Missouri football vs South Carolina prediction: Scouting report, analysis

Posted by Admin November 15, 2024 Football

Mizzou has had some recent success in the series, but is this South Carolina a different beast?

Missouri football (7-2, 3-2 SEC) goes on the road Saturday to face the Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina. Both teams were ranked in the most recent CFP top 25, with the Tigers taking the No. 23 spot and the Gamecocks coming in at No. 21.

The past five games between the two teams have all gone Missouri’s way, including all four matchups since Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz took over the program.

But South Carolina (6-3, 4-3) is on a three-game winning streak, and a dominant one at that. The Gamecocks have defeated each of Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt by at least 21 points.

Can the Tigers keep their recent run of dominance going?

Here is everything you need to know about the Gamecocks before Missouri football visits Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday:

Who will be South Carolina’s starting QB against Missouri football?

Redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers is the latest in a long line of dual-threat QBs that Mizzou will face this season, and the first-year starter is beginning to find his groove with South Carolina.

Sellers threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 104 yards and a score as South Carolina stunned Texas A&M, 44-20, on Nov. 2. He followed that up with a 238-yard, two-touchdown passing day in a 28-7 win over Vanderbilt last Saturday.

The quarterback has rushed for 48.9 yards per game this season and is finding a rhythm in the passing game with 219 yards per outing in his past three appearances. He hasn’t thrown an interception in any of those games.

Missouri to face NFL-caliber defensive linemen

Drinkwitz said Tuesday that he spoke with an NFL scout recently, and was told that South Carolina has as many league prospects on its defense as any other SEC team.

Look along the Gamecocks’ front, and you’ll see who they likely were talking about.

South Carolina ranks third in the FBS for total sacks this season, averaging 3.67 per game. Georgia Tech transfer Kyle Kennard has 9.5 sacks, which ranks fifth in the country. True freshman Dylan Stewart has 5.5 sacks in his rookie campaign.

Between those two edge rushers, they have 68 backfield pressures, per PFF College. You can add another 40 pressures between starting defensive tackles Tonka Hemingway and T.J. Sanders. In the FBS, only Ole Miss and Boise State have created more pressure up front.

The Gamecocks don’t get much less mean as you look through the levels. Debo Williams is living up to preseason All-SEC billing. Safeties Nick Emmanwori and Jalon Kilgore have shared seven picks.

But it’s the defensive line that presents the most clear and present danger to either Drew Pyne or Brady Cook at quarterback for Mizzou, which also will be without starting center Connor Tollison on Saturday. Stop them, and you’re in a good place.

But …

“That’s going to be a challenge. There’s not really been anybody that’s been able to keep (the pocket) clean,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday. “And, obviously, breaking in a new center, too. I think, more than keeping the pocket clean, it’s going to be about, for us, being able to find a rhythm running the football better than we were in the first half last week.”

Double-headed rushing attack

South Carolina went to the portal to replenish at running back, adding Raheim Sanders from Arkansas. Sanders was the SEC’s second-leading rusher in 2022 with the Razorbacks, and is beginning to recapture some of that production in Columbia, South Carolina.

Sanders is rushing for 77.3 yards per game this season, and he has 11 rushing touchdowns

Pair that with the mobile Sellers, and the Gamecocks have been tough to stop on the ground in recent weeks.

“It just all comes down to gap assignment,” MU linebacker Corey Flagg said. “Everybody doing their job and tackling is gonna be a big deal this week like it is every week. This is SEC football. So, we’re ready for the challenge.”

Score prediction: South Carolina 28, Missouri 14

We’re willing to be proven wrong by a gutsy, gritty Missouri team, but South Carolina is in full stride. The recent series history favors Mizzou. The Gamecocks’ recent dominance against teams Missouri has seen outweighs that.

When Mizzou has come up against the biggest and best defensive lines in the conference this season, the Tigers have struggled. See: Texas A&M and Alabama. South Carolina might just have the best front yet.