No. 18 Tennessee Volunteers (-13.5) at South Carolina Gamecocks
Saturday, 7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN2
The Volunteers went through the gauntlet of Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Alabama and got extremely banged up, losing their last two games. Fortunately, they're coming off a bye and, while not anywhere near full health, they do get players like linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr, three offensive linemen who missed most of the Alabama game, and several others back.
Both teams have played Georgia and Texas A&M. While Tennessee caught both foes' "A" games, South Carolina got those two opponents just off of big games -- and A&M had Tennessee on deck. Take away A.J. Turner's 75-yard run on the first play versus A&M, and the Gamecocks rushed for only 116 yards, averaging 2.3 yards per carry. Tennessee rushed for 409 yards in their meetings with the same two teams.
The Volunteers have Joshua Dobbs and a super set of wide receivers, while South Carolina has true freshman Jake Bentley, who should be in his senior year of high school. His only action has been versus Massachusetts after just taking his redshirt off. Mississippi State was just off a loss when they took on South Carolina and they led 24-0 at the half with a 324-90 yard edge.
The Volunteers play their best ball down the stretch and last year won their final six games by an average of 22 points per game. Tennessee gets their stretch run started with a solid win this week.
ATS pick: Tennessee
Score: Tennessee 30, South Carolina 13
