Kentucky vs. South Carolina Fearless Prediction, Game Preview

By Pete Fiutak | September 25, 2019 7:38 pm CT

Kentucky vs. South Carolina fearless prediction and game preview.

Kentucky vs. South Carolina Broadcast

Date: Saturday, September 28
Game Time: 7:30 ET
Venue: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, SC
Network: SEC Network

Kentucky (2-2) at South Carolina (1-3) Game Preview

Why Kentucky Will Win

The South Carolina defense can’t stop anyone from throwing the ball.

Kentucky doesn’t have the passing attack of an Alabama or a Missouri, but it’s just decent enough to do push for at least 220 yards against a secondary that’s getting ripped apart for almost 11 yards per completion and over 290 yards per game.

Wildcat QB Sawyer Smith is coming off a really, really rocky game against Mississippi State – more on that in a moment – but he’s a good veteran who had more ups than downs at Troy last season. He was able to give the Florida secondary in the loss two weeks ago and make things interesting, even with a slew of mistakes.

This week, though, will be about going back to what Kentucky does well. Control the tempo, play stall ball, and force takeaways. The defense has done a decent job so far of not letting games get away from the struggling offense, and it’s able to set up a few each chances with five picks in the four games and eight takeaways in all.

South Carolina is 110th in the nation in turnover margin, but …

Why South Carolina Will Win

Yeah … about Sawyer Smith.

1) He’s banged up. He injured his shoulder in the loss to Mississippi State, but he’s expected to play against the Gamecocks. 2) He played through it and gutted it out, but he was awful.

With starting quarterback Terry Wilson out for the season, give Smith all sorts of credit for doing whatever he could to be there for the team. He was okay before getting hurt, and finished the loss completing just 15-of-41 passes with a pick, and this came a week after throwing three interceptions against Florida. Again, he’ll play, but don’t expect him to be razor-sharp.

On the other side, Kentucky might be decent and grinding games out and bringing teams down a peg, but the defense isn’t getting off the field. Over the last two weeks, Florida and Miss State combined to convert 10-of-18 third down tries. USC might only be converting on 34% of their attempt, but this is the week to get that right.

– “Go to the bank!” Today’s top pick of the day just released

What’s Going To Happen

It’s been a rough, rough run for both teams. Both sides have lost two straight games, both teams are fighting through the loss of their starting quarterbacks, and both teams need this. South Carolina almost certainly can’t go bowling without a win, and Kentucky needs this to stop the slide in a hurry.

At home, the Gamecocks will rally back from a bad day at Missouri with a good offensive performance overall, a nice day from QB Ryan Hilinski, and with just enough takeaways from the D to matter.

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