The South Carolina Football team will attempt to capture its first SEC win Saturday when the team travels to Lexington to take on the No. 13 ranked Kentucky Wildcats.
The Gamecocks enter the game 3-2 and fresh off a 50-10 win against South Carolina State. However, its losses come from the only two SEC teams they have played this year. The first loss came on the road against then No. 16 Arkansas 44-30 and the second was a 48-7 blowout at home against then No. 1 Georgia.
“It was early in the year, but I feel like as a group we are more experienced now,” redshirt junior quarterback Spencer Rattler said. “We gained confidence, really just focusing on protecting the ball.”
South Carolina has struggled in its in-conference matchups. The team gave up at least 40 points and at least 400 total yards in both SEC matchups this year.
Defensively, the Gamecocks have forced seven total turnovers this season, all interceptions, but none of those came in the two SEC games. Forcing turnovers will be even more difficult this week when the Gamecocks line up against Kentucky quarterback Will Levis.
Levis is a projected top-10 pick in all three of CBS Sports' current mock drafts, going as high as No.1 in Ryan Wilson’s mock. This season, Levis passed for 1,405 yards on a 69% completion percentage. He has already passed for 12 touchdowns, rushed for two and thrown four interceptions.
“He’s a really good quarterback. He’s a more 'throw it to a spot' guy,” redshirt junior defensive back Marcellas Dial said. “If you mess up the receiver's timing with their routes, it messes up the throw, so basically we have to get our hands on the receiver and mess up the timing.”
Kentucky’s offense has struggled to rush the ball. The Wildcats failed to reach more than three yards per carry in any of its games this season.
Senior running back Kavosiey Smoke has been a bright spot, leading Kentucky in rushing with 269 yards on the year and a five yards per carry average. However, he carried the ball just twice last week in the loss against Ole Miss.
Senior running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. took the majority of the carries last week in his first game back from dealing with an “NCAA matter.” Rodriguez was arrested for DUI in May and pleaded guilty during a pretrial conference.
Rodriguez was second in the SEC in rushing yards last season behind former Missouri running back Tyler Badie. His return to play could help improve the Wildcats' rushing attack and make its offense more balanced.
“Obviously getting Rodriguez back, they’re able to run the football efficiently with him,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “He’s a proven back.”
The Gamecocks have seen success in its run attack in recent games. In the last two weeks, South Carolina rushed for 480 of its 691 rush yards on the season and scored 11 rushing touchdowns.
Redshirt sophomore running back MarShawn Lloyd is a big reason the team has steadied its slow start on the ground. Against Charlotte, he rushed for 169 yards, averaged 11.3 per carry and scored three touchdowns. He had 91 total yards and two total touchdowns against South Carolina State.
South Carolina will look to capture its first road win of the season. The team has struggled on the road, going 1-5 in road games during the Beamer era. Dial said he feels if the team plays its best Saturday, they can add another win to that record.
“We just gotta go out there, keep our poise, just play fast, physical and don’t let the home crowd get us out of our game,” Dial said. “If we play our best, we are good enough to beat anybody on the road or at home.”
Kickoff for the game is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on the SEC Network.