South Carolina -- Kentucky's next opponent -- did not look good against Old Dominion

Kentucky was only able to play just a little over one half of a football game on Saturday, but the Big Blue Nation will happily take that outcome (which still resulted in a 31-0 victory) when the alternative was whatever the hell South Carolina did earlier in the day.

South Carolina comes to Lexington next week for a massive Week 2 showdown where the SEC Nation crew will be outside of Kroger Field to hype up the matchup. It’ll be an important game for both schools as the winner starts the season 2-0 knowing that wins will be tough to come by the rest of the season. For Kentucky, it’s entering “must-win” territory, even more so when you consider that No. 1 Georgia visits in Week 3.

If you’re looking for some extra optimism to latch onto going into next week, look no further than the ugly performance South Carolina put together during its season opener on Saturday. The Gamecocks were tied with Old Dominion at home going into the fourth quarter 16-16, and easily could have lost this game outright had the Monarchs not made some costly mistakes down the stretch.

South Carolina entered as a 20-point favorite but came out with just a 23-19 win. Old Dominion even led 19-16 with less than 10 minutes in the game. Both of the Gamecocks’ touchdowns came as a result of the Monarchs fumbling inside its own 10-yard line. Keep in mind that Old Dominion was picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt East Division, which consists of just seven schools. South Carolina paid them $1.5 million to make the trip to Williams-Brice Stadium. This game was one bad break away from being a full-on disaster.

Head coach Shane Beamer debuted redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who was sacked four times on the night and finished 10-23 passing with 114 yards and no touchdowns. He ran the ball 22 times for 68 yards and one score while senior running back Raheim Sanders (who transferred from Arkansas) added 88 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Sellers’ touchdown with 6:11 left in the game sealed the win for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks still managed to rack up 193 yards on the ground but for just 3.6 yards per carry due to a still-struggling offensive line — a common issue for Beamer’s team in 2023. South Carolina’s defense was solid, holding Old Dominion to 305 total yards while forcing four turnovers, but it was anything but a clean season-opener for the team as a whole.

Kentucky was already favored to beat South Carolina next weekend before Saturday. The momentum is swinging even more in the Wildcats’ favor since then. UK is currently a 7.5-point favorite over the Gamecocks, according to FanDuel, with the over-under set at 48.5. Kickoff at Kroger Field is set for Saturday, Sept. 7 at 3:30 p.m. EST on ABC.