New faces all over

South Carolina Gamecocks at Tennessee Volunteers
07:15 PM ET, October 29th, 2011
Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, TN

South Carolina Gamecocks head to visit the Tennessee Volunteers for one of the most attractive games this Saturday at Knoxville. The Gamecocks get to the field with two sensitive players out and with a new starting quarterback, against the always fighting Volunteers who get back home after three consecutive losses and looking to bounce back against another top 25 ranked team.

South Carolina just lost their two most productive offensive weapons, quarterback Stephen Garcia (844 passing yards, 171 rushing yards, 9 touchdowns and 3 rushing touchdowns) and tailback Marcus Lattimore (818 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns), and after a bye week trying to rebuild an entire offense around their new quarterback Connor Shaw who has only 3 games as a starter on a scheme designed to be ran by Garcia and Lattimore. But even without those two scoring machines. And now is when the defenders have to step up and make a statement, to keep the Volunteers close on the score and give Shaw some time to do his job.

The Volunteers, on the other hand are one of the most disappointing teams this year, starting the season with great expectations but being beaten over and over by top ranked teams, and now they have a chance to bounce back after two consecutive nightmares against LSU and Alabama. After those games, Tennessee’s coach decided to change the starting quarterback after a bunch of mistakes and lack of attitude by Matt Sims (243 passing yards and no touchdowns), who took the job replacing starter Tyler Bray (1579 passing yards and 14 touchdowns), so the new starting quarterback will be freshman Justin Worley who will try to take this offense and make something happen.

Two teams, both with new starting quarterbacks, struggling to overcome the injuries and difficulties on offense, with a new look on offense will jump to the field Saturday’s night on ESPN2. This game has South Carolina as a 3½ point favorite and the total on 44. Due all circumstances surrounding both teams offensive schemes, I recommend to take the under 44 on this game, because all the adjustments both teams will have to make are deeper and more complicated than what anyone might think, and it takes weeks or even more to rebuild an offense. So expect a low-scoring game here, but expect the new faces to fight all game long with their hearts to prove they can handle the pressure and take their teams to the winning path.

WiseCat