Everything you need to know before South Carolina faces Vanderbilt

It took some time, but South Carolina is finally back in the win column. The Gamecocks defeated Jacksonville State last Saturday to snap a four-game losing streak.

Moving forward, the wins will need to keep coming. South Carolina must win its final three games to make a bowl game.

But the focus is one game at a time and not looking too far ahead. And for the Gamecocks, the next game comes against Vanderbilt.

Before kickoff (noon, SECN), here’s what you need to know about the Commodores.

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How they got here

It’s been another tough year for Vanderbilt. After starting the season out with two straight wins, it’s been nothing but losing since then.

The Commodores finished out non-conference play with losses to Wake Forest and UNLV. SEC play only got harder as they have lost their first six games this year. They’ve scored 20 or more points in three of those games.

Vanderbilt is coming off a 31-15 loss to Auburn at home last week.

And it won’t get much easier facing the Gamecocks, who haven’t been much better this season. But South Carolina hasn’t lost a game in this series since 2008.

Where they sit in the rankings

For obvious reasons, Vanderbilt hasn’t sniffed the AP poll or College Football Playoff rankings.

In the College Football Power Index (FPI), the Commodores are ranked No. 98 with a -7.7 FPI. For comparison, South Carolina comes in at No. 43 with a 4.5 FPI.

In the SP+ rankings, Vanderbilt is ranked 111th.

The Commodores sit at 101st in the Massey Ratings. They rank No. 88 in offense and No. 104 in defense. They have the 55th-best strength of schedule.

ESPN gives South Carolina an 84.5 percent chance to win on Saturday. The Gamecocks are a 14-point favorite.

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Players to know

Earlier this week, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said Ken Seals will likely start at quarterback on Saturday. That doesn’t mean he’ll play the whole game, though.

The Commodores have played multiple quarterbacks in five games this year. They also have AJ Swann, who’s more of a pocket passer, and Walter Taylor, a big man who can run over defenders.

This creates a challenge for South Carolina’s defense, but during practice this week, freshman LaNorris Sellers has been able to provide “too good of a look” as the scout team quarterback. So that should help in preparation for what’s to come.

While this team might not be very good, there are a lot of playmakers to make the defense sweat a little. It starts with arguably their best player, wide receiver Will Sheppard, who has caught 44 passes for 634 yards and eight touchdowns.

There’s also Jayden McGowan and London Humphreys in the receivers room. McGowan has 35 catches for 380 yards, while Humphreys is averaging 23.8 yards per catch with four touchdowns.

Rounding out the offense is Sedrick Alexander, who has ran the ball 74 times for 294 yards and four touchdowns. But he hasn’t been a huge factor lately. Vanderbilt hasn’t been able to run the ball very well.

Defensively, Vanderbilt has a good pair of linebackers in Langston Patterson and CJ Taylor, who both have more than 50 tackles each this year. They’ve been pretty disruptive and could cause some issues for South Carolina.

Path to victory

South Carolina should be able to handle business this weekend. The key will be to play its game and not beat itself. That’s going to be how it loses if it makes silly mistakes.

The defense really has to do a better job tackling on early downs. There were so many times last week where a player would miss a tackle and then Jacksonville State would get into a third and short situation and convert.

One good thing is that Vanderbilt cannot run the ball that well, which means it will be passing more. However, that means the secondary will have to be alert and that might be a struggle at times.

At the same time, this defense forced four turnovers last Saturday. Usually when you get one, they just keep coming. If that’s the case on Saturday, things will already be off to a good start.

As long as Spencer Rattler and Xavier Legette are on their game, things should be fine offensively. Nobody has really been able to figure out how to stop a healthy Legette and that shouldn’t change against Vanderbilt.

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But it would be nice for the run game to improve in a game like this. Mario Anderson needs to be more impactful, especially without Dakereon Joyner available on Saturday. He makes this offense so much better when he’s on his A game.

The Gamecocks have to be able to keep their foot on the gas pedal. There’s no need to slow down. South Carolina is more than capable of blowing a lead as has been proven this year. If it can get a good lead early, keep it going. Don’t let up.

Everyone takes this Vanderbilt team for granted. A team that just can never truly win games in the SEC. It has become a laughing stock for years now. But make no mistake, this team can keep up with South Carolina. After all, the Gamecocks aren’t that much better this year.

Take care of business and don’t mess around. That’s the easiest way to win this game. If the Gamecocks don’t, it might get interesting.

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