The South Carolina Gamecocks (3-3, 2-3 SEC) will be under the lights this Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium, kicking off the second half of the season against the Tennessee Volunteers (3-4, 1-3 SEC) in a decisive SEC Eastern Division match-up.
South Carolina is coming off a bye-week to close out a three-game homestand before traveling to Oxford, Mississippi, to face Ole Miss on Nov. 3. The Gamecocks are 1-1 in their last two appearances in Columbia, defeating the Missouri Tigers 37-35 on Oct. 6 and falling to the Texas A&M Aggies 26-23 on Oct. 13.
On Saturday, the Volunteers were pummeled by the undefeated No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in Knoxville, Tennessee, 58-21. With Alabama taking a dominant 28-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Volunteers recorded two touchdowns in the second quarter and one in the third before being held scoreless in the fourth. Tennessee quarterback Keller Chryst stepped in for starting QB Jarrett Guarantano for two straight scoring drives after Guarantano left the game with an upper-body injury.
Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt expects Guarantano to be ready to face South Carolina this weekend. Guarantano started in last season’s 15-9 Gamecocks victory in Tennessee, throwing for 133 yards on 11 completed passes.
“He’ll be back,” Pruitt said to reporters after Tennessee’s loss to Alabama on Saturday.
Last season, South Carolina came from behind against Tennessee, with Parker White scoring on back-to-back field goals in the fourth quarter. In addition to White scoring on all three of his attempts that game, running-back A.J. Turner ran 20 yards for South Carolina’s lone touchdown in the third quarter.
South Carolina has defeated Tennessee two years in a row, but all match-ups between the Gamecocks and Volunteers in the last six seasons have concluded in at least a six-point spread. The Volunteers lead the Gamecocks all-time, with a 25-9-2 record between the two programs. Tennessee also leads 9-6-2 in games played at Williams-Brice Stadium.
This weekend’s contest will be shown on the SEC Network, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.