Thursday Night Preview: Ole Miss vs South Carolina

Jevon Snead and Ole Miss take on South Carolina Thursday Night

It is still early in the season so the first game of the week is not Kent State at Toledo, Buffalo at Temple or the highly anticipated battle for state supremacy, Central Michigan vs. Western Michigan.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the MAC and these games, while not featuring the highest calibre of talent are hard fought and highly entertaining.  But this week we get a treat as the SEC replaces the ACC on Thursday night pitting highly rated Ole Miss against ever frustrating South Carolina from Columbia. S.C.

To this point I think both teams have performed as expected.  Ole Miss has been riding high as a potential spoiler to Florida’s bid for another SEC championship.  They are currently 2-0 but they haven’t been tested against good competition in their non-conference schedule.

South Carolina enters the game with a 2-1 record.  They completely shut down Russell Wilson and North Carolina State in the opener but lost to Georgia in an unexpectedly high scoring thriller and whipped Florida Atlantic last weekend.  Stephen Garcia is showing flashes of brilliance while frustrating his coaches as usual.

If you believe that Ole Miss is a true SEC challenger than you have to have them winning this game easily which is what I see happening.  The South Carolina experiment for Spurrier just isn’t working and I don’t think this will be a game where he can overcome the talent imbalance.

Score:
Ole Miss             27
South Carolina   13

When you look at the two teams a couple of quick differences jump out.  The first is at QB where Jevan Snead is a major NFL prospect while Garcia is often suspect.  The second is that Ole Miss has a couple of dynamic playmakers, especially Dexter McCluster.  Unless he is knocked out by the flu he might be the ultimate difference maker.

I expect this game to be hard hitting and close at the half but in the end Ole Miss at -3.5 is the play.

Ole Miss vs South Carolina Notes/Trends:

• South Carolina won last year at Ole Miss so revenge is in the air
• Road team is 5-0 ATS in the series
• Rebels are 5-0 ATS as a favourite
• Gamecocks are 1-5-1 ATS as a home underdog
• Gamecocks are 0-4 ATS against teams with a winning record