5 final thoughts, score prediction for South Carolina vs. Missouri football game
South Carolina is still looking for its first SEC victory in 2025.
A week after falling 31-7 in its conference opener to Vanderbilt, the Gamecocks (2-1, 0-1 SEC) travel to Missouri to take on the 23rd-ranked Tigers (3-0, 0-0 SEC).
The game will kick off at 7 p.m. and air on ESPN.
Those are the facts. Here are some thoughts:
1. As close to a September must win as possible
The only true must-win games are loser-goes-home championship games. As far as September games go, this is a must-win.
Let’s lay out the case. South Carolina spoke all offseason that its goals were to elevate from last year, which reasonable people can translate to: (1) winning at least 10 games and (2) making the College Football Playoff.
If the Gamecocks lose to Missouri on Saturday, those goals become virtually impossible. It would leave South Carolina with no margin for error. Perhaps they could go 9-3 and still make the playoff, but even that becomes arduous if USC were to start 2-2.
All of that is to say: The stakes are high for South Carolina.
A win on Saturday, though, would put the Gamecocks back on track, back in the thick of the SEC race and still a legit contender for the playoff.
A loss would dismantle nearly all hope for this season and put the Gamecocks in a brutal spot.
It would mean, after the Kentucky game on Sept. 27, USC could head to the bye week at 3-2 with its next five against: No. 3 LSU, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 14 Alabama, No. 13 Mississippi and No. 10 Texas A&M.
The Gamecocks will face that brutal stretch regardless of what happens against Missouri. But they would be much better off entering murderer’s row with only one loss.
2. What LaNorris Sellers do we get?
It’s pretty clear now that QB LaNorris Sellers will play against Missouri after leaving the Vandy game with a concussion.
Which is great news for South Carolina, until you remember this: Even with Sellers playing most of this season, the Gamecocks’ offense has only accounted for five touchdowns.
This offense has been bad without Sellers. It has also been bad with Sellers.
Can that change against Missouri? Well, it’s going to have to.
Perhaps offensive coordinator Mike Shula will design more plays that allow Sellers to roll out. (He only did that once against Vandy.) Maybe the Gamecocks will run an actual option offense, where Sellers only has to read one defender. Or the other option: Nothing changes.
But for all the blame on Shula, it should be clear that Sellers has been far from perfect. He’s missed on dump passes. Has been late on easy throws. Heck, the interception he threw against Vandy was easily avoidable.
Somewhere out there is the Sellers we all saw against Clemson. The guy who wasn’t thinking, just reacting. That looked like he could do anything.
The Gamecocks might need that guy on Saturday.
3. Felt this way a year ago
I remember thinking after the Gamecocks lost 27-3 to Ole Miss last year that the USC offense might just not have any answers.
Sellers looked horrible that day. The Gamecocks racked up 80 penalty yards. And for some reason, they ran the ball 43 times despite being down the entire game.
How I thought about the Gamecocks offense then is how I think of it now. They seem to be lacking an easy button. Every first down seems grueling. Every drive feels difficult.
I say that to say this: There is precedent of offenses being able to re-invent themselves in the middle of the season. It is possible for an offense to go from hopeless to productive.
The Gamecocks did that last year. If you want to go back even further, look to the 2022 upset of Tennessee, when USC somehow scored 63 points.
Whether or not that happens this year is still to be seen. There’s a new OC. New skill players. A new opponent.
4. Gamecocks defense faces toughest test
The stats of last week are not egregious. Vanderbilt had fewer yards than South Carolina. It ran the same amount of plays. Heck, the Commodores barely moved the chains more.
Vanderbilt was intent on playing keep-away. Run down the play clock. Convert on third downs. Keep South Carolina’s defense on the field.
It worked. It’s also the exact opposite as how Missouri plays. The Tigers ran 86 plays last win against Louisiana. It also ran 86 the week before versus Kansas.
They want to go fast. And it works because their quarterback, Beau Pribula, completes over three-quarters of his passes while their running back, Ahmad Hardy, has averaged over 8 yards a carry.
Yes, Missouri hasn’t really played any tough competition. But that doesn’t mean its offensive isn’t explosive.
No one has slowed down Pribula and Hardy yet this season. Perhaps South Carolina has fixed its tackling. Perhaps it will avoid any questionable roughing-the-passer calls. Perhaps Dylan Stewart can again prove that he’s the best defensive player in college football.
5. Thinking of Connor Shaw
The lead-up to the annual South Carolina-Missouri game is our yearly opportunity to remember how tough and resilient Connor Shaw was in 2013 against Missouri.
This week, we learned he’s still the same fighter.
As of Thursday evening, Shaw was still in stable condition at Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital, after collapsing while coaching his son’s 8U flag football game in Simpsonville on Wednesday night.
An eyewitness named Chad Smith told The State on Thursday that after Shaw collapsed, a local firefighter who was coaching on a separate field began administering CPR. Eventually, strangers were switching off, giving Shaw CPR.
Smith estimated that lasted between 20 and 30 minutes, before Shaw was taken to an ambulance by the Simpsonville Fire Department.
South Carolina assistant Shawn Elliott shared the perfect message on Thursday night.
“We all know what he means to so many,” Elliott wrote on X. “Lift Connor Shaw and his family up this evening.”
PREDICTION: Missouri 31, South Carolina 17
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM.
