Can South Carolina do it again?

Published 3:44 pm Friday, October 18, 2019

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Will South Carolina do the unthinkable and beat back-to-back Top 10 teams in two weeks? The odds are low, but if there ever was a time to do it, this is it.

The Gamecocks host Florida on Saturday. Can you imagine any better way to raise my spirits than to see the Gators get beaten like Georgia was last weekend? This is all under the assumption that Georgia even wins its game against Kentucky (which I honestly think it will).

Carolina is fresh off the biggest win in coach Will Muschamp’s program to date. It was the perfect storm for a bad game in Athens. Noon start, unenergetic team and fans, lethargic playing and a hungry unranked team. The 20-17 double overtime loss is by all means unacceptable for the Dawgs, but it happened.

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Now as cocky as ever, South Carolina wants that magical momentum to carry over to this Saturday. The only problem is, where Georgia was feeling all high and might walking through the clouds, Florida has already had its cold dose of reality. Last week they were beaten by LSU. Florida is likely not in the same headspace Georgia was in. The Gamecocks were able to capitalize on it last week, but they shouldn’t rely on it this week.

Who knows, maybe South Carolina is actually starting to put it all together.

I can tell you this: if the Gators do go down Saturday, Columbia will explode.

A few other Top 10 teams have noon games against unranked opponents. There’s Clemson (3) at Louisville, West Virginia at Oklahoma (5) and Wisconsin (6) at Illinois. Do any of these look like they will be colossal let downs for the better teams? No? It’s just a Georgia thing? I was afraid of that.

The marquee game of the week is No. 16 Michigan at No. 7 Penn State. This will be the second loss for Coach Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines. Penn State is doing a white out, which means Michigan will be blinded by stadium lights reflecting off the tens of thousands of white clothing in the stands. That won’t be the reason they lose, though. Penn State has a defensive front that will eat the Wolverine’s offensive line for dinner. I’m calling three sacks, at least.

For all you Ivy League nuts out there, Princeton at Brown looks like it will be another slugfest. Don’t get too rowdy watching this one.