeed were at Vandy’s practice and asked to break down the huddle. Von asked how they break it down.
“Win on 3,” Pavia said. “Or f--- South Carolina on 3. Whatever you want to do.”
It sounds like the edgy sound bite perfect for a boxing promo. And, boy, it’s hard not to get invested to see how it’s settled.
2. Is this the week Sellers makes the jump?
LaNorris Sellers has not been bad through two games. He also has not been the guy we all saw against Clemson, the guy who was throwing passes into a small window and running for a million yards.
There was that spectacular opening drive against Virginia Tech. The beautiful throw to Nyck Harbor. Some nice late-game keepers to seal game one. It was a solid start. Then last week against SC State, he just looked ... off. Almost passive.
There were passes early in the game where it seemed like he was a half second late. Where he watched his receiver come open — waited — then threw the ball. Incompletion. He had a routine dump-off pass get deflected. There was the triple-option play where he pitched the ball to Jared Brown, the one that coach Shane Beamer seemed to indicate postgame that Sellers could’ve kept.
There were just a lot of little moments where it felt like Sellers was thinking too much.
Offensive coordinator Mike Shula turned every Sellers-related question into a ramble of coach-speak, but he did not push back on the fact that Sellers needs to improve this week.
Perhaps that’ll result in Sellers proving how good of a passer he can be, proving why some folks think he might be the best player in America, might be the top quarterback taken in the 2026 NFL Draft.
3. The Gamecocks seemingly get favorable injury news
Just a few days after it seemed South Carolina lost half of its defensive starters top injury and Beamer said the health of his team “is not good,” the Gamecocks are seemingly going to be pretty healthy for the Vandy game.
On Wednesday, the initial SEC-mandated availability report came out and only five Gamecocks were listed.
DBs Vicari Swain, Brandon Cisse and Jaquel Holman were all listed as “probable.” However, DB Judge Collier and TE Brady Hunt were both listed as “doubtful.”
If it really is just Collier — who went down early in the Virginia Tech game — and Hunt who can’t play, that’s a major relief for USC.
But if some of those “probable” players are limited, it could put a strain of the Gamecocks’ depth in the secondary. Heck, by halftime of the SC State game, USC was down to its fourth-string nickelback.
4. Why kick to Vicari Swain?
I feel like Vicari Swain has earned the Barry Bonds treatment.
Remember the late-90’s, early-2000’s when Barry Bonds was so dominant for the San Francisco Giants that opposing teams decided it was much smarter to walk him nearly every at-bat rather than watch him take a fastball 440 feet?
Has Swain — after returning three punt returns for touchdowns in two weeks — become such a dominant threat to score that teams will just stop kicking to him?
Earlier this week, South Carolina special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis — who spent decades in the NFL — explained why the Bonds’ treatment doesn’t translate to football.
“It’s so hard to do. Because the one thing that nobody gets is, yeah, you can just punt it out of bounds,” DeCamillis said. “But the problem with that is: You have to protect for the punt, too.
He continued: “And most (punters) aren’t able to just automatically turn it into, ‘hey, I’m gonna punt it out of bounds every time.’ Yeah, you can punt it out of bounds and get about 20 yards.”
5. Can’t wait for this player matchup
The battle I’m amped for on Saturday is South Carolina LB Fred “JayR” Johnson against Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Stowers might be the top tight end in the SEC and Vanderbilt does a heck of a job putting him in different spots to get the ball. In two games this season, he has 8 catches for 115 yards and a score.
Surely, there are times he’s gonna match up with Johnson, the Gamecocks 6-3, 244-pound linebacker who can fly to the ball. Any time I see Johnson across from Stowers, my eyes will be glued.
Prediction: South Carolina 24, Vanderbilt 20
