Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia SC
\nSaturday, Sept. 24, 7:00 pm EST<\/p>\n
NCAA Odds from Bodog.com:<\/p>\n
MoneyLine: OFF<\/p>\n
Spread: Vanderbilt +15.5, South Carolina -15.5<\/p>\n
Over\/Under: OFF<\/p>\n
It is downright bizarre to see a Week 4 battle of two SEC unbeaten teams, where one of the participants is the Vanderbilt Commodores. But that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened thus far for Vandy, which procured two nice wins so far versus Connecticut and Ole Miss. The Cinderella story may be ending this Saturday in the Palmetto State, however.<\/p>\n
Steve Spurrier\u2019s South Carolina Gamecocks haven\u2019t been winning games in an overly convincing fashion, in fact Carolina have been grinding it out against the likes of East Carolina (56-37 win), Georgia (45-42 win) and Navy (24-21 win). With as good as the Commodores looked last week versus Ole Miss, you can\u2019t even predict the Commodores \u2013 usually a bottom-dwelling SEC outfit \u2013 as a back pocket win, either. Though the Gamecocks \u201cD\u201d has been rather dreadful (save super-athlete D-lineman Melvin Ingram) the offensive game-plan has produced enough to secure wins.<\/p>\n
Veteran quarterback Stephen Garcia, and do-everything skill stars RB Marcus Lattimore and WR Alshon Jeffery should carry the offense for Carolina, as usual. The trio should have a productive weekend against Vandy. True, Vandy only surrendered a touchdown to Ole Miss last week, but the Rebels have looked awful and were without their top RB and a starting WR. With a Gamecocks team that has a cupboard much better stocked, look for the offensive talent to get an appropriate yield from the visiting Commodores.<\/p>\n
To be fair, you have to give Vanderbilt credit where credit is due. The running platoon of junior Zac Stacy and freshman Jerron Seymour has been really effective, with both backs averaging over 5.5 yards per carry (9.0 yards per clip for Stacy). Senior QB Larry Smith \u2013 whom didn\u2019t inspire confidence in anyone before the season \u2013 has played well and stayed within himself.<\/p>\n
Perhaps most impressive and most crucial to Vandy\u2019s 2011 success thus far is the turnover-hungry defense. The Commodores\u2019 secondary picked off Ole Miss QB Zack Stoudt five times last week and we know how vital turnovers are for the sudden swings in momentum. Garcia is a savvy vet, though, and while it is true he was prone to INTs earlier in his career, he won\u2019t be as easy a mark as Ole Miss\u2019s scuffling pivot. Vanderbilt\u2019s defense has definitely exceeded expectations, but Jeffery and others downfield (sophomore WR Ace Sanders also comes to mind) will create match-up problems for the visitors.
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\nVery few people would have predicted Vanderbilt to be unbeaten this long; if it can somehow keep the magic intact, South Carolina hasn\u2019t looked too convincing at times \u2013 especially on defense. Getting multiple touchdowns dropped on you from East Carolina and Navy will not cut it for an SEC East program that considers itself the top-dog contender this season. This trend makes it look possible that Vandy could get downfield and perhaps drop a few scores on the home team. If Stacy and Seymour keep running well and Vandy\u2019s unheralded offensive line keeps doing its job, Carolina has shown that it isn\u2019t the stingiest outfit this side of the Missouri River.<\/p>\n
Yet the same is true for Vanderbilt and the most pertinent detail is that Garcia, Lattimore and Jeffery are far more imposing than anyone the Commodores can roll out. Those guys should do enough for the Gamecocks to snag this home contest, and a convincing win over Vanderbilt \u2013 perpetrated on both sides of the ball \u2013 would do a lot for Carolina\u2019s confidence moving forward into the teeth of the regular season schedule, despite its cushy #12 national ranking.<\/p>\n
Score Prediction: South Carolina 31, Vanderbilt 14<\/strong> The CappersPicks.com college football weekly predictions pages! We KNOW you will find our FREE weekly college football picks<\/a>, tips, betting advice, strategies, CFB gambling articles and more to help you become the best College football bettor on your block!!<\/p>\n The Vanderbilt Commodores vs. South Carolina Gamecocks will both be trying to pick up a win in Week 4 on Saturday when they matchup. Odds have the Gamecocks listed as 15.5-point favorites the game\u2019s total is set at 54.5\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":26515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43774"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43804,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43774\/revisions\/43804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOver\/Under Prediction: 45<\/strong><\/p>\nClick here to CHECK OUT OUR CFB HANDICAPPERS PICKS for the 2011-2012 NCAA Football Season!<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"