Mizzou opponent preview: South Carolina

Mizzou’s week 12 matchup sees the Tigers travel to Columbia, South Carolina to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Mayor’s Cup.

The Tigers have beaten the Gamecocks five straight times and Eli Drinkwitz is a perfect 4-0 against the Columbia side. So who will be leading South Carolina’s charge to beat the Drinkwitz-led Tigers’ for the first time?

Head Coach

Shane Beamer is entering his fourth season at the helm and has had an up-and-down three years. He has a 20-18 record but in 2022 led the Gamecocks to a 8-5 record that included three top-15 wins. Before SC, Beamer was an assistant coach at Virginia Tech, Georgia and Oklahoma.

Offense

The Gamecocks offense has been inconsistent the last few years for example last season they scored 37 points or more five times but also scored 20 or fewer seven times. The quarterback that will look to lead that consistency is still TBD. 

Spencer Rattler is now on the Saints and the battle for QB1 seems to be between LaNorris Sellers, Robby Ashford and Davis Beville.

Sellers has the potential to be a star, he has a good arm and can move the ball on the ground. Ashford is an Auburn transfer who started a game last year for the Tigers but won the starting position in week 4 of the 2023 season. Ashford was named the Tigers’ offensive player of the year passing for 1,613 yards and seven touchdowns and rushing for 709 yards and adding another seven scores. Beville has not seen a lot of action in his five years, spending three at Pitt and two at Oklahoma.

The star player offensively is Arkansas transfer Raheim Sanders. Sanders had an injury-riddled 2023 season, but in 2022 had 1,443 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Sanders also tacked on 271 receiving yards with two scores.

For the Gamecocks to succeed offensively it appears it will have to be on the ground.

Defense

The defense was nothing spectacular last season and with an offense in question that is going to have to change.

Expect TJ Sanders to play a big role in the interior line and for transfers Kyle Kennard (Georgia Tech) and Gilber Edmond (Florida State) to help the defensive line.

The star of the defense is linebacker Deebo Williams. The redshirt senior had 113 tackles nine of which were for a loss and added a sack in 2023. The stellar season earned him honorable mention All-American and First-Team All-SEC honors.

Prediction 

South Carolina is not a spectacular team in any area and could dwell in the basement of the SEC. However, the road atmosphere is one of the toughest that Missouri will to travel to, the rivalry and the environment could make this a close game through the first three quarters. I think the Tigers will pull away at the end and record another win. 

Final score: Tigers win 38-24.