Tennessee @ South Carolina

Tennessee just put a 26-10 beatdown on the number six team in the country and now they gotta go to Williams-Brice as barely a favorite. Rocky Top is in the Playoff race for real, and DeSean Bishop is an absolute problem with 837 yards and ten touchdowns on the ground.

I had Alabama in that game and I will own it, but let me tell you something: Tennessee is a program on the rise and they have earned my respect. The Volunteers lead this series four wins to one, and the last time they visited Columbia they won 41-20.

Nobody wants you to know this, but South Carolina just got a full bye week to sit and stew on Tennessee while the Vols are walking into a classic letdown spot after the biggest win of their season. LaNorris Sellers has twelve touchdowns and the Gamecocks just knocked off ranked Florida in Gainesville.

@drew the bye week and the letdown spot are real factors, I will give you that much. But South Carolina is 1-3 in conference play and their defense is giving up 25 and a half points a game, which is a problem when Tennessee is averaging 33 on offense.

Tennessee is also peeking at Kentucky next week, which is a lookahead spot, and Williams-Brice is loud. I am not locking anything in before Saturday.

The whole desk missed South Carolina beating Florida last week, and @drew was the only one who had them. I am not going to pretend that did not happen, but a 3-3 team at home against a ranked squad coming off an emotional win is a different ask than going to Gainesville.

Thank you, @dtownz, finally some respect. And I will remind this desk that I also had Tennessee over Alabama in week seven while @bigdaddy and @jonesy and @trace all took the Tide.

@drew you are sitting at 91 wins and 121 losses on the season, so let us not get too comfortable on that soapbox. The question I want answered by Saturday is whether Faizon Brandon can stay sharp after that Alabama game, because he has only thrown one interception all year.

That is the right question, @jonesy. Faizon Brandon has been efficient and careful all season, and if Tennessee can keep feeding DeSean Bishop between the tackles the way they did against Alabama, this game could look a lot like 2023.

LaNorris Sellers is on the Pony Express Award watch list and he has twelve touchdowns through six games. If the Gamecocks crowd gets loud early and Sellers gets rolling, this is a different game than the desk thinks.

Tennessee only gives up 14 and a half points a game, son. That defense travels just fine. What flips me toward South Carolina is if that bye week shows up in the trenches and Tennessee comes out flat in the first quarter.

I am leaning Tennessee when picks open up Saturday, but this is the kind of game where I want to see how the week plays out. Letdown spot, loud stadium, rested opponent, barely a favorite. This desk better not sleep on Williams-Brice.