The Kentucky Wildcats look for their fifth consecutive win as they host the South Carolina Gamecocks in an SEC tussle on Saturday, September 29th at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.
Kentucky is coming off an impressive 28-7 win over 14th ranked Mississippi State while South Carolina is fresh from a big 30-14 road win over Vanderbilt last week.
The Wildcats are not just 4-0 this season, they are 2-0 in the SEC for the first time since 1977. Bigger than both, Kentucky finds itself in the national rankings for the first time since 2007. At #17 in the nation, the Wildcats have been winning with a running game that has looked nearly impossible to stop.
Running back Benny Snell Jr. has been a monster on the ground this season. Snell has ran for a total of 540 yards this season with seven scores. Wildcats quarterback has thrown for 465 yard with two touchdowns while Lynn Bowden Jr has 20 catches for 200 yards but it’s clear that the Kentucky offense begins and ends with Snell and their running game which is ranked 12th in the nation.
After losing their conference opener to Georgia, the South Carolina Gamecocks bounced back with a 49-15 win over Coastal Carolina and a 37-14 triumph over Vanderbilt. The win over the Commodores last week was the Gamecocks’ 10th in a row over Vanderbilt and they did it in impressive fashion, scoring the first 10 points of the game and shutting down the Commodores’ offense in the second half.
Quarterback Jake Bentley threw for 261 yards with one touchdown on 19-28 passing. The progression of the junior play caller continues as he has thrown for 780 yards with a TD:Interception ratio of 6:3. Rico Dowdle ran his second 100 yard game of the season with 120 rushing yards on 20 carries with one score. Dowdle has ran for 235 yards this season while wide receiver Bryan Edwards has caught a total of 211 receiving yards in three games for South Carolina.
The Gamecocks are 8-3 SU in their last 11 games and 4-2 SU in their last 6 games on the road. On the other hand, the Wildcats are 4-1 SU in their last five games and 6-2 in their last 8 games on their home field.
South Carolina leads the all-time series 17-11-1 but Kentucky has taken the last four meetings between these two teams. South Carolina is 6-3 SU in their last nine games on the road against Kentucky. But the Wildcats are 4-1 in their last 5 games against the Gamecocks. So while South Carolina has won this matchup all-time, Kentucky has owned them recently.
The Wildcats are coming off a 21 point win over 14th ranked Mississippi State where their running game led by Benny Snell Jr. looked unstoppable. Kentucky is averaging 269 rushing yards per game, 12th best in the nation and they are playing against South Carolina whose run defense is only 75th in college football. Kentucky’s defense limited Mississippi State’s potent offense to just seven points and that gives me enough confidence to believe they can contain South Carolina too. This one’s a toss-up but I have enough confidence in the Wildcats. We’re picking Kentucky to beat South Carolina on 9/29/18.
South Carolina is 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games and 5-0 ATS in their last five games on the road. Meanwhile, Kentucky is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games and just 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games at home. However, the Wildcats are 6-2 in their last 8 games after giving up fewer than 20 points in their previous game and 5-0 in their last 5 games against the Gamecocks.
Kentucky has won the last four meetings between these teams and last season, they defeated South Carolina to the tune of 23-15. As we said earlier, South Carolina leads their all-time series but it’s been Kentucky lately. Unless the ‘Cocks can find a way to stop Benny Snell Jr., the current 1 point spread is really negligible. Prediction: Kentucky -1
The total has gone over in 8 out of the last 11 meetings between these two. The total is also 4-1 in the last five games between these teams in Kentucky. The total has also gone over in five out of the last seven home games for Kentucky.
Both teams are currently averaging 30+ points per game so these teams are capable of putting up 50 easily. Historically, the trends back that up the over too so I’m going with the over here. Prediction: Over 50
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