5 final thoughts, score prediction for South Carolina vs. Kentucky football game
On Saturday, South Carolina and Kentucky (2-1, 0-1 SEC) will both battle for their first conference win of the season.
Coming off back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Missouri, respectively, the Gamecocks (2-2, 0-2 SEC) will play Kentucky and go into their first bye week.
The game will kick off at 7:45 p.m. and be aired on SEC Network.
Those are the facts. Here are some thoughts.
1. Are we gonna see LaNorris scramble?
Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer has been adamant for two weeks that there’s no “conspiracy” preventing quarterback LaNorris Sellers from running. It’s not like Beamer is barging in on the offensive meetings, instructing his QB on how many times he needs to run.
What is also true: Sellers’ rushing numbers have continued to drop.
Taking out his sacks, Sellers has carried the ball nine times (Virginia Tech), six times (SC State), two times (Vanderbilt — He only played a half) and then five times last week against Mizzou.
“If you watch Missouri,” Beamer said, “there were a lot of times they were dropping eight people into coverage and they had two people whose only job was to keep their eyes on LaNorris Sellers.”
The whole thing is tricky. On one hand, everything Beamer’s saying makes sense — defenses are creating entire game plans to prevent Sellers from running. But even knowing that, it is hard not to think about the Clemson game last year; about all the times he evaded a sack and we said, ‘How on Earth did he do that?;’ about the third-and-16, when Clemson had a spy and he still made magic.
Where has that been?
If you think back to the sack Sellers took on first-and-goal against Missouri, he just starts retreating before being brought down almost 20 yards from the end zone. There was no trying to juke the defender. No Houdini moves. It’s like he’d rather throw the perfect pass than try and escape the sack.
2. Offensive line needs some help
South Carolina’s offensive line is not good this season. We know that. We also know it might get worse against Kentucky, with starting right tackle Cason Henry and center Nolan Hay doubtful.
OK, so how can the Gamecocks be better up front? How can they keep Sellers upright and ensure South Carolina finishes the game with positive yardage? Well, it needs everyone around the offensive line to step up.
It needs Sellers to get the ball out quicker, especially when the alternative is taking a sack.
It also needs its running backs to actually be effective blockers. On that Sellers’ goal-line sack against Missouri, the O-line was fine. But RB Rahsul Faison whiffed on his block and Mizzou’s pass rusher had a free lane to Summers.
And the Gamecocks need their tight ends to be better blockers. Per Pro Football Focus’ grades, tight end Brady Hunt was the third worst pass blocker against Mizzou. And he and TE Jordan Dingle were two of the lowest-graded run blockers form last Saturday.
Unless South Carolina’s O-line is going to magically take a leap forward, the Gamecocks are either going to need to scheme around their blocking deficiencies or require everyone else to be better.
3. Kentucky is an atrocious passing team
The big news out of Lexington this week was that Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops named Cutter Boley the starting quarterback over Zach Calzada. This probably isn’t a huge deal considering both have been atrocious this season.
It sounds like good news for South Carolina ... until you realize this means Kentucky will probably just run the ball.
A week after the Gamecocks’ defense missed on 16 tackles trying to bring down Mizzou’s running backs, South Carolina has to face another pair of bruising tailbacks: Seth McGowan and Dante Dowdell, who are each averaging over 5 yards a carry.
Kentucky might try and run the ball 50 times against South Carolina and see if all of USC’s extra tackling drills have actually paid off.
4. Does a win give this team some confidence?
As of Thursday night, South Carolina is favored by 5.5 points over Kentucky.
It might be the last time USC is favored until late November, when it gears up to host Coastal Carolina. That’s not a shot at the Gamecocks. That’s the reality. South Carolina has looked mediocre against the easiest part of its schedule.
Because after Kentucky, the Gamecocks go on a bye week and then return to this: at No. 4 LSU, vs. No. 7 Oklahoma, vs. No. 17 Alabama, at No. 13 Ole Miss and at No. 9 Texas A&M.
To just make a bowl game, South Carolina has to at least win one of those. To redeem some semblance of a special season, the Gamecocks might have to pull three or four magical upsets. Is that possible? Maybe. But it would be completely out of the picture if USC loses to Kentucky.
The Gamecocks seem desperate for something positive, for some confidence builder they can take with them into the bye week.
5. Vandrevius!
I had almost no expectations for wide receiver Vandrevius Jacobs in 2025. Not with Nyck Harbor and Mazeo Bennett returning. Not with the addition of the six talented freshman pass catchers that USC’s coaching staff couldn’t stop raving about.
And, well, not after watching him struggle to make an impact in 2024.
Yet, it’s taken just four games for Jacobs to already surpass his numbers from last season. He’s already hauled in 14 passes for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading the Gamecocks in every receiving category.
If Jacobs holds up as South Carolina’s top wide out, it would be the third-straight season (Xavier Legette in 2023, Joshua Simon in 2024) of a returner elevating themselves into the Gamecocks’ top pass catcher.
PREDICTION: South Carolina 24, Kentucky 17
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
